"A euphoric wave of reinvigorated youth culture encompasses the melancholic narrative, defining how an act of untouchable Liverpudlian moptops broke all the rules of pop"

From the intimate cellar of Liverpool’s Cavern Club to the tannoy blasting Shea Stadium, Ron Howard's new celebratory documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years provides a gloriously candid look at the pudding bowl haircut quartet who redefined pop culture. Recounting the band’s hectic gig years from 1962 to 1966 Howard’s biopic follows a distinctive snowballing whirlwind that led to universally contagious Beatlemania. Previously unseen archive footage paired with fresh interviews from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr adds a matchless modernity to the world’s most scrutinised pop group.

The foursome’s brazen wit is a top tier highlight dextrously used as an effective and charming way to field negative press questions. There is an undeniable US centric twist throughout, setting the band’s meteoric rise against a backdrop of presidential assassination, nuclear testing and civil rights movement. Several celebrity cameos including the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Whoopi Goldberg and Elvis Costello relate transitory personal anecdotes about the Beatles phenomenon.

Seamlessly harmonising historical context with the timeless tracks that sent swarms of teenage girls into explosive hysterics, the band’s everlasting musical legacy is played to toe tapping precision showcasing remastered concert footage and fan shot clips that are sensorial on a theatrical scale. Glimpsing the group’s intricate camaraderie feels slightly voyeuristic at times especially in amongst the relentless media onslaught. Each movement becomes a full blown spectacle and ends up as George Harrison puts it being “a circus, a freak show.”

A euphoric wave of reinvigorated youth culture encompasses the melancholic narrative, defining how an act of untouchable Liverpudlian moptops broke all the rules of pop. An affectionately crafted nostalgia trip coupled with contemporary introspection, you will definitely want a ticket to ride.