It was 50 years ago today

Hamburg is where the Fab Four got their groove and where a fascinating museum shows just how they did it, writes David Whitley.

AS A place for a dedication honouring true greats goes, this is a pretty miserable one. The circular ‘‘square’’ has been kept as clean as possible but what surrounds it is dirty in more than one sense of the word. Susi’s Show Bar isn’t subtle about what is on show inside, the Nevada Rodeo Bar offers more of the same with a bit of bullriding thrown in for good measure, and the Amsterdam Headshop deals exclusively in paraphernalia that won’t do your head any good.

To put Beatlesplatz here would be an enormous backhanded compliment anywhere else but Hamburg’s monument to the Fab Four seems strangely right. In the shape of a vinyl disc, Beatlesplatz features four rather cool metal figures, while a lonely fifth is off to the side with a bass guitar under his arm. While it may be tempting to assume that the area has gone downhill and is desperately trading on its Beatles links, in truth the Reeperbahn and its surrounding streets were like this long before John, Paul, George and Ringo hit the big time.

The Beatles may have come from Liverpool but it was in Hamburg that they were really made. It’s now 50 years since the young lads came over to earn a regular wage gigging in the rough-and-ready clubs around the Reeperbahn. Between August 17, 1960, and December 31, 1962, the Beatles put in hundreds of hours here, usually in punishing sessions of four hours or more on a daily basis.

Many of the old haunts are long gone but traces remain. At 33 Paul-Roosen-Strasse is a block of apartments, with a simple photocopied sign in a window that says the Beatles once lived here. In 1960, this was the Bambi cinema and the boys had two grubby, windowless rooms to share at the back of it.

The Indra club that stands now isn’t the Indra club that the Beatles played their first Hamburg gig in – it’s a cash-in ‘‘homage’’, while the Star Club – arguably the most famous venue they played at – is no longer here. At 39 Grosse Freiheit now stands Nakorn-Luang Thorung, a bizarre combo of Thai restaurant, rock pub and karaoke bar. In the courtyard, a tacky memorial that looks like a supersized gravestone lists some of the bands that played at the Star Club when Hamburg was the centre of the world’s music scene. The Beatles are in fine company – including Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix and the Everly Brothers.

Across the road at number 36 is a venue that is still intact (albeit in a much more sanitised and mainstream form). The Kaiserkeller has played host to the likes of the Foo Fighters, Bjork and Robbie Williams in recent years but its most important gig took place on October 1, 1960. This was where the Beatles would be based for a month, supporting Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Of course, the bigger names then are now an historical footnote, better known for their drummer – a certain Ringo Starr – than their music. Starr replaced the sacked Pete Best in 1962 when the Beatles were an indisputable headline act.

The Kaiserkeller stint was cut short after a falling out with the manager. When Paul and Pete set fire to a condom outside the Bambi, they were accused of trying to burn it down. The authorities were tipped off – about George Harrison being underage and a lack of work permits – and it was time to temporarily travel back to Liverpool before returning for bigger gigs at Hamburg’s Top Ten Club in March 1961.

One of the boys decided to stay, however. Stuart Sutcliffe had fallen in love with photographer Astrid Kirchherr and would eventually leave the band by mutual consent. Sutcliffe is variously known as the fifth Beatle and the Hamburg Beatle. That lonely fifth figure on Beatlesplatz represents him.

Most of this information can be uncovered in the Beatlemania museum, a five-floor trip through the band’s Hamburg days and subsequent careers. It’s a superbly executed mix of the fascinatingly informative and fun. One minute you’re strolling through a mocked-up version of Grosse Freiheit in the 1960s and learning about Allan Williams, the manager who gave away the Beatles in a fit of pique after being cut out of a contract commission. The next you’re recording the eight billionth cover of Yesterday in a faux Abbey Road studio, standing in a supersize 3D Sgt Pepper album cover or strolling through the Yellow Submarine.

It’s not the flashy set pieces that impress, however. What really brings a lump to the throat is the rare memorabilia, such as Kirchherr’s photos of the boys in their early days and Sutcliffe’s blurry portraits of his bandmates. Perhaps most evocative of the Hamburg days are a few cartoon drawings by Klaus Voorman – always a member of their inner circle and the artist who put together the Revolver album cover. One picture features them washing their feet in the sink at the Bambi cinema.

To step out of the glossy Beatlemania back into the frenetic neon and vice of the Reeperbahn comes as a bit of a jolt. At night, it will become a rowdy zoo as locals, sailors and daytrippers descend on the bars, strip clubs and rock’n’roll basements. If anything, it’s possibly tamer than it was when the Beatles started on their road to superstardom but the character is still the same.

Fifty years on, Hamburg is content to Let It Be.

The writer was a guest of the Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten.

Snapshot

THE reason the Reeperbahn became notorious was that it was originally just outside Hamburg's city limits. For sailors, it was somewhere to go and enjoy some raucous R&R without having to worry about the city gates closing. And, with such a major port, that meant an awful lot of sailors. Hamburg's port is still gigantic and it's possible to take a cruise around parts of it. While huge container terminals and world-beating floating docks might not sound that exciting, the sheer scale of the operations will make jaws drop.