the beatles’ early haunts: a basic guide
the beatles’ most popular clubs/haunts explained in a basic guide.
john lennon and the quarrymen played at the woolton village fete july 6, 1957. it was on this day that john was introduced to paul mccartney by john’s friend ivan vaughan after the performance, thus sparking a friendship.
“at woolton village fete i met him. i was a fat schoolboy, and as he reached an arm on my shoulder, i realized he was drunk. we were twelve then, but in spite of his sideboards, we went on to become teenage pals.” - paul mccartney, in his own write.
the casbah club was another liverpool music club which operated from 1959-1962 and was owned by mona best, pete best’s mother. the beatles first performed there 32 times from 1960 to 1962, the quarrymen previously playing there 7 times from august 29 to october 10, 1959. the casbah was the first club the beatles played several weeks after their return from their first germany trip in the midst of a career depression.
the cavern club, located on 10 mathew street, was a popular music club that marked the beginnings and some of the greatest achievements of the beatles as a band. they performed at the cavern first on february 21, 1961 as john lennon, paul mccartney, george harrison, pete best and stuart sutcliffe (until 1962) until ringo starr joined the lineup. the beatles went through multiple changes during their time performing at the cavern; they started as the silver beetles to the silver beatles, and eventually the beatles.
it was here that the beatles gained recognition by the most popular magazine in liverpool at the time, bill harry’s mersey beat magazine and by brian epstein - recommended by alistair taylor - who had a background in business at the time. brian epstein would watch the beatles perform november 9, 1961, when he decides that he would like to further be involved with the beatles:
“i was immediately struck by their music, their beat, and their sense of humour on stage—and, even afterwards, when i met them, i was struck again by their personal charm. and it was there that, really, it all started.” - brian epstein
the beatles performed at the cavern in between trips to hamburg, germany from 1961-1963. in total, the beatles performed approximately 155 lunchtime performances and 125 evening performances. rock and roll was only allowed at lunchtimes. It was here that pete best was switched out for ringo starr - then not known as ringo but by ritchie - august 15, 1962.
“ i might have been born in liverpool - but i grew up in hamburg.”…
the indra club was the first club the beatles had performed at upon arrival to hamburg, germany on august 17, 1960. the indra was the last music club on the große freiheit strip and the smallest. the beatles played long hours: up to 7 hours a night. speed/preludin/prellies begun to take influence in the beatles’ lives, as they would keep the beatles energized for the viciously tiring performances. their first residency was at this club at the end of the bambi kino theatre, in a storage room:
“we were put in this pigsty. we were living in a toilet, like right next to the ladies’ toilet. we’d go to bed late and be woken up next day by the sound of the cinema show and old german fraus pissing next door.” - john lennon, the beatles anthology
“the city of hamburg was brilliant; a big lake, and then the dirty part. the reeperbahn and grosse freiheit were the best thing we’d ever seen, clubs and neon lights everywhere and lots of restaurants and entertainment. it looked really good. there were seedy things about it, obviously, including some of the conditions we had to live in when we first got there. the Indra was at the far end of grosse freiheit, off the reeperbahn, the main club zone. the whole area was full of transvestites and prostitutes and gangsters, but i couldn’t say that they were the audience. hamburg was really like our apprenticeship, learning how to play in front of people.” - george harrison, the beatles anthology
their final performance under contract was october 3, 1960. they were then moved to the larger more popular kaiserkeller.
the very next day after the beatles moved from the indra club, they played once again october 4th to november 30, 1960. here, stuart “stu” sutcliffe became involved romantically with astrid kirchherr, a photographer. this was the final club the beatles played during their first trip to hamburg as george harrison was deported for being underage, and paul and pete were arrested and soon deported for arson (they lit a condom on fire inside the club). stu decided to stay behind with astrid and john had no other choice but to leave for england.
klaus voormann’s depiction of the kaiserkeller
the beatles upon arrival back to hamburg, had residency at the top ten club on its second level and performed here from april 1 to july 31, 1961. this time around, they had undergone changes that molded their image from then on - they got their signature beatle hairstyle. in total, they played for 503 hours.
their second hamburg (pt. 2) haunt was the star-club - right on the reeperbahn - across the street from the kaiserkeller. they played here april 13th to may 31, 1962 and again on november 1st to 14th and december 18 to 31, 1962.
“we came back to play the star-club, a big place and fantastic because it had a great sound system. this time we had a hotel. i remember it was quite a long walk from the club, at the top of the reeperbahn going back towards the city. we were there for a couple of months.” - george harrison
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