Houston, we have pre-Ringo Beatles
Posted on June 26, 2007
Filed Under News
Before the Beatles were The Beatles, four lads named John, Paul, George and Pete (yes, even before Ringo) were the house band at a hot, sweaty basement coffeehouse called the Casbah Club on a residential street in Liverpool.
The first act to play the Casbah Club in 1959 was the Quarrymen, with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ken Brown.
“Hi, everyone, welcome to the Casbah, we are the Quarrymen, and we are going to play you some rock ‘n’ roll,” said Lennon.
The last act to play on closing night in 1962 was the Beatles. In between, with Pete Best on drums, the Beatles played the Casbah Club more than 90 times. This small club in the basement, where no beer was sold — only coffee and Cokes — would be packed with 1,300 soaking-wet, perspiring fans literally crammed into restrooms, hanging from the rafters and spilling into the big backyard to hear the Beatles.
When the Casbah closed, the Beatles were only weeks from signing a record contract that would launch worldwide hysteria known as Beatlemania. Best, whose family owned the Casbah Club and lived upstairs, would not be along for the ride. He was asked to leave the Beatles the same month the Casbah closed.
Friday (June 29th) night, the Pete Best Band will re-create the early, hard-rocking sound of the pre-mania Beatles at Dan’s Electro Guitar Bar, 1031 E. 24th St., Houston, Texas.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Showtime is 9:30 p.m., and you can hang out until 2 a.m. Tickets are $25 at the door.
“I’ve had this band for the past six years. They’re guys from Liverpool, and we’re going to play very much the music I was associated with in the early ’60s — stuff I played with the Beatles at the Casbah and in Hamburg and during our auditions with Polydor and Decca,” Best said via phone from Liverpool, where he runs the Casbah as a tourist attraction now. The building was recently named a national historic monument.
“We are not a Beatles cover band, but we do bring back the energetic savage band the Beatles were when they played the Casbah. We want you to experience what a night at the Casbah was like in 1961, when the music was so great, and great memories were being formed. We do a wide range of songs that we did then, but there are some Beatles songs in the set, songs I played, like P.S. I Love You and I Saw Her Standing There. We do Twist and Shout, too. I must warn the audience to come prepared to sing along with us, too.”
After the show, Best will mingle with the audience, autograph merchandise for sale at the show and answer every question you can fire his way about the early days of the Beatles.
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4 Responses to “Houston, we have pre-Ringo Beatles”
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Hi
I know what you mean and agree the feeling of jamming in Casbah was like in 1961 is very overwhelming.
You know maybe you could add some video clips of your jammin session, I know this is a year old post but if you are updating, I love to see them if you have.
Thanks
Aways feel a little sad for poor old Pete Best.
Bit like the guy who lost a winning lottery ticket.
i have a beatles vinyl its they 1st recordings in hamburg 1961 n wondering what it is worth
Do not touch my Beatles!