“If you think the economy is bad now, just wait until 2011,” says Bootleg Beatle George, introducing Taxman.

It is one of many jokes across the years that add to the already considerable pleasures of this long-running tribute act: the very first show of its kind and still so much better than the dubious-doppelganger monster it unleashed.

Withering Bootleg Beatle John (Neil Harrison) has an entirely reasonable dig at Oasis, calling them a tribute band as he starts up the Lennon song they often covered, I Am The Walrus.

His every mention of Yoko is booed by Sunday night’s full house, albeit jovially, culminating in his revelation that she is knitting at his feet.

Paul McCartney’s endless chirpiness is sent up too, along with George Harrison’s love of a bad pun.

And then there’s the music, that music, British pop’s ultimate back catalogue, one so rich that Paperback Writer and Let It Be can be left out of the Bootlegs’ two-hour nostalgia trip.

The Sixties’ journey spans four lovingly retold chapters, from The Cavern to Sgt Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour to the Apple rooftop and even a Lennon rendition of Imagine. Ever improving, the graphics on a giant screen now combine period footage with Terry Gilliam-style caricatures, while the arrangements are bolstered by a string section and brass ensemble for the maximum George Martin production effect.

It remains the best show the Beatles never played, but it will change again now that Neil Harrison is hanging up his Beatle boots at 60 after this tour.