If you felt like leaving the country to get away from the Elvis tributes, Liverpool is a close alternative - as long as you like the Beatles. Patricia Weston reports.
Now that Elvis has left the stage and the 25th anniversary hysteria has abated, Beatlemania is about to begin all over again. Liverpool, sacred site of the Fab Four, has been hosting Beatle conventions since 1981. This year marks the 22nd such gathering and organisers promise a week-long festival of "live" Beatle music.
Pete Best makes an appearance at this year's festival. The drummer, who was bumped off the band by Ringo Starr in the Sixties, returns with his own outfit, the unsurprisingly-named Pete Best Band.
Recently-deceased Beatle George Harrison will be given a worthy dedication next Monday, when the Mathew Street Festival will play host to more than 200 bands on six stages, rocking to the sounds of an eclectic mix of music from the 1960s. Harrison's sister, Louise, will be present to open the day's events.
Much-coveted Beatle memorabilia will go under the hammer in Liverpool's Institute for Performing Arts this Saturday. Items up for auction include a Yellow Submarine lunch-box, an early postcard signed by all the Beatles, with the added bonus of Harrison's signature signed with a small "h", and tubes of paint used by John Lennon.
There will be a strong international flavour to the festival. Besides attracting thousands of local fans, the organisers are confident of pulling many more from across the globe.
The international diversity extends also to the acts.
This Friday, the Adelphi Hotel plays host to the "Argy Bargy Party", featuring music by four of Argentina's best Beatle bands.
The "Beatles Show" on Saturday will boast talent from Down Under: Australia's Beatals. Scandinavia's finest will also be swinging this party along with three of the country's Beatle bands: Lenny Pane, Liverpool and a new outfit called Rock's Off.
What better place to wind down the week's events than in the Cavern pub? Opened as a jazz club in 1957, by the early Sixties the Cavern had become the beat club of the north. Fans crammed into its cavernous cellar to listen to their favourite rock and roll bands, including the Beatles.
The Cavern pub and the front of the Cavern will be buzzing again to the sounds of Sixties tribute band The Overtures, who are performing two shows, one in the afternoon and the other in the evening.
Pete Best fans will look forward to his band performing on the Dale Street stage next Monday.
One wonders if they will be reciting the chant heard when he left the Beatles in the Sixties. On that occasion, cries of "Pete Best Forever - Ringo, Never" were heard at the Cavern club.
Beatleweek runs from August 22nd to 27th and is organised by Cavern City Tours. For more information, visit:
