FabFest, Charlotte's Beatles festival, returns this Friday and Saturday for its seventh year: a ticketed tribute concert at the Knight Theater on Friday night, then a free day of live music, contests and family activities at Central Piedmont Community College on Saturday. Local musicians who want to play a Beatles song on the festival's stage have until today, Monday, Sept. 28, to apply.
The Charlotte nonprofit Tosco Music puts it on. Its founder, John Tosco, fell for the Beatles at age 5, watching them on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and used to lip-sync "She Loves You" on a cardboard guitar in a friend's basement, according to the festival's history page.
Want to play? Apply today
The Beatles Cover Song Contest is open to performers of any age and any style, solo acts through full bands, playing a Beatles song straight or reworked. To apply, upload a video (a phone recording is fine) through the online application at fabfestcharlotte.org by today. The form requires a Gmail account; the festival asks anyone without one to send it a message through the website instead.
All contestants play a first round starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, and finalists play at 4 p.m. First place pays $100 per performer, or $400 for a band of four or more; second pays $75 or $300; third pays $50 or $200.
Friday: the tribute concert
The Tosco Music Beatles Tribute starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, at the 1,200-seat Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St. More than a dozen local and regional acts play Beatles songs in a range of styles, with the audience singing along. The acts named so far include The Taxmen, Beatles 4 Sale, Revelwood Mission, Cole Thannisch, Blue Jay Way, Persona Bell, Anthony Robustelli, The Commonwealth Divide and Reeve Coobs.
Tickets run $22.50 to $56.50 through Blumenthal Arts. Buying online adds a 15 percent ticketing charge, plus tax and a $3 facility fee. Buying in person at the Blumenthal box office in the Belk Theater lobby, open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., skips the 15 percent charge. Groups of six or more save 20 percent with the code GROUP20. The box office phone is 704-372-1000.
Knight Theater patrons can park for $10 at the garage entered from 170 W. Brooklyn Village Ave., according to the festival.
Saturday: free, at CPCC
FabFest Daytime runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Parr Center, 1201 Elizabeth Ave., on CPCC's main campus, which the festival puts a mile from the Knight Theater. Admission and parking are free; the festival sends drivers to CPCC's Decks 3 and 4, both entered from East Fourth Street.
There is music on two stages. Indoors, the Come Together Stage hosts tribute bands, trivia and the cover-song contest. Outdoors, the Strawberry Field Stage and a Family Fun Tent sit on the lawn, along with an open mic, Beatles yoga, games and food trucks. There is also a room of rare Beatles video, a Beatles Rock Band video game room, a memorabilia exhibit and a marketplace. Authors Robert Rodriguez, Sean Gaillard and Anthony Robustelli, who also plays Friday night, are among the speakers.
Piedmont Music Therapy will run inclusive music-making with percussion instruments from 10 a.m. to noon, for all ages and abilities.
The Beatles Art Contest awards 14 cash prizes totaling $3,675 across professional, amateur and youth divisions, with the winners named from 10 to 11 a.m. The work is on display, and some of it is for sale.
New this year is a 1960s fashion and costume contest, with $500 in cash prizes for youth and adults. Sign up in person between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; attendee voting closes at 1:30, and the winners are named at 2 p.m. on the main stage. You have to be there to win.
Saturday went free for the first time last year, and Tosco Music credits its presenting sponsor, CG Financial Services, for keeping it free a second year. The festival also lists support from the City of Charlotte and the Arts & Science Council.
Tosco Music says proceeds from the festival support its community programs, which include live music at senior communities and youth music scholarships. The Friday tribute began in 2004; the Saturday festival was added in 2019.