Here, There And Everywhere

Spencer Leigh joins in the festivities for Liverpool’s Beatle Week

The celebrations in Liverpool over the August bank holiday weekend are becoming so extensive that they could rival the Notting Hill Carnival. The Mathew Street Festival, which started off in the Cavern Quarter, now takes over the centre of Liverpool with huge stages at the Pier Head, in the main city streets and also in the Wirral, not to mention scores of events in pubs and clubs. It was an exhilarating feeling to be in the midst of 40,000 people at the Pier Head singing “sha la la, la la la la” as Tony Christie showed us the way to Amarillo.

The Beatles are more associated with Kensington in London than Kensington in Liverpool but in 1958 they made their way to Percy Phillips’ studio where, as The Quarry Men, they recorded That’ll Be The Day and In Spite Of All The Danger. The whole of Liverpool is currently one giant building site and as a part of Kensington Regeneration, a plaque had been prepared to acknowledge the latest “Birthplace of The Beatles”. The plaque was unveiled by local DJ and celebrity Billy Butler, who used to be part of the jury on Thank Your Lucky Stars. Colin Hanton and John Duff Lowe from The Quarry Men, Percy Phillips’ daughter and John Lennon’s half-sister were also there. Much as I applaud the event, mention should have been …

by Spencer Leigh
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