IT is every Beatle fan's fantasy - the Fab Four reunited for just one more gig. And while that dream could never become a reality, anyone watching the aptly titled Come Together would have got some idea of how it could have looked and sounded. Mathew Street Festival regulars will be familiar with Johnny Silver, more often to be seen playing the Cavern than the Empire. Still, the Beatles stormed both, so why not? And it was a fitting end to a week where we remembered the contrary, contradictory, charming man that was John Lennon. Come Together almost never came together at all after Yoko Ono allegedly tried to stop it going on the road. But that would have stopped Silver from showing why he is possibly the world's best tribute to her husband. With Rubber Soul sideburns, the high-guitared stance and grinning glance to his side, he looks the part. And he sounds the part too, whether it be through rockers like an irresistibly bouncy Revolution or ballads complete with that plaintive crack in his voice. By the time the Beatles gave up touring fans were lucky to get half-an-hour of them on stage. This show clocks up 38 songs in two-and-a-half hours, from the opening Come Together itself to the closing screams of Twist and Shout. There is a smattering of vintage Beatles - Strawberry Fields, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, A Day in the Life, and Help! But mostly it's the big solo Lennon numbers, including a stand-out Jealous Guy, Instant Karma, Beautiful Boy, Merry Xmas (War is Over) and, of course, Imagine. It's just a shame Woman and In My Life are both delivered far too fast. Billed as a Lennon tribute, Come Together is more of a team effort and each Beatle gets the chance to shine. Paul (Ian Watts), with mullet hair and hand punching the air, produces his own beautiful tribute with an acoustic Here Today, while Live and Let Die is an assault on the senses. A circa 1971 George Harrison (Mike Wilbury) reprises My Sweet Lord among others, and even Ringo (Steve Heappey) gets a go with Octopus's Garden. As a 'reunion', it's a happy occasion. And that's good because as someone once noted, in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. | 
