Famous groups playing in The Cavern.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 12:38 am

Of course we all know The Beatles played there a lot, and of course we know that every popular group in Liverpool played there too, but in 1962/1963, the club was booking popular acts from the South of England. The Shadows played for a full house at The Cavern in 1962. The early Rolling Stones played there at least twice, in late 1963 and early 1964, with fabulous success. The Kinks also played at The Cavern a couple of times, in 1964, before 'You Really Got Me', and they were filmed for a TV show. Of course, The Hollies played a lot at The Cavern, all along mid to late 1963 and probably in 1964, too. I´m not sure, but I think The Small Faces were booked too in 1965. I have to check this, but even the early Who might have played at The Cavern.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 1:13 am

I have checked up the concert schedule of The Small Faces from 1965 to 1967, and indeed they played at The Cavern... the London 'Cavern' at Leicester Place! The SF didn´t played in Liverpool until 1967, mid-March, and they did it at the 'Empire'. Strangely, the band played a lot in Manchester in 1965, 1966 and 1967, both in clubs and ballrooms, but they did avoid Liverpool for one reason or another (probably because top mods like The SF were not too well welcomed in a city like Liverpool).

The Who did played at The Cavern, in Liverpool. It was in October 31, 1965. Only one concert. They never returned to the club.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 3:47 am

Miguel: Let's throw in the Yardbirds with "Smokestack Lightning" and "Boom Boom" for good measure.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 4:51 am

Yes indeed, it´s true! I forgot The Yardbirds. I believe that Wilson Picket appeared at The Cavern, too. And Dave Berry, the british singer. He even recorded some songs there. And The Rattles, from Hamburg, a heavily Beatles influenced band. They even had a residency at The Cavern.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 7:02 am

My understanding is the interior walls of the Cavern are stone or brick. That must have an impact on the sound of the music, very echo-y, booming. Probably great for the bands. Has anyone on this forum been to and heard music performed at the original Cavern?

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 10:02 am

Sorry, Jerry, just one more group to 'The Cavern' list: The Animals. They played at 'The Cavern' in December 1963. Their repertoire included 'Boom, Boom', 'Dimples' and 'Almost Grown'. This was before they left Newcastle for London.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:29 pm

The interior walls if 'The Cavern' were made of heavy bricks. It seems that the cellars were made in the late XVIII or early XIX, for storage purposes, although I have heard that they could have been built earlier, and could have been used for the slave trade. Spencer Leigh says that in the XIX century, the cellars were used for storage, from Irish beacon to wine and spirits. Around the II World War, the cellars were abandoned for a while, but soon were used again, this time as a egg-packing little factory. From 1956 on, the cellars became 'The Cavern Club'.

From 1956 to 1962, the equipment that the groups were using wasn´t very powerful. But when the bands improved on that, and started using 'Vox' amplifiers for the guitars and more powerful home-made amps for the basses (just like Adrian Barber´s) the sound became very impressive. Dust and other debris felt from the archs everytime Johnny Gustafson used his Barber-made 'Coffin' bass amp! It seems that the sound didn´t bounce, for the main archway was very narrow and not very high, nor it was and echo-y sound. They say that it was a very compact sound. If you listen to the EP that The Big Three recorded at 'The Cavern', you will see what I mean.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:32 am

In keeping with our discussion of the interior walls of the Cavern, here is a photo of John Mayall leaning against one of them. Here he is backstage in 1964.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:42 am

Very good one, Peter! I have found a couple not dissimilar to this one. One shows an arch, behind George Harrison, in late 1962 or early 1963. The other shows the winner of a RM version of a Rickenbacker 325 (the 'Beatlebacker'), which was the first prize of a contest held by a british music paper in early 1964. The picture was taken inside 'The Cavern' and shows the winner, the guitar and (if I remember well), Bob Wooler. I´ll post them as soon as possible. Both shows the interior walls of the club.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:43 am

Sorry for the grammar mistakes, I wrote it in a hurry!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:01 pm

It's unusual for a room with brick walls to sound good, usually they are very loud and echoey and all you can hear are the guitars, cymbals and snare, I played in too many cellars and garages (and bad sounding clubs) when I was a kid. The low ceiling would help a lot though.
Drummers and guitar players usually like them though.
Must have been quite a place.

carr · Post by **carr** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:34 pm

Jerry Juden Wrote"My understanding is the interior walls of the Cavern are stone or brick. That must have an impact on the sound of the music, very echo-y, booming. Probably great for the bands. Has anyone on this forum been to and heard music performed at the original Cavern?"

I played there in around 66/67 at the Age of 17 or 18. It was A dank "cellar" . we came in through a side door off Mathews? street at about 3am to perform at 4am at an all night rave having already done two Gigs that night. I have the impression the walls were painted. It was hot and sweaty and PACKED with people. Bob Wooler may have been the DJ but I do remember Billy Butler did our Intro. He had been the Dj at the previous night club gig ( the Blue flame or bluelight in Wigan , I think).I dont recall any issues with the sound . The major issue was staying awake

Migue; wrote " The interior walls if 'The Cavern' were made of heavy bricks. It seems that the cellars were made in the late XVIII or early XIX, for storage purposes, although I have heard that they could have been built earlier, and could have been used for the slave trade. Spencer Leigh says that in the XIX century, the cellars were used for storage, from Irish beacon to wine and spirits."

That sounds pretty much as I recall it

John

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:44 am

John: would you please tell us the name of the band you played with? Would you please share with us some more memories about 'The Cavern' and the mid-sixties Liverpool? Thank you!

carr · Post by **carr** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:05 am

" John: would you please tell us the name of the band you played with? Would you please share with us some more memories about 'The Cavern' and the mid-sixties Liverpool? Thank you!"

Not much more to recall. We were based in Wolverhampton about 70 miles away and Our appearance at the Cavern was a one time only. Im not sure which Incarnation we were at that time .Either The Talisman or Intent n' Purpose. ( Cant think why we were called that . Must have seemed like a good idea at the time). As I posted earlier , it was 4 am and still full of people . There was a band on before us called the Wild Wild Clubs and,man, they were wild.. also a 3 piece with an asian ( chinese) lead guitarist who did a great version of Jeffs Boogie. It was all a bit of a blur 3 gigs in one Friday night then back to Wolverhampton and onto our regular circuit on Saturday night. In those days almost every pub had at least one night with a band . The cavern was really just one part of the Liverpool scene , as I understand it. We never went back to Liverpool until a couple of years later when it was more organised and agency controlled.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 12:41 am

Thank you very much, John!