One of Athens’ most well-known cover bands, Abbey Road Live (often followed by an exclamation point) has been playing together since the mid-1990s, where it began as an original music band called Fuzzy Sprouts.

“We did the first Abbey Road show back when cover bands weren’t very prominent,” said guitarist Timi Conley. “We played the entire ‘Abbey Road’ album. We completely sold it out, so much so that they ran out of beer. It was ridiculous.”

“We started getting more gigs as Abbey Road Live, and everyone loves the music of the Beatles, “said _____ Michael _____. “It made people happy so we kept playing concerts.”

Since then, armed with a new drummer and the classic Beatles sound, Abbey Road Live has been playing all over the country. “We have played some very large outdoor shows, but [the Classic Center] will be the largest venue we have played at in Athens,” said Conley. “We are excited.”

For most of its Athens career, Abbey Road Live has preformed a show every two months or so at the Georgia Theatre. The profits from the upcoming show will benefit the rebuilding of the Georgia Theatre.

“The [burning of] the Theatre totally changed out dynamic,” Conley said. “Right when [the fire] happened, there was such an urgency to get it rebuilt. We want to keep the level of enthusiasm up and sell out this show to get it rebuilt as soon as possible.”

“The people at the Theatre like are our friends and family. They [need help] now,” Michael said. “They have helped us out so much in the past, so it makes sense for us to help them in their time of need.”

Abbey Road Live primarily focuses on later Beatles music. So what makes this benefit concert different than the others?

“We have a lot of cool new things happening at this show. We will have an orchestra of strings and horns playing along with us – not to mention some special guest performers from the Athens community who will be joining us,” Michael said.

Among these guests include Mike Mills, bassist of R.E.M.

“This show is going to showcase us at the top of our game. Especially with the extra orchestration, the show will be amazing,” Conley said.

But this concert holds a special meaning to the culture of The Beatles: It also happens to fall on the exact same day as John Lennon’s birthday.

“We often do a show around [Lennon's] birthday, and the fact that it fell on a Friday night when the Classic Center was available was a total coincidence,” Michael said.