Despite DeKalb’s high waters, Beatlemania came alive Saturday afternoon with the three-hour performance of American English at Cornfest.

The Beatles tribute band played to a crowd of more than 400 fans, ranging from diaper-aged toddlers to punk-rock teens to those old enough to have remembered the original Beatlemania.

Different from your average tribute band, Eric Michaels, Young Hines, Doug Couture and Tom Gable play Paul, John, George and Ringo, complete with British accents and Beatle-style shag haircuts.

The American English performance, complete with set and costume changes, is a true tribute that takes the audience through the eras of the Beatles, beginning with the early Beatles in 1963, moving to the psychedelic years of Sgt. Pepper and ending with The White Album years.

Beatles fans, young and old, went to Cornfest to enjoy the break from the rain and hear some great music. Lynn Schmitz, 49, of DeKalb came with her daughter and granddaughter to eat some fresh corn and enjoy the music.

“We’re three generations of women, all here at Cornfest,” Schmitz said. “We live in DeKalb and we’re big Cornfest-ers; we like to be corn-infested.”

Other Cornfest attendees came from afar to enjoy the live music and relive the magic created by the Beatles and recreated by American English. Jim Ort, 41, of Naperville, wore his Elvis-style gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses complete with side-chops to experience his first American English concert.

“I never saw them,” Ort said. “I think they were great.”

DeKalb will experience another wave of Beatlemania in April when American English returns to play at the Egyptian Theatre.

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