Post by yerblues1968 on Dec 4, 2008 0:11:25 GMT -5
HAMBURG ST. PAULI GETS ITS OFFICIAL BEATLES MEMORIAL AT LAST
The opening ceremony of The Beatles Platz in Hamburg on September 11, 2008.
"All you need is..." patience and money. 28 years after the then completely unknown Beatles played their first gig in Hamburg, and seven years after the idea was born of honouring the band with a memorial square, the legendary mop tops are back in the city. The Beatles laid the foundation stone of their career in the early 1960s in the Hamburg neighbourhood of St. Pauli. It is there where five stainless steel sculptures now depict the musicians, doing what they did best.
The Beatles-Platz Square: A Spinning Turntable in Hamburg, Germany.
The square, located in the middle of Hamburg's red light strip, is shaped like a giant vinyl record with a diameter of 29 metres. It stirs up memories of a time when hardly anyone knew the boys from Britain, and when the local music clubs were bustling with young musicians and beat bands on every stage. From London and English port city Liverpool came bands that played for hours, day by day and night by night. This is why the "Hamburg Sound" is credited for playing a vital role in the development of beat music.
More photos of The Beatles-Platz in Hamburg, Germany.
August 1960: the Beatles from Liverpool play their first gig in Hamburg's Indra club. For 30 Deutschmarks a day each, they would play for four-and-a-half hours on weekdays and six hours on Saturdays, as Beatles expert Ulf Krueger writes in his books. For two years, the Beatles played in clubs along Hamburg's Reeperbahn and Grosse Freiheit. After Indra and Kaiserkeller followed the Top Ten Club and the famous Star-Club.
Under "The Silver Beetles" name, is a contract of their first trip to Hamburg
with the Jacaranda Club.
The Grosse Freiheit where The Beatles performed in 1960 as it appears today. A plaque is at the entrance commemorating The Beatles performances at different clubs in Hamburg.
The Beatles' first Hamburg Club performance was at the Indra Club (also in Grosse Freiheit) on August 18, 1960.
After performing at the Indra Club, the Beales moved to The Kaiserkeller.
An early photo of John Lennon at the Top Ten Club,
136 Reeperbahn, St. Pauli, Hamburg, Germany in April 1961,
and John walking in Hamburg in his underwear.
A photo of John Lennon at the Star Club in 1962. The Star Club opened on Friday, April 13, 1962 and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. The club closed on December 31, 1969, and the building it occupied was destroyed by a fire in 1987. The address in Hamburg area St. Pauli was: Grosse Freiheit 39. The Beatles played at the Star Club from April 13, 1962 (when it opened) to May 31, 1962 and started another round of performances on November 1, 1962. The Beatles last performance at the Star Club was December 31, 1962.
www.center-of-beat.com/
www.starclub-hamburg.com/
Construction costs for the square amounted to 550,000 euros (776,000 US-Dollars), of which 350,000 were donated by the city. The remaining 200,000 euros were raised from sponsors and donors. Local radio station Oldie 95 came up with the idea to erect a memorial in honour of Lennon (1940-1980), McCartney (born 1942), Harrison (1943-2001), Starr (born 1940), Best (1941) and Sutcliffe (1940-1962), in 2001.
An early photo of George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and John Lennon. The first record by The Beatles
in Germany is called, My Bonnie, as backup band to Tony Sheridan as "The Beat Brothers" aka The Beatles.
The salon where The Beatles received their famous haircuts and the apartment where they stayed in Germany.
"It is about time that Hamburg commemorated this great band," said Mayor Ole von Beust during the inauguration. Directed at critics who complained about the length of time it took to happen, he said: "Better now than never."
The Beatles-Platz opening ceremony in Hamburg, Germany on September 11, 2008. Part 1. (6:36 minutes)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TaAJ8NwCf0
The Beatles-Platz opening ceremony in Hamburg, Germany on September 11, 2008. Part 2. (5:11 minutes)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAPTaUu8Li8
Sources: dpa, pa.
www.germanyandafrica.diplo.de/Vertretung/pretoria__dz/en/05__German__Life/Reiseland__Deutschland/Beatlerplatz.html
Hamburg is Germany's Port of Rock 'n' Roll
www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=821053&lang=eng_news