I WAS THERE WHEN THE BEATLES PLAYED THE CAVERN (2011)
I Was There…When the Beatles Played The Cavern tells the story of the underground venue which has become synonymous with one of the world’s greatest bands – The Beatles. The programme features many original Beatles recordings and includes rare archive footage of the Cavern Club in the sixties, including film of The Beatles performing ‘Some Other Guy’ at the club. On 9 February 1961, having recently returned to Liverpool from performing in Hamburg, The Beatles played at The Cavern for the first of nearly 300 appearances at the club. By the time they played their last gig there, Beatlemania had swept Britain and the band was conquering the world.
The documentary also tells the story of what happened to The Cavern after The Beatles. It lived on until 1973 – with rock legends such as Queen, Elton John and Rod Stewart treading its cramped stage – before it was eventually closed during construction on the Merseyrail underground loop. But that wasn’t the end of The Cavern story. A decade later the club was rebuilt on its original site and today serves a dual purpose as a venue for up and coming bands and a tourist attraction for Beatles fans from across the globe. In this programme fans, members of other Merseybeat bands and Cavern insiders help separate the facts from the myths that have grown up around the goings on deep beneath the ground at 10 Mathew Street, Liverpool. (00:46:57)
DVD format includes a special Beatles bonus feature.
Director: John Piper
Executive Producer: Mark Robinson
Producer: John Piper
Cast (in alphabetical order)
Pete Best ... Himself
Billy Butler ... Himself
Bernadette Byrne ... Herself
Frankie Connor ... Himself
Elvis Costello ... Himself (archive footage)
Tony Crane ... Himself
Paddy Delaney ... Himself
Ken Dodd ... Himself
Brian Epstein ... Himself (archive footage)
Len Garry ... Himself
Dave Gore ... Himself
Mike Gregory ... Himself
Carol Haigh ... Herself
Colin Hanton ... Himself
George Harrison ... Himself (archive footage)
David Henshaw ... Himself
Freda Kelly ... Herself
Billy Kinsley ... Himself
John Lennon ... Himself (archive footage)
Beryl Marsden ... Herself
Gerry Marsden ... Himself
Brian May ... Himself
Paul McCartney ... Himself (archive footage)
Alex McKechnie ... Himself
Geoff Nugent ... Himself
Mike Pender ... Himself
Pat Peters ... Herself
Margaret Roberts ... Herself
Willy Russell ... Himself
Tony Sheridan ... Himself (archive footage)
Ringo Starr ... Himself (archive footage)
Stuart Sutcliffe ... Himself (archive footage)
Alistair Taylor ... Himself
Gene Vincent ... Himself (archive footage)
Harold Wilson ... Himself (archive footage)
Bob Wooler ... Himself
