IT’S about as good as it gets for fans of the Fab Four.

Beatlemania at its best is back in Southampton 50 years after Paul, John, George and Ringo wowed hysterical audiences at the Mayflower, then the Gaumont.

And the week-long visit of Let It Be is as close as audiences will ever get to seeing the world’s greatest rock ’n roll band in action in the 21st century.

The sound throughout this two-and-a-half hour-plus concert-style show is superb and James Fox, Reuven Gershon, John Brosnan and Ben Cullingworth, ably assisted by Graham Harvey on keyboard, are wonderful mimics, perfectly picking up on every mannerism from hours spent studying their Beatles counterparts.

Gershon is more Lennon than Lennon.

Brilliant, bright costumes, particularly the recreation of the Sgt Peppers outfits, great lighting and projections of historical news footage and advertising stunningly recreate the era in a show that went down a storm from the first notes of I Saw Her Standing There to the final triumphant bars of Hey Jude.

There was dancing in the aisles in the first act, which contained all the early big hits from She Loves You to A Hard Day’s Night.

We relive the band’s meteoric rise from the intimate feel of Liverpool’s Cavern Club to stadiums around the world filled with tens of thousands of besotted fans.

The first act is the better musically, but we’re in for more treats from the likes of When I’m 64 and Strawberry Fields in the second.

I did wonder what they’d perform for a finale after all that but of course the Beatles hits keep on coming and we are on our feet again as red, white and blue streamers rain down on an audience being filmed dancing to Let It Be and Hey Jude.