f the real John Lennon had not been shot dead by Mark Chapman on December 8, 1980, the former Beatle would be 71 this October.

Neil Harrison is nowhere near as old as that. For 32 of his 60 years, he has been playing John Lennon on stage with The Bootleg Beatles, probably the finest tribute band of them all. The band rolls into Bradford this month.

“That’s longer than I’ve been myself!” he said. “Our very first date was March 26, 1980, in Tiverton, a college bash. I think we had four black polo necks and one wig. There weren’t many people there and we were scared because it was the first time we had tried to do anything outside a show, Beatlemania, at London’s Astoria theatre.”

There were five of them: David Caitlin-Birch as Paul McCartney; Andre Barreau as George Harrison, Hugo Deegenhardt as Ringo Starr, and Neil. The fifth man drove the van and helped set up the gear.

“Now we have two tour buses, an articulated lorry, an eight-piece orchestra and the band. We have catering on the main tour,” said Neil.

“It was always a risk. At the start, promoters weren’t interested in doing tribute acts; it was difficult to get any kind of tour at all. We have always promoted ourselves,” he added.

The reputation of the Bootlegs goes before them. I have seen them at London’s Royal Albert Hall and Halifax’s Theatre Royal; on both occasions the audiences of young and old loved the songs, the on-stage banter and the journey on which they were conducted.

The Bradford show will be one of the last Neil does. Officially, he’s hanging up his array of John Lennon wigs and the white suit at the end of this month. Auditions for his replacement have been taking place.

Neil said: “The band will go on, hopefully forever, and I’ll be managing them. But I have got a lot of other stuff I want to do. I am a songwriter, I wrote some songs for Lulu in the 1970s, and I have written a stage musical about tributes called Great Pretenders – six look-alikes in a dressing room.

“It’s about the sacrifices you have to make of your own creativity by being in a tribute band. We did a three-week stint in a small theatre a friend of mine owns in Highgate, North London, and did very well there. We’re doing a workshop for two weeks in May then, hopefully, a small theatre tour in 2012.”

David Caitlin-Birch gave up playing Paul McCartney for 14 years because the growing popularity of the Bootlegs meant that he was unable to make other arrangements with another band. Since he came back, the Bootlegs have made big strides, not only in touring – they have toured South America twice – but in musicianship.

“We have always prided ourselves on trying to be as authentic as possible in a live production,” said Neil. “A Day In The Life is virtually impossible to do outside of a recording studio, but we get close. Then there are the favourites from the Red and Blue albums that you cannot stray from.

“She’s Leaving Home is a big number we do now. Hey Jude, All You Need Is Love – you can’t not do these songs otherwise people feel cheated. We did the Royal Albert hall and the place was packed to the rafters. We did Happy Christmas (War Is Over), as a tribute to John. We had lots of pictures of John and Yoko on this big screen at the back. It was incredibly emotional,” Neil added.

Only he knows how much he’s going to miss the show when he sings “I read the news today, oh boy, about a lucky man who made the grade,” for the last time on March 26.

“Once you get older, you cannot hit the notes exactly. So I am blasting my voice on stage,” he said. John Lennon did not have the chance to know how it feels to sing some of the greatest popular songs ever written at Neil’s age. He can’t but be aware of the deep affection for The Beatles, who played the Gaumont, now the Odeon, three times, and the musical legacy they gave to the world.

Ardent Fab Four fans, who think the Bootlegs can’t possibly replicate the magic of the original, are in for a surprise. These boys play Beatles songs that John, Paul, George and Ringo never played as a band in public.

The Bootleg Beatles play St George’s Hall on March 18, starting at 8pm. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.