WHEN exactly did you see them?
I’m certain that I never saw any variation of The Beatles perform while I was at school and even if I did, it never registered with me. Being as they were over in Hamburg [for the first time] for approximately the last three months of 1960 then that effectively rules out 1960. Nothing really rings any bells for me during the first half of 1961 so, my involvement in the local club scene as a paying customer must have started to kick off for me sometime into the second half of 1961 and a few months short of my 18th birthday.
Aged 17, I left school September 1960 and a year earlier than planned. The rather ambitious intention was that I stay on the extra 12 months in order to try for a place at university level but quite frankly, I knew I wasn’t then really academically up to the task. For the times and thanks to some reasonable educational qualifications, together with a little help of family connections, I’d managed to secure a position of employment that paid something of an above average wage for a then eighteen-year old. Indeed, it was always a bone of contention with me that amongst my then circle of friends I was always the one likely to get “tapped up” – which is a very Liverpool way of saying ‘to be asked to do something for someone’ – for example and in my particular case, lending out small sums of money. A habit I got out of very quickly, thanks to the efforts of a few very slow repayers but nevertheless, it didn’t entirely stop the practice from being repeated – even if my resulting answer was always no,
I never did get round to becoming a paid up member of either membership schemes run by the Iron Door Club and the Cavern. I think at the time I reasoned that living on the Birkenhead side of the river meant that for practical purposes, we would only be in a position to come across on a Friday / Saturday / Sunday basis. The other four days of week we would more than likely be tied up with the likes of work commitments and counting one’s shillings and pence [dollars and cents].
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Could you touch on the gigs themselves?
Re: The Cavern and Iron Door Clubs
It’s well documented that The Beatles appeared at the Cavern every Wednesday and Sunday on a fairly regular basis. The gossip in the nearby Iron Door Club was that the Cavern management had effectively bribed The Beatles with guaranteed bookings and while there was no bar on them performing at the IDC, the frequency of such Cavern bookings would be under review if it started to happen too often. While I understand that they did indeed perform at the IDC at various times, I’m racking my brains to think of an occasion when I was in that particular venue when it occurred – and I can’t for the life me remember one.
Reams of material as already been written about the claustrophobic and pigsty like state of the below street level Cavern together with what it was atmospherically like inside for audiences and groups alike – all of which are true. What I will add is that it always struck me that the obvious bugbear with the venue was that everyone and everything had to negotiate a single and narrow flight of steps [reportedly 18 in number] to either get in or out. I can remember at the end of an evening hearing more than one or two local group members cussing has they lugged and humped their equipment up those steps and out onto Mathew Street. [Which by the way, is something else I’ve always found curious – why spell ‘Mathew’ with one t and not with two as in the name “Matthew” – as far as I can find out, it’s something to do with English religious medieval spelling of the name]. If one ever wanted to have a few words with any particular group member then that was the best time to do it. Although, to be honest, none of them wanted to hang around chatting for too long. It always seemed like it was somewhere else they had or wanted to be.
Being that I was never one for keeping diaries, looking at a couple of online Cavern timelines for that 1961 / 62 / 63 period when The Beatles reportedly played there, the weekend dates I can (for the given memory-trigger reasons) still recall are……………
Saturday, 23rd December 1961 – An All Nighter.
I remember it because Christmas Eve was the next day and I had parental permission to say out all night. Back then (as I understand it still is) it was easy enough to catch a very early morning local bus shuttling back-and-forward under the river between Liverpool and Birkenhead from where we could catch a further homeward bound bus. I can also remember it because of the Trad Jazz bands on the bill. While only being a somewhat short-lived and transient popular musical movement in the UK at the time, British traditional [trad] New Orleans inspired jazz groups were nevertheless, popular live attractions for a time. There were undoubtedly some accomplished instrumental soloists within the ranks of such bands.
Saturday, 3rd February 1962
The trigger reason why I again remember is the presence of Trad Jazz Bands. Was initially unsure about this date because I thought maybe it could well have been on Saturday, 7th April 1962 but as I recall a few of us being at The Tower Ballroom, New Brighton the night before then it was not likely we would have been at the Cavern to see them again the following night.
Sunday, 1st July 1962
Remember wanting to see Gene Vincent backed by Sounds Incorporated sharing the bill. Also recall that I was not all that impressed with Mr Vincent’s performance.
Sunday, 9th September 1962
Lancashire born Clinton Ford was on the bill. Well-known around the North of England, Clinton Ford was a CW / Jazz singer who had a nice line in comic songs. Could well be described as something of a cross between George Formby and Jim Reeves. He also just happened to be a particular favourite of my father. I spent the best part of the week leading up to that Sunday trying to persuade my dad to come with me. Unfortunately, he would have none of it – now that would have been a night to remember if he’d have been there with me. I can still recall coming in the front door on my return home and hearing a Clinton Ford record playing on the gramophone player and my dad sitting in the armchair listening to it – my mother had long since gone upstairs to bed.
Sunday, 11th November 1962
The Beatles weren’t reportedly playing that night but nevertheless, I remember it well. It was a Hamburg send off for the Big Three, a trio I never got tired of watching play live. It’s one of the crimes of that Liverpool musical era that their driving sound and rawness was never able to be translated onto vinyl. I also remember that the Cavern had a very practiced habit of putting on these so-called farewell and welcome back nights for Hamburg bound groups.
Sunday, 20th January 1963
The Dennisons were supporting. At the time, the Dennisons were then a very young and up-and-coming group and locally they were making quite an impression with audiences wherever they played. I had a lot of time for their fresh style of performance.
Sunday, 3rd February 1963
Chance to see a group from Manchester, The Hollies. The place was absolutely packed that night, we had a devil of a job getting in, remember because we went without tickets expecting to pay on the door, the bouncers wouldn’t let us in until late and all the pre-booked ticket holders had been admitted.
Easter Good Friday, 12th April 1963
Three groups all on top form that night – The Beatles, Faron’s Flamingos and the Dennisons. This time because it was Good Friday we played safe and bought tickets nevertheless, it was shoulder-to-shoulder all that evening.
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Re: The Tower Ballroom – New Brighton
Called the Tower Ballroom because above it was originally an intended replica of the Eiffel Tower, Paris. Both Tower and Ballroom have long since gone from the New Brighton skyline. Arguably, the actual ballroom area was the largest of its kind to be then found anywhere on Merseyside and surrounding districts, reputed to be able accommodate near 5,000 patrons. That’s why it became a favourite venue for hosting multi-group events.
Above photograph taken of New Brighton Tower and Ballroom overlooking the River Mersey prior to the 1919 to 1921 dismantling of the actual tower for safety reasons. The remaining ballroom caught fire and was destroyed in 1969
Personally, I didn’t like the place, way too big and ornately decorated for my tastes. Another turn off was the well-earned reputation for mass fights breaking out on the dance floor. One used to get gangs of “scallies” [local Liverpool term for somebody who’s up to no good, an abbreviation of the word “scallywag”] turning up from all parts of Liverpool and Wirral in search of any excuse for some aggravation. And, being a licensed premises [able to sell alcohol] only had a tendency to make matters worse. If you were a lover not a fighter you had to tread very carefully around the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton.
Again looking at some of the available online timelines concerning this venue.
THE FIRST TIME I remember seeing The Beatles was at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton on Friday, 15th December 1961.
I recall it because not only did a few of us want to see and hear them for possibly the first time but it was also billed as a “for one night only” reunion of Cass and the Cassanovas. Cass / Brian Casser had previously split with the Cassanovas who has result changed their name to the Big Three. They came back together to do a one-off Cass and the Cassanovas farewell gig. I’m sure this is when we first noticed the leather jeans that The Beatles used to wear because it was for that time, very much fashion statement and an instant topic of conversation amongst us.
THE NEXT TIME I can recall seeing The Beatles at the Tower Ballroom was Friday, 6th April 1962.
I think I remember that another reason for going was we wanted to see The Seniors [lead by Howie Casey on saxophone] who I hadn’t seen play for ages. This particular group’s claim to fame is that when The Beatles went to Hamburg for the first time The Seniors were already there and playing at the Kaiserkeller.
THE NEXT Tower Ballroom TIME I remember was Thursday, 21st June 1962.
The Beatles were second billing to Bruce Channel and harmonica player Delbert McLinton – who I remember was particularly impressive. This is one of the gigs I can recall seeing Mona Best at.
THE NEXT TIME at the Tower Ballroom was on Friday, 12th October 1962
The Beatles [with Ringo Starr] were again second billing but this time to Little Richard. I seem to recall there had been a lot saturation advertising around the area over a number of weeks in order to guarantee as near 100% capacity as they could get. However, it somewhat fell apart a bit on the night. Group changeovers seemed to be taking ages to successfully complete which started to unsettle the audience and get them restless. With something like 10-group under bill, as the night wore on nobody seemed to know whose turn it was to come on stage and do a set. Pete Best was also there playing with the All Stars. Indeed, he got a very loud ovation when introduced onstage by (I think it was) Bob Wooler, regular DJ and master of ceremonies at the Cavern.
To read about many of the multi-group events that were hosted at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton in more depth go to…… http://mersey-beat.com/a-z/towerballroo ... hton.shtml
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Re: The Majestic Ballroom, Conway Street, Birkenhead.
The British Majestic Ballroom chain came about as result of the 1947 merger of The Rank Organisation with Gaumont Cinemas. However, during the 1960s they were ostensibly being utilised for large Bingo Game sessions that were socially very popular at the time amongst the older female population of the UK. When not in Bingo Game usage they would stage live entertainment events. The Majestic, Birkenhead was styled on your typical medium sized, UK city centre ballroom / bingo hall of the time. While in tidy decorative order, there was nothing really architecturally worth reporting that set it apart from any other of the Majestic Ballroom chain. Very much like looking at mountains, once you’ve seen one you’ve basically seen them all.
When The Beatles returned from Hamburg at the beginning of June 1962, Brian Epstein had managed to successfully persuade the Rank Organisation to book The Beatles into one of their Majestic Ballrooms, a then somewhat upmarket move from their usual type of venue. The particular Majestic Ballroom being the one on Conway Street in Birkenhead and only a short bus ride away from my front door. Reportedly starting from Thursday 28th June 1962 The Beatles performed at Birkenhead’s Majestic Ballroom 17 times (although, in all honesty I’m only taking the word of an unchecked online source for such numerical accuracy).
Once the Rank Organisation warmed to the idea, gigs were usually put on there every Thursday and Saturday evening. In retrospect, this was the venue where I got to see the near finished article close up, but in no way did any of us know what if fact we were witnessing. All in all, I’d say I saw some 8 of those reported Birkenhead Majestic performances that took place on a Thursday or Saturday evenings - I don’t think it went into double figures. Also if my arithmetic is correct, Pete Best was present at the first 5 of the 17. So, if my memory is not completely shot pieces by now, the final time I saw Pete Best playing with The Beatles would have been on either 19th or 28th July 1962. Also, about this time I was able to put a face to the name Brian Epstein. We obviously knew the name because of the family NEMS shops in Liverpool; we also knew that he’d signed The Beatles to a management contract; but not what any of us was really sure about was what he looked like. However, those who already knew soon pointed him out when he was seen inside the Majestic talking to the house management about supposedly, how things were working out.
Dress code rules inside the Ballroom were applied for both performers and audience alike. Suits, collars, ties and well-polished shoes were the masculine order of the evening. One could get away with loosening one’s collar and tie in there but if a jacket came off one would get a tap of the shoulder from the Majestic ‘security’ and a request to put it quickly back on again.
Entrance to the dance floor was in off the street via the obligatory queue - through the main doors - into the foyer – queue again to pay your money - through another set of doors - onto the dance floor - lots of floor space - say about 1,500 to fully pack the place out - surprisingly not a very big stage - well below average audience waist height - somewhat in the shape of an inverted horseshoe - performing groups and those at the front of the audience were within touching distance of one another - back of the stage was always curtained off with long ceiling to floor drapes.
Link to a series of four photographs taken during a Beatles performance at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead – reportedly on Wednesday, 10th April 1963 and therefore, two days after the birth of Julian Lennon.
http://www.beatlesource.com/savage/1963 ... estic.html
I seem to recall that the banner reference to “THE RANK TEENBEAT SHOW” visible in two of the photographs refers to the Rank Organisation’s at the time efforts to promote its Majestic Ballroom chain to a wider and younger type of audience throughout various cities in the UK.
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Re: The River Park Ballroom, Union Street, Chester (now a block of offices)
Ostensibly another venue that was being utilised for then popular Bingo Game sessions. Was called the River Park Ballroom because the rear ballroom area and stage (obscured in the photograph) extended out onto Grosvenor Park and a stone’s throw from the River Dee. Used to be the Kings Arm’s public house [pub] before the ballroom and stage was built on sometime before the Second World War. Not as big inside as the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead but nevertheless, could hold near a thousand. Had a slightly larger and more highly raised stage than the Majestic but with a much lower ceiling. Groups and patrons entered and exited by the door nearest to the lollipop shaped “No Entry” sign – only emergency exits were at the rear of the building as was the stage. Was located very close to residential property on Union Street so never stayed open late – usually come 23:20 everyone was out of there. After the Beatles appeared there, Thursdays became a regular evening date for Liverpool groups until final closure towards the end of 1963
Of the reported Thursday dates during the summer of 1962 that The Beatles played at the River Park Ballroom, Chester. We (being two of us) purposefully travelled by the train from Birkenhead to Chester on the last known advertised date of the quartet of bookings. Although, there appears to be some confusion with Beatles online timelines as to which Thursday was the actual last performance date at this venue. One says 6th September (2 days after recording Love Me Do in London) while another says it was a Thursday later on the 13th - so take your pick. Other than it being a pleasant summer’s evening, the reason for going somewhat out of our normal way to see The Beatles on this occasion was the opportunity to see Pete Best’s recent replacement Ringo Starr playing with them for our first time. As was later normal practice at such future River Park Ballroom Thursday gigs we attended, only one other group was performing in support that evening, on this occasion I think it was Gerry and the Pacemakers.
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Re: Pictorial link to a further three Wirral venues where The Beatles performed.
http://magicalbeatletours.com/tour_wirral.htm
In case one may not already be aware. The Wirral is the name of the peninsula that Birkenhead and the likes of New Brighton are located on. On one side is the River Dee and North Wales, on the other side is the River Mersey and Liverpool and out to sea is Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea. Brian Epstein via his business connections was very much responsible for getting The Beatles gig dates throughout this outside of Liverpool area of what was then, very much a distinct part of the County of Cheshire.
Re: Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight
At the time, I’m sure that none within our circle in fact knew that Saturday, 18th August 1962 would be Ringo Starr’s first official performance engagement with The Beatles at Hulme Hall. To the vast majority of people on the Wirral, Port Sunlight was a magical place and apparently trapped (thanks to soap and the Lever Brothers millions) in some imaginary age. The actual Hulme Hall was a perfectly proportioned venue, if somewhat on the small side, for any kind of musical event. While over the course of time there were occasional gigs held there (a few of which we went to) competition for its use from other types of music and social events meant that they were on an irregular basis. In all honesty, I can’t recall being there on any of the four reported dates when The Beatles played there.
Link to Port Sunlight’s website - http://www.portsunlight.org.uk/
Re: Victoria Hall, Bebington
Unlike Brian Epstein, I knew where it was and still is but I never had cause to go there.
Re: 18 Trinity Road, Hoylake
One learns something new everyday being that I never knew (until now that is) that Cynthia Lennon’s parents once lived in Hoylake. As the author’s description of the property suggests, a modest terraced Victorian “two-up-two-down” style dwelling that I suspect originally had an outside toilet and coal shed. Being than my grandparents used to live in a similar style property. More than likely and at a later date a two-storey extension was added the rear of the house to accommodate a down-stairs kitchen and eating area and an up-stairs bathroom and toilet.
Re: Thistle Café / Macdona Hall, West Kirby
If have bad memories of New Brighton then I only have good ones of West Kirby. On the banks of the River Dee, it had a very genteel seaside feel about the place. Spent many a happy family Summer Sunday afternoon there together with the occasional pot of tea and assorted cakes and delicacies in the Thistle Café. I vaguely remember the local newspaper adverts for the referred to “Grand Opening of the Beatle Club” but must have been doing something else that Thursday, 1st February 1962 evening because I wasn’t there.
Re: Heswell Jazz Club, Heswell
The three photographs of the interior of the quaintly named Barnston Women’s Institute say it better than I ever could. Expect for a few coats paint the place looks hardly changed to me. A typical example of wooden built multi purpose English village hall for general community use, travel round any number of out-of-town villages in England and one is bound to come across similar examples.
Now, I well recall going to the reported Tuesday, 25th September 1962 Beatles gig at the Heswell Jazz Club (and a few weeks after the River Park Ballroom, Chester gig) because a few weeks before, the same friend of mine who went with me to Chester had passed his UK Driving Test. Previous to taking his test he’d bought a 1955 black Ford Popular 103E of the type shown below from a friend of his father for the princely sum (so he told me) of £35 [$70].
....and no, the horse in the photograph was not included in the sale price - he had to buy it seperate.
Usually, I hardly ever went out to gigs on Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday evenings but on this occasion he talked me into going as a foursome with a girlfriend of his and another girl who I knew in a passing acquaintance sort of way. A further reason why I suspect he asked me to go was he knew I’d be the most likely to have enough spending money when Tuesdays came around after the weekends. So, being that Heswell Jazz Club was not a particularly large venue, tickets were duly purchased because by this time it was starting to get somewhat difficult to get into local Beatles gigs without a pre-bought ticket, such was the noticeable increase in the groups popularity. Recall it turned to be quite good Tuesday evening out because Heswell Jazz Club as a rule, attracted a more sober and thoughtful sort of audience from the usual Liverpool – Birkenhead turnouts I was used to. Not absolutely certain who was in support – could well have been the Remo Four.
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What was the sound like?
Not too sure exactly what is meant by this question. In the Cavern it was ear splitting, amps would appear to start visibly moving as the sound bounced off the walls, drums could be overpowering, vocals could get distorted during the high-energy numbers. It was an absolute waste of time trying to chat up some girl or other when the everything was going full blast – it all had to be done by some form of sign language.
Which reminds me of one the gags a particular joker amongst us was fond of pulling on occasions. He’d go up to a girl and pretend he was deaf. In his hand he would have a cheap notepad and a pencil stub and would start writing questions on the notepad for the girl to try and answer. If the girl didn’t feel like writing her answers down for him – then he’d quickly scribble I CAN LIP READ. Some of the questions he could get away with asking a girl by pretending to be deaf had to be read afterwards to be believed. Mind you it did backfire on him a few times, he did have to put up with a slapped face or a kicked shin on occasions but that never seemed to deter him from doing it again.
Under such high volume, fast tempo circumstances I always thought Paul McCartney coped better with the vocals than John Lennon did, who often seemed to be straining to reach and hold a vocal high point. When pace slowed down somewhat John came back into his own, there was arguably more emotion in his voice than Paul was able to muster. Personally I quite liked to hear John and George doing harmonies, one in particular that sticks in my mind was their version of Please Don’t Ever Change. The problem with George’s singing voice was while it was perfectly pleasant and good enough at times to hold its own against Paul’s and John’s – it didn’t have the power. But nevertheless, when George did step up to take the lead vocal, it came as a welcome change of pace. Because larger venues like the Majestic Ballroom were arguably better acoustically suited, bigger room, higher ceiling, better PA, the sound came across as lot cleaner and not so overpowering as the Cavern – still loud yes but not as ear splitting – vocals were less distorted.
All in all, if someone was to ask me how many times I saw The Beatles perform live before they went on the Ed Sullivan Television Show then I’d hazard a guess and say some 30 plus times. However, in all honesty, it was not till after June 1962 when they started to come over to the Birkenhead side on a fairly regular basis that I began to pay particular attention to them. Previously the group didn’t really figure all that prominently on my radar. While I was well aware that they were becoming very popular on the local club circuit I was nevertheless, neutral about them. There were other local groups on my favourite list that I’d just as sooner pay to watch play live as The Beatles. Iron Door Club stalwarts like the Big Three, Faron’s Flamingos and the Searchers are just three that spring readily to mind.
However, they say that clothes maketh the man because it was that around this time that The Beatles stagecraft and appearance became to look distinctly slicker and more polished from an audience’s perspective Those Beno Dorn suits were sharp and to me made all the difference – quite frankly, they began to look the “business”. I also can’t deny that Ringo Starr was changing the dynamics of the group. It was noticeable that George and Paul were talking to Ringo between numbers a lot more than they often appeared to do with Peter Best. This could well have had something to do with a familiarity bedding in process going on between the four of them but nevertheless, there seemed to be a lot more onstage chat going on.
I must admit that it came as a complete surprise to me when they oh so very gradually stated to perform a few of the first Lennon and McCartney penned songs. We all had no idea of the flood that was about come pouring out. The Beatles as singer / songwriters were something no of us had bargained for. And, to this day I still have problems comprehending, not so much their universal success but the breakneck speed that it all initially happened at – talk about pouring gasoline on fire.
That’s it – should keep everyone happy for a while – mind you it’s been interesting matching my near 45-year old memory with several of The Beatles online timeline sites – a far few of which (in my opinion) appear to be not all that reliable. I still say that arguably the best historian on the early Beatles was the person who was there on the spot at time – Bill Harry.
