Andre Barreau performed as part of The Bootleg Beatles at Barclaycard British Summer Time in London’s Hyde Park

It’s not every day that you get to interview a Beatle and while admittedly I’m yet to do that, I did get to speak to a member of their most well-known tribute act during a summer festival at London’s Hyde Park!

The final concert of the 10-day-long Barclaycard British Summer Time festival saw Welsh singing icon Tom Jones headlining, along with Irish pop legends Boyzone, X Factor winners Little Mix and veteran musicians 10CC.

Also on the line-up were The Bootleg Beatles, a hugely successful tribute band to the Fab Four. Catching up with the band’s co-founder, Andre Barreau, after their performance, he reveals to me that I have a scoop on my hands – after 35 years performing in The Bootleg Beatles, he has just stepped off stage after his last ever gig with them – and I have got the first interview.

He tells me: “This is my first interview since leaving and probably my last interview as a Bootleg Beatle so it’s quite an exclusive scoop there!”

Shortly after leaving the stage after an exhilarating set, which included such classics as Penny Lane, Come Together and Hey Jude, Andre, who played the role of George Harrison, is in good spirits and happy to talk about what the future holds for him as well as reminisce about an extraordinary 35-year history with the band, which he set up in 1980 with former band member Neil Harrison.

“That was my last ever gig,” he confirms. “There have been a few nearlys, but that really was the last one. My family are all here, I can go and have a few drinks now and toast 35 years of being George Harrison!”

So why has Andre, who was the last remaining original member of the band, decided to leave after all these years? “I’m 58 and I think playing a 21 year old gets a bit of a stretch really,” he reveals. “Plus, the original members have left over the last six or seven years and I think it’s good to keep the group looking fresh, young and believable. Luckily I didn’t have to leave musically: my voice is OK, I can play and still get in the costumes and all that, but I think it’s a good time to go.”

But despite no longer playing in The Bootleg Beatles, Andre will still be involved with the management side of things. “I will remain the manager with Neil Harrison, who played John Lennon in the group,” he explains. “I’m still involved – I’m not going up to the Labour Exchange tomorrow morning!”

I ask if any rows or differences within the group contributed to his decision to leave. “No, not at all,” Andre says. “It just came to the point where I wanted to spend more time with my wife and do other musical projects, I’ve had to turn down so many. I’ve done the Bootlegs for 35 years, it’s a good run, isn’t it?”

It certainly is, and I’m curious to know more about some of his career highlights during that time. “We’ve played at Wembley Stadium, we’ve played on the roof of Apple, we’ve toured with Oasis – we’ve been very lucky. We’ve played the Albert Hall 17 times and Hyde Park a few times, it goes on.” Andre can even thank The Bootleg Beatles for bringing him together with his wife, who he met at a gig in Southend.

The Bootlegs have an impressive list of accomplishments under their belts, but Andre emphasises that their success wasn’t handed to them on a plate. “We’ve done it by hard work,” he tells me. “Nobody came to us with £2million and said, ‘Here’s all the publicity we want’ and so on, we had to do it and save the money to buy the next costumes or the next guitar or to build up our show.”

“The band is very much like mine and Neil’s baby, we’ve nurtured it from the very beginning. We just started off with one long John Lennon wig, a pair of glasses and some black polo necks, that’s all we had. It was really simple. Bit by bit we changed it and added stuff.”

Of course, there are many things Andre will miss about not playing with the band anymore: “I think it’s the best music to play and seeing my George harmonies is an absolute thrill for me so I’ll miss that. But I can still sing Beatles songs with other people. Maybe we can reform all the old members and call it The Silver Beatles!”

The Bootleg Beatles have a reputation for being the best tribute band to the Fab Four and I ask Andre why he thinks that is. “I think there are lots of good bands that do it and we were one of the very first,” he says. “We have a great knowledge of The Beatles, I’m not saying other people don’t, but we do. We care about the detail and maybe The Bootleg Beatles have always been performers and entertainers as well as musicians and we want to go down well. We want to really entertain and make sure we choose the right songs for the crowd so they can all enjoy it.”

And has he ever met any of the actual Beatles? Says Andre: “I’ve met Paul McCartney in Buckingham Palace when we played the Golden Jubilee 12 years ago.”

And having played George Harrison on stage for 16 years, Andre finally got to meet the man himself in 1996 at a birthday party for Pink Floyd lead guitarist Dave Gilmour. The saying goes that you should never meet your heroes because you’ll only be disappointed, but fortunately, that certainly wasn’t the case when Andre met George.

“We talked to him for about four or five hours on and off, he was so lovely, he was very nice to me and very complimentary and was a fantastic guy,” Andre says. “I had heard he doesn’t suffer fools gladly so maybe we weren’t quite that stupid on the day!”

George Harrison died in 2001 but it’s clear his music still lives on and is loved by many. What is it about George’s music that Andre thinks makes it so special? “They’re all soulful guys but George was particularly soulful, he came over as a very deep thinking and caring guy and he was when I met him, he was very similar to that.”

George also displayed some classic Beatles humour by asking Andre a question about the band’s former manager: “He did say, ‘Who’s the Bootleg Brian Epstein ‘cause he’s got all the money?’!”

The Bootleg Beatles are “thrilled” to know The Beatles’ surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr approve of their work, as Andre explains: “George Martin their producer was asked what they thought about us in an interview for a programme on The Bootleg Beatles on Radio 2 about 12 years ago and he said: ‘Yes, I know what they think, they’re very happy about it.’ They’ve all been very nice about it so we’re very thrilled about that.”

Andre’s replacement as George Harrison will be Stephen Hill, who could recently be seen in the West End show, Let It Be. Does the band’s co-founder feel confident he is handing the reins over to a capable pair of hands? “Steve is a brilliant guy,” Andre says. “I’ll show him everything I know but he’s really on top of the job already anyway.”

Andre adds that the current members of the group were all fans of The Bootleg Beatles for years before joining, which makes for a brilliant atmosphere. “What’s good about all the people who are in The Bootleg Beatles now, is they all saw us when they were young and they all wanted to do this job because they saw The Bootleg Beatles. They’re great people to have in the group, they want to be there. It’s like having a football club where you’ve got real fans in the team.”

Being the co-founder of the tribute group has its perks, such as choosing which your final gig will be: “Steve’s done his first gig, one yesterday and he’s playing tonight, but I wanted to do Hyde Park and I formed the group so I made the choice!”

As well as new member Stephen Hill, the other current members of the band are Adam Hastings (“John Lennon”), Steve White (“Paul McCartney”) and Hugo Degenhardt (“Ringo Starr”). Andre says that despite the band’s 35-year history, there have only been around 10 different full-time members in total.

Andre has been performing with other artists as well as the Bootlegs and is looking forward to more collaborations as well as performing his own music. He tells me: “I play with lots of people. People like Wreckless Eric, he was a contemporary of Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Nick Lowe, I’ve done a lot of LPs with him. I also play with a singer called Jackie DeShannon who wrote songs like When You Walk In The Room and Bette Davis Eyes. It’s really lovely music.”

And while Andre will miss performing with his friends in The Bootleg Beatles, there are some aspects of the job he won’t be sorry to leave behind: “I won’t miss sticking on moustaches, I won’t miss wearing wigs and I won’t miss quick changes in cupboards and kitchens!”

For more information about The Bootleg Beatles, visit their website at www.bootlegbeatles.com