Reliving The Beatles' Cavern debut
It was 50 years ago today that The Beatles played their first gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool - the venue where the band built their reputation and where Beatlemania was born.
Alex McKechnie, then 16, was in the crowd for that first show and went on to be a regular at the club:
"I saw The Beatles a few times in the north end of Liverpool and was working in Liverpool city centre as a messenger boy in a printing works when I heard that they were on at the Cavern in a lunchtime session.
"The Cavern was in the basement of a three or four storey warehouse. The public went down one flight of stone stairs and then there were three long arches.
"At the end of one of the long arches was a little tiny stage. That's where the Beatles performed 292 times.
"I remember it being very highly charged with excitement. The music sounded even more exciting [than the previous gigs] because The Cavern was this little squashed space so the music sounded a bit louder, a bit more exciting and a bit more vital. About 20 to 30 people were there....
Read entire article at BBC News
Alex McKechnie, then 16, was in the crowd for that first show and went on to be a regular at the club:
"I saw The Beatles a few times in the north end of Liverpool and was working in Liverpool city centre as a messenger boy in a printing works when I heard that they were on at the Cavern in a lunchtime session.
"The Cavern was in the basement of a three or four storey warehouse. The public went down one flight of stone stairs and then there were three long arches.
"At the end of one of the long arches was a little tiny stage. That's where the Beatles performed 292 times.
"I remember it being very highly charged with excitement. The music sounded even more exciting [than the previous gigs] because The Cavern was this little squashed space so the music sounded a bit louder, a bit more exciting and a bit more vital. About 20 to 30 people were there....