Allana J Barefield

The Courier-Journal

After 12 years, this weekend marks the last time Abbey Road on the River will be in Louisville.

It will relocate next year to Jeffersonville, Ind., on RiverStage, the adjacent marina, and Big Four Station Park.

Abbey Road on the River, held Thursday through Monday, is the largest Beatles festival in North America, with more than 20,000 fans and 60 bands spread across multiple stages in Belvedere Festival Park and the Muhammad Ali Center.

The majority of bands are Beatles tribute acts and will come from all across the U.S., England, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Canada and Colombia.

The sweet sound of Beatles-inspired music draws people from all over the world to the annual festival and many said that they will still attend the festival next year after it moves across the river.

“This festival brings back my youth; it makes me feel like I’m 14 again," said Charlene Sameman, who was at the festival Friday.

One thing she likes most about the festival is the friends she has made over the years, including people from Chicago, Michigan and Ohio.

“I'm from upstate New York but we all meet here every year and we have become great friends all due to the love of the Beatles,” she said.

The love for Beatles music is timeless, she added.

Many festival-goers have mixed emotions on the festival moving, but for Sameman, it’s just another place.

“It doesn't matter ... we go wherever the festival is,” she said.

Excited fans waited in line when before the festival opened its gates at noon on Thursday. One of the fans, Debi Adkins, has attended for nine years. She landed in Louisville two hours before opening and was already in line.

For Adkins, this is a sort of homecoming, a chance to see friends that have become family and to hear music she grew up listening to.

“This is where you want to be," she said. “We might be crazy because we want to be at a place by a certain time to see a certain band, but we all get it. Then we will sit up half the night singing.

“It's like a drug, you just can't get enough."

Adkins is already looking forward to next year.

“With life there is always change ... (the new festival location) will be new and fresh, so it will be good."

Reach Allana Barefield at abarefield@gannett.com.

The music

The Zombies and Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals are the headliners this year, with The Zombies performing Saturday and the Rascals on Sunday. Returning this year is a live performance of The Beatles’ “Love” album, the soundtrack for the Cirque du Soleil production as arranged by the late Sir George Martin.

Tribute bands will be everywhere, from solo acoustic performers to fairly large-scale bands. The live performance of “Love,” which has become the festival’s signature event, will feature a gaggle of performers.

Julia Baird, John Lennon’s sister, will return and present “John Lennon - The Poet” with Jon Keats. Both Baird and Keats serve as directors at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, a seminal early venue for The Beatles. Authors and Beatles historians Bruce Spitzer and Aaron Krerowicz will speak several times each. Krerowicz is the United States’ only full-time professional Beatles scholar.

Most performances can be seen with a general admission pass, but some require a higher-level ticket.

For a detailed schedule, go to AbbeyRoadontheRiver.com.