The Bootleg Beatles talk ahead of Birmingham and Wolverhampton shows

And next year the music world will be celebrating 50 years since Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Sadly, this year marks the anniversary of when the band stopped touring. Yet the magic can be recaptured through the work of The Bootleg Beatles.

The Bootleg Beatles have been touring as a tribute band to the Fab Four for 36 years.

Steve White is a recent addition to the band - he joined as Paul McCartney in 2012 after undertaking a John Lennon role in his 60s cover band: "My favourite Beatle was always Paul but I was playing in a 60s band, before I joined, and we only did a few Beatles songs then someone requested we do all Beatles for a birthday party. I was playing rhythm guitar so effectively I was John."

Steve left his tribute band to become Paul in one of the world's most successful tribute bands when the previous bassist and founding member, David Catlin-Birch, retired due to a recurring illness. Steve added: "I was just playing the circuit, doing a lot of cruiseship work with different bands and I got a phonecall from The Bootleg Beatles asking if I could stand in because their Paul was ill.

"This kept happening for a few months until I got a call saying that David was retiring due to this recurring illness and would I like to become Paul full-time. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity."

The attention to detail in their shows is staggering. The Bootleg Beatles show is split into parts relative to the band's career such as 'Beatlemania conquers the world' and 'the psychedelic explosion'. Each section has its relevant apparel, some of which were made by the original tailor, Dougie Millings, who appeared in A Hard Day's Night and made some of their most iconic suits.

He sadly passed away aged 88 in 2001 but Steve said such little touches help the band maintain their authenticity: "There's a fellow we get costumes from who is a collector of Beatles memorabilia and he owns some the actual costumes which were worn by them on stage. He reproduces them stitch by stitch. We put an order in and he goes from the original to make an absolute identical replica."

This legitimacy is also found in the gear they use: "Most of the equipment we use is original 60s equipment. For whatever reason a lot of the vintage equipment sounds better than the contemporary hardware. All the vox amplifiers use valves and through the 70s they did all this research to get rid of valves for transistors because they are more reliable and lighter. But you can't get the same sound, the same warmth which a valve gives you. They do take a lot more care but a lot of companies today have gone back to using 60s technology so if you do have problems you can get your hands on what you need. It was far more difficult 20 years ago."

The band do take advantage of some mod cons to reproduce some of the more trickier tracks live: "The great thing about The Bootleg Beatles is that we tour with a small orchestra so so that allows us to perform songs they've never performed together. Songs like Penny Lane and I Am The Walrus. Last year we added Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite which involves tape loops and circus tunes. Obviously we can't use tape loops on stage so we had to painstakingly listen to it and score out the notes for the orchestra to play."

The band play Birmingham Symphony Hall on Thursday and then the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton the following day. For more information or to book tickets go to bootlegbeatles.com/gigs

By Bram Welch