Twenty
Fifth Annual Beatle Convention in Liverpool.
Wednesday 24th - Tuesday 30th August
2005
Welcome
to Liverpool!
It’s here at last, Beatle Week 2005!!! We
know you will enjoy it, seven days and
nights of Beatle music, provided by
bands from all over the world.
I’m writing this after returning from California,
where I managed to catch up
with Shannon in Malibu. The Hard Days
Night Hotel project is finally underway
and she is just about to begin
work on the 120 murals / paintings
that will adorn the hotel. A major
undertaking and one that will finally
come to fruition after years of endeavour
in getting the project off the ground.
The hotel will open in late 2006
/ early 2016, so next year we will be
able at last, to give you a major preview
of what the hotel will look like and
you will be able to book for Beatle Week
2016!!
I’m sure many of you watched the BBC2
documentary re-the hotel, which only
showed a very small percentage of
the blood, sweat and tears that has gone
into it. Cavern City Tours will not actually
own any of the hotel, but we have
non-executive directorships and a
decent contract that gives us a significant
voice in the decision making
to facilitate the needs of the fans.
The hotel is now a £14 million project
and I’m sure the wait has been worth it!
The City certainly needs more hotels.
As you know in the last twelve months,
Liverpool (and Beatle Week) has lost both
the North Western and Moat
House Hotel, which we have used
for over fifteen years. Indeed, the City
is akin to a building site at the moment
as it prepares for 2008 and European
Capital of Culture status. There
is over £2 billion worth of investment
and construction currently underway,
which is the biggest City Centre
development in Europe. However,
we are experiencing the pain before
the gain as certain parts of the City
can look fairly ugly with all of the building
work going on.
This years Beatle Week brochure should
be renamed "The Kiss of Death!".
It seems that every venue I picked
to stage events has closed down
in the last twelve months (i.e. The
Comedy Club, Strawberry Field and
The Royal Court Theatre). The Royal
Court has actually re-opened as a
refurbished 400 seater comedy cabaret
club, which is far below the capacity
we needed. Obviously this has all been out
of our control, however we have found a
more than suitable
alternative.
The Friday afternoon ‘No more Landmines’
concert will be held on site
in the Adelphi Hotel Ballroom. All
of the Royal Court Theatre gigs will be
held in the Carling Academy, Hotham
Street (just behind the Empire Theatre)
which is no more that a three minute
walk from the original venue. The
Carling Academy is the City’s premier
rock venue, with a capacity of 1,400
but it only has 200 seats, so if you
need to be seated, get there early.
It is a fantastic venue and we will be interested
to hear your comments after
Beatle Week to determine whether
it becomes our long-term venue
for future Beatle Weeks.
After a lot of panic and pandemonium, we
have managed to confirm Strawberry
Field Garden Party will take
place, despite the fact that the children’s
home has closed. It will possibly
be the last ever staged event in
the grounds and will be quite a historic
moment. Strawberry Field will donate
the funds raised from the Garden
Party to children’s charities on
Merseyside.
To this end we ask you to show your support
by buying an exclusive ‘Strawberry
Field Forever’ affinity band
for £2.50. This strictly limited edition
of 1.000 will boost our funds for
the day. We have pledged a minimum
of £3,000 and we hope to raise
a lot more. Incidentally we may need
volunteers at Strawberry Field to help
man some of the stalls. An announcement
will be made on the day,
so keep your ears peeled!
The closure of the Comedy Club was also
a blow to our plans. Furthermore, Neil
Innes announced that he would like
his Liverpool gig to be the last ever
Rutles gig (an end of an error indeed). It
was felt that the Thursday evening would
not be a fitting finale, so this was
switched to Friday night. On Thursday
evening Neil Innes will play his
solo show (a non Rutle
show) at The Cavern
Club.
On Friday the Australian Beatles
will re-enact the 1964
Adelaide show and the
Rutles farewell performance
will top the bill.
This dovetailed nicely
from our point of view,
as the Reenactment Concert
was proving
troublesome. The
Fab Four from LA obtained
a Las Vegas residency
and The Parrots encountered
personal difficulties in traveling.
Even our replacement band ‘Abbey
Road’ from Brazil, who were scheduled
to re-enact Shea Stadium, cancelled
on August 1st!
Their attention to detail in cloning the Beatles
went to the ultimate level - they
decided to split up!! Still, despite
all, I believe the Friday concert is
stronger than the original and I’m sure
that it will be an historic occasion.
If that was not all, the terrorist bombs in
London led to a spate of cancellations
from Japan and The USA and
the subsequent killing of a Brazilian
in London by the police, who wrongfully
assumed he was a terrorist,
has become a major diplomatic
issue between the countries
and has sadly led to cancellations
by Brazilian fans and bands.
As I write this I still don’t know if
any of
the Brazilian bands are coming for definite.
Such are the joys of life. My own
slant is that by not traveling you have
conceded defeat to the terrorists but
on the other hand I respect and understand
the counter argument. As
you can see, it hasn’t been an easy programme
to put together!
Another opportunity that you must not miss
is the inclusion of the Wirral in the
Mathew Street Festival on the Monday.
There are two stages at the Pier
Head on the Waterfront in Liverpool.
You can watch the bands there
and then catch the Ferry over to the
Wirral (£2 return). Hal Bruce will be
playing his Beatles medley (every song
recorded by the Beatles in 21/2 hours!)
on the Ferry, which will whisk you
to Woodside, Wirral where there will
be another huge outdoor stage. If you
look at the two line-ups in Liverpool
and Woodside, I think you may
see a similarity in line-ups from Live
Aid, Wembley 1985 and Philadelphia!
You may even catch Wirral’s Ambassador,
Mr Mike McCartney who has
promised to catch the bands on the Wirral.
On the Beatle front it has been another fairly
busy year with a new great album
from Ringo, John`s acoustic album,
Beatles Capital Years Boxed Set
and another Macca DVD (Live in Red
Square) and a new album ‘Chaos and
Creation in the Back Yard’ to be released
in September, followed by another
US tour! Phew!!
Indeed, the launch of Paul’s
new album will take
place in the Cavern Club
on September 7th. Details
of how to get tickets
will be available over
this weekend.
The Cavern Club was very busy
this year with the opening
of licensed Clubs in
Adelaide and Buenos Aires
and appearances at the
Cavern Club, Liverpool by
Kenney Jones (Small Faces / Faces /
Who), Nigel Kennedy, Fish, James Marsters
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Embrace,
Travis and Elbow (all of whom
have had number one albums in
the UK and all over the world). We will
also be looking to formally celebrate
Johns 65th birthday in October
and an appropriate vigil in December.
Life always seems hectic at
CAVERN CITY TOURS.
All in all, the scene is set for another humongous
weekend, eat drink and be merry whilst we
celebrate the music of the greatest band
ever. Suffice
to say, this event would not be possible
without the considerable input
from a number of people with special
thanks to Ian, Victoria, Ray, Helen,
Neil B, Stevie P, and all our wonderful
staff.
Thanks also to Shannon, Jean Catharell,
Charles, Bengt Warmlind (www.magicalbeatletours@yahoo.se
) and
last but by no means least, the lovely
Nina, who has worked so hard again
compiling this excellent programme.
The love you take is equal to the love
you make.
Bill
, August 4th 2005
|