60 Years of the Cavern at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Review
60 Years of the Cavern
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
15-16 January 2017
Reviewed by Jan Mellor
When I heard about the show – a celebration of 60 years (to the day!) that the Cavern opened, I was very keen to take my 83-year-old mum along. She often reminisced about the days she and Pat (Cilla Black) worked at the entrance of the club and hoped that the evening would bring her fond memories. The Philharmonic was an apt and prestigious venue to hold the event and as we entered it was evident that it was a packed show. The event was introduced by the present director of the club and he explained that earlier today a statue of Cilla Black had been unveiled to mark this iconic date – 16.1.57 the date 60 years ago that the club opened – mum already had tears in her eyes. To make the evening even more special it was lovely to know that all proceeds were going to a children’s charity.
The band for the evening were called The Overtures and they explained that in the very early days the club was predominately a jazz club and that artists Mersey City Jazz Band, Lonny Donnigan and a skittle band The Quarrymen (including two young lads Paul McCartney and John Lennon) took to the small stage. The show was told as a story through the decades of the Cavern and the band opened with the Beatles “When I saw her standing there” from the outburst of their fame in 1961 (followed by 292 times playing at the Cavern) and then moved effortlessly covering the decade of the 60’s onto The Hollies, The Moody Blues, the Animals, The Kinks, the Yardbirds, The Zombies and Herman’s Hermits.
Throughout the songs there were screens showing original footage of the club’s punters and the bands on stage and this made the decades ‘come alive’ and felt really authentic. A singer, Melissa, gave a great rendition of ‘You are my world’ when they did a tribute to Cilla – my mum was in her element! The Overtures continued through the bands playing The Mersey Beats, Gerry and the Pacemakers (the iconic Ferry Across the Mersey – of course), Manfred Man, Gene Vincent, Donavan, The Rolling Stones, The Spencer Davis Group, Chuck Berry, The Who and Chris Farlowe (who incidentally I was told by the gentleman next to me, was playing to a select few at the Cavern at this very moment). Before the band moved to the 70’s – the clip showed a visit by the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Yes – this venue was some place and anyone who was anyone wanted to play/be there. As someone who grew up in Liverpool, the black and white photos of the streets of these times – kids playing skittles, the horse-drawn rag and bone men and the tumbled down terraces – made me feel very nostalgic and ‘at home’.
In 1974 the original Cavern was knocked down (to enable tube lines) and was moved to a temporary site. At this site the Overtures played the groups who had played there that included Rod Stewart, Lindisfarne, Travis, ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder, The Artic Monkeys and a very authentic Freddie Mercury as Queen. In 1984 the new Cavern was built adjacent to the original site – all was resumed. Again, the band brought us up to date with artists from the Cavern including Adele, Elbow and a gig from 2014 when Paul McCartney visited his old haunt once more. The backdrop of clips and memories reached a great impact when for the finale (and to a standing ecstatic crowd) the clips showed all the artists from the 60 years at the Cavern who had deceased starting with a clip of John Lennon and George Harrison to the backing of ‘Hey Jude’ (I was in tears now!)
Credit: Steve Hale
It was a celebration of all the wonderful bands that have played at the little underground ‘insignificant cave’ most of whom went on to make a huge success. It was on for only 2 nights – one being the exact date 60 years on that it opened – and so for the audience this event was very significant and meaningful. I felt honoured that I had the opportunity to attend this ‘one-off’ event.
The band were excellent and were able to sing any genre of songs. The backdrop photographs captured the attitude, atmosphere and culture of the last 6 decades amazingly. If there were similar events held in the future – I would definitely attend.
Absolutely Brilliant!
Rating: 5/5 
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BP | 0151 709 3789
