Hello (Hamburg) Goodbye (Liverpool)

"We were born in Liverpool, but grew up in Hamburg." - John Lennon

In my last post, I mentioned writing a blog about Beatlemania in Hamburg. Here it is; If you like the Beatles, enjoy. Although, you should love them, not just like.

When I first found out I was going to Hamburg (to take the GRE), I started researching the best things to do. Lo and behold, through my Germany Travel book, I found out that Hamburg is the city where The Beatles got their start. I had no idea. So when I found this out, I made a plan and list of all the places Beatle-related to go in Hamburg. There are quite a few. The most important are: The Indra Club, The Kaiserkeller, The Star Club, BeatlesPlatz, and the Beatlemania museum. The first three are the bars/clubs where they played during their time in Hamburg. The BeatlesPlatz is a square dedicated to The Beatles, with sculptures. The last, is of course, a museum of their history starting with their beginning in Hamburg and ending with facts about where they are now. If you ever go to Hamburg, I suggest visiting these places. I learned all of this information from the Beatlemania museum in Hamburg, and am typing from memory, so if any facts are a bit off, forgive me.

To begin, I want to explain the area a little bit. Hamburg is known for Reeperbahn Strasse, where the red-light district is located. It's supposed to put the red-light districts of Amsterdam and Las Vegas to shame. I walked along there around 8pm one night and it was pretty sketchy. I didn't feel like I was in any danger, but the people that hang out there are of a semi-sketchy variety, to put it nicely (is that nicely?). So, you have Reeperbahn, which is filled with all kinds of shady clubs and shops. Along Reeperbahn, you have the Beatles Platz. Platz means square basically, when using it in these terms. So, Beatles Square is right in the busiest section of Reeperbahn. This is where Reeperbahn meets GrosseFreiheit Strasse. GrosseFreiheit is interesting to look at and walk down. It's a pretty skinny street, open pretty much only to foot traffic as a rule at night. And there are so many lights. All of the clubs, bars, and shops are competing for the biggest and brightest sign as to outshine their neighbors and be noticed. I stood there for a while, just trying to look at all the signs. The three clubs where The Beatles played are on GrosseFreiheit.

The beginning of Grosse Freiheit

Now that I have explained the area a little bit, on to some Beatletrivia. So, the first club that The Beatles started playing at in Hamburg was The Indra Club. At the time, in 1960, the band included George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Pete Best, and Stu Sutcliffe, and they were just playing in small bars around Liverpool. When they got an offer to play in Hamburg for a few months, they accepted. So the fab five began their stint in Hamburg.

Plaque on The Indra Club, which is still standing and functioning as a local watering hole

Their contract with the Indra Club required them to play 4 hour sets Sunday through Monday, and 6 hour sets of Friday and Saturday. Their rooms were windowless boxes, and they had to shower in sinks in the public bathroom. Supposedly unsuspecting customers would just walk in on them while they were "showering". They could not have smelled good. After a few months at the Indra, the club was shut down, and they began playing at the owner's nearby club, The Kaiserkeller.

Their first night at the Kaiserkeller, they shared the stage with a band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, taking turns playing. Can you guess who their drummer was? Yep, Ringo Starr. They continued playing at the Kaiserkeller and Ringo would hang out and listen to them play, becoming friends. Around this time is also when they met a group of young artists/photographers. Among them was Astrid Kercherr, who later became Stu's fiance.

Because of their growing popularity, The Beatles were soon offered another contract taking the place of Tony Sheridan and the Jets for a nearby, more popular club, The Top Ten Club. As the owner of The Kaiserkeller was not fond of this idea, he had George Harrison deported on the grounds that he was only 17 and therefore not old enough to work in Germany. The rest of the Beatles continued to play for a while until Paul and Pete were also deported for setting a fire behind the theatre where they lived, which was attached to the club. John followed Pete and Paul, but Stu stayed behind and moved in with Astrid, living in the attic of her parent's house.

Their hiatus from Hamburg didn't last long. A few months later (after Harrison turned 18), the group returned to Hamburg to play at The Top Ten Club. At the new club, their fame only continued to grow. Stu left the band shortly to attend art school (he was always a painter first, musician second) and continue his relationship with Astrid. The Beatles began backing Tony Sheridan, and got their first recording by backing him in a recording of "My Bonnie". It was this recording that got Brian Epstein's attention and decided him to sign on as The Beatles' manager.

In 1962, The Beatles returned to Hamburg again to play at The Star Club. Arriving, they learned that Stu had died earlier that day. He had collapsed at Astrid's house and died on the way to the hospital, 21 years old. A few days later, they began playing at The Star Club, along with Little Richard and Gene Vincent.

They played here for about a month, and during their break, hopped over to Abbey Road Studios in London for an audition. A few months later, Pete Best was fired and replaced by Ringo Starr. No one knows exactly why except for The Beatles and Pete Best. Some say it was mutual, some say Harrison, McCartney and Lennon were jealous. Some say Epstein thought that Starr had more talent and stage charisma. It's a mystery. But Pete Best went on to have a soaring career. Fans of The Beatles, who were outraged of Best's dismissal, stayed extremely loyal to him and he still tours the world with his band.

After their single of "P.S. I Love You/Love Me Do" was released in the UK, The Beatles returned to Hamburg to play at The Star Club again from October 1962 through New Years, taking about a month's break in the middle. After that, they returned to the UK where they skyrocketed to fame. But without Hamburg, who knows where they would be? I wonder if we ever would have heard of them. I'm glad Hamburg happened.

Signing the wall in the Beatlemania museum.

P.S. I suggest checking out Astrid's photos of The Beatles, which she took while she was friends with them in Hamburg. They're some of my favorite photos of them and you can see some pictures of the 5th Beatle, Stu.