Yet Another Beatles Anniversary

Three years before they went to America for the first time, and 50 years ago today, the Beatles (with Pete Best, not Ringo Starr, on drums) played the first of their 292 gigs at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

One of the lucky few at their first performance was Alex McKechnie, then a 16-year-old message boy in a printing factory. “It was atmospheric though not very crowded,” said McKechnie, now a director of the annual Mathew Street festival. “They were sarcastic, always acting the goat and cracking jokes.”   Unlike other bands at that time, they wore leather bomber jackets and Cuban heels.  McKechnie added: “They would count in the songs by banging their heels on the hollow stage – they created a lot of excitement in the room. They weren’t like any other band on the circuit.”

The locals are throwing a party today.

The Beatles’ First US Tour

On February 7, 1964 — exactly fifty years to the day after Charlie Chaplin unleashed the Little Tramp to conquer the world — the Beatles arrived in New York and the next British Invasion was officially launched.

Their first appearance was on the “Ed Sullivan Show” two days later, and their first US concert, at the Coliseum in Washington DC was on the 11th. A few more shows and they were back in England on the 22nd; just two weeks and the Beatle’s first US tour was over. But it sure left its mark.