Debbie Greenberg, our resident Cavern Club expert, looks back at the very first time The Beatles appeared at the legendary Cavern Club. In an excerpt from her book, Cavern Club: The Inside Story, Debbie discusses The Beatles debut.
“The Cavern’s identity started to change at the start of the decade. Rock ‘n’ roll replaced jazz and the Cavern became the heart that gave Mersey its beat.
“We watched The Beatles debut at The Cavern lunchtime session on 9th February 1961. We were blown away. The Beatles were different, their music was incredible, their appearance raunchy, their energy infectious. They just oozed excitement.
“Six weeks later on the 23rd March, after a lunchtime session at the Cavern, they jumped on a train at Liverpool’s Lime Street Station on their way to Hamburg for a second time having previously played there in 1960.
We Missed Them
“This time they sped out of our lives for four months. We missed them, but still went down to the Cavern to watch the other groups, like Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Singing Blue Genes, The Remo Four, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes and many more.
“They were all fabulous groups but they weren’t The Beatles.
Exactly three years to the day from their debut at The Cavern Club in front of a couple of hundred fans, they appeared in front of 73 million Americans on the Ed Sullivan Show.
What a journey they had made in just three years.
Find out more about the story of The Cavern Club in Debbie’s book, Cavern Club: The Inside Story.
Cavern Club – The Inside Story
This first-hand account of Debbie’s teen years frequenting and eventually helping to run the original Cavern Club is the authentic inside story of the Beatles launch pad, full of triumphs and failures – and surprise celebrity encounters.
