The Beatles: Rare images of early Cavern Club performance uncovered

Music
03 Oct 22

The Beatles performing at The Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961. Credit TRACKS LTD/PA.

The photos were taken in July 1961, over a year before the four-piece dropped their debut single 'Love Me Do'.

Two rare photographs of The Beatles during an early performance at Liverpool's Cavern Club have been found.

The photos show Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the microphone, with George Harrison on guitar and a partly-obscured original drummer Pete Best. Best left the band in 1962 and was replaced by Ringo Starr.

The images were taken in July 1961, over a year before the four-piece dropped their debut single 'Love Me Do'.

The Beatles performing at The Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961. Credit TRACKS LTD/PA.

Mark Lewisohn, Beatles historian and author of multiple reference books about the band, explained: "Set inside Liverpool's cramped and dank Cavern Club, these previously unseen photos capture The Beatles playing for a lunchtime or evening audience in July 1961.

"Just back from Hamburg - slogging 500 stage hours in 90 days - The Beatles are whippet-thin under-nourished lads of 20 (John), 19 (Paul and Pete), and 18 (George)."

He continued: "So slender has this marathon made them, it's as if their heads and bodies are stranger. A look emphasised by the unusual clothes - leather trousers and cotton tops. No other photos show them dressed this way.

"Days later, Brian Epstein saw The Beatles in the Cavern, offered to become their manager and set them on (a) course that changed our world."

Three months on, John Lennon and Paul McCartney travelled to Paris and returned with what became known as 'The Beatle haircut', Lewinsohn said. The mid-length hairstyle is a straight cut that was popularised by the band – collar-length at the back and over the ears at the sides, with a straight fringe.

A few days ago, The Beatles’ first ever colour photograph has been revealed. Taken by Paul McCartney’s brother in 1958, when the band was still known as The Quarrymen, it shows George Harrisons's first performance with the group.

This October 28 will see the release of a range of Special Edition packages of The Beatles' seventh studio album Revolver, which originally came out on 5 August 1966. The "beautifully presented, newly-mixed and expanded Special Edition packages" will feature the 14 tracks of the original album, mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell.