The Beatles in Tenbury Wells
The band played a tiny venue in Worcestershire, just as they were starting to make it big.
In 1963, the band was at the start of a meteoric rise, turning them into the biggest group on the planet.
Yet, in the middle of their first UK headline tour, the Fab Four played the tiny Riverside Dancing Club, in Tenbury Wells.
Their manager, Brian Epstein, honoured a gig made when the Beatles were just another struggling band from Liverpool.
Please Please Me, their second single, had gone to number one (or number two, depending on which chart you believe) and thanks to an appearance on the ATV show Thank Your Lucky Stars (filmed in Birmingham), they were suddenly in demand by every concert venue in the country.
1962 had seen the band playing lunchtime gigs at The Cavern Club, in Liverpool.
A year later they were touring the biggest venues on the British rock circuit as a headline act, and on their way to topping the bill at the NME Poll Winners concert at the Empire Pool Wembley, and the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre, in London.
It would have been easy for Epstein to pull out of the gig in Tenbury, now that his group was the hottest thing around, but he was a man of his word, and so the Beatles duly turned up in Worcestershire on 15 April 1963.
In the pre-Bealtlemania days they were able to stroll along the High Street, even stopping to get Ringo an ice-cream.
The band at that time was also playing great Rock 'n' Roll - honed during all those hours playing at The Cavern and at clubs in Hamburg.
Image by John Hillier.
Duration:
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Featured Artist | The Beatles |
This clip is from
More clips from People's History of Pop
-
The Gaumont, Worcester
Duration: 06:30
-
Frank Freeman's club in Kidderminster
Duration: 09:44
-
Kidderminster Town Hall
Duration: 08:20
-
The 1600 Club and The Newmarket, Hereford
Duration: 02:04
More clips from Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Hereford & Worcester Special
-
The Gaumont, Worcester
Duration: 06:30
-
Frank Freeman's club in Kidderminster
Duration: 09:44
-
Kidderminster Town Hall
Duration: 08:20
-
The 1600 Club and The Newmarket, Hereford
Duration: 02:04