Busts of the Fab Four at the
venue where they played
an estimated 292 times
John watches over the
venue where his band
built their legend in the UKThe Beatles At The CavernBut Epstein had one major obstacle to
overcome: fi ring Pete Best from the band.
Theories abound about why Pete Best
was sacked from The Beatles. Certainly,
producer Martin had raised doubts about
his playing, a view reinforced bluntly by
John Lennon years later: “He was a lousy
drummer, he never improved”. Some have
claimed the band were jealous over the
attention he got from the fans. Another
theory suggests it was due to Brian Epstein’s
inability to deal with Pete’s mother Mona,
who ran the Casbah Club, and had become
too intrusive and overbearing. “I’ve heard
that, too,” says Waddington. “It wouldn’t
amaze me, but I don’t know. I liked Mona.”
Pete Best played his last two shows with
The Beatles at The Cavern on 15 August- The following day, Brian Epstein
fi red him from The Beatles. On Sunday 19
August, The Beatles played their fi rst show
at The Cavern with new drummer Ringo
Starr. If The Beatles thought the transition
would be smooth they were wrong. After
the performance, fans of Pete Best held
vigils outside The Cavern. George Harrison
was headbutted by an irate fan and Brian
Epstein temporarily hired a bodyguard to
ensure his own safety.
“The girls went crazy when Pete Best
was sacked and replaced by Ringo,” wrote
Greenberg in her book Cavern Club: The
Inside Story. “Pete was sultry, fi ercely good-
looking and oozed sex appeal. They would
heckle The Beatles when they were onstage,
shouting ‘Pete forever, Ringo never’. We
were all outraged and couldn’t understand
why Ringo was the new drummer. The
sound didn’t seem any diff erent to us.”
Three days later, The Beatles’
performance of Some Other Guy at a
lunchtime session at The Cavern was
captured by a camera crew from Granada
TV. At the end of the performance, now
available via YouTube, one male fan could be
heard shouting, “We want Pete”.END OF AN ERA
By 1963, the UK had been gripped by
Beatlemania as the band released a run of
hits. Their fi rst single, Love Me Do, released
in October 1962, was followed in the fi rst
half of 1963 by Please Please Me and From
Me To You. On 3 August 1963, one month
after recording She Loves You and seven
months before their fi rst trip to the US,
The Beatles played their fi nal show at
The Cavern, on a bill that included The
Merseybeats and Faron’s Flamingos. At one
point, the condensation dripping down the
walls onto the stage resulted in a power
cut. This plunged the club into temporary
darkness, prompting McCartney to perform
an acoustic version of When I’m Sixty Four,
a song that wouldn’t be released until 1967.
According to Tony Crane of The
Merseybeats, this fi nal show was far from
a joyous occasion for the Fab Four. “The
Beatles all had long faces and John Lennon OLI^
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Y^ IMAGESThe second Cavern Club on Mathew
Street, which opened in 1991. Paul
McCartney played there in 1999 and 2018.