Early Days at The Cavern Club [VIDEO]

On March 21, 1961, The Beatles played the Cavern Club at night for the first time. “We used to play lunchtime dates” George Harrison recalled. “We’d get up and go down to the Cavern and play from noon till about two. It was very casual. We’d have our tea and sandwiches and cigarettes onstage, sing a couple of tunes and tell a few jokes.”

Many of the Beatles’ early moments took place at the Cavern. Brian Epstein walked over from his nearby record store and first saw the band perform on November 9, 1961 and became their manager shortly thereafter. Ringo Starr made his first appearance at the Cavern on August 19, 1962 having replaced Pete Best a few days earlier. Some fans chanted “Pete forever, Ringo never!”

The last of the band's 292 performances at the Cavern was on August 3, 1963. “It was a claustrophobic hell” Paul McCartney told BBC Radio in 1982. “But it was a great one.”

The Cavern closed in 1973 and was demolished to make way for a railway ventilation shaft.

TonyReset, YouTube