Meet the Beatles for Real

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

The Casterways meet the Beatles

On April 21, 1963, The Beatles performed an amazing set at the Emire Pool Wembly for the 1963 NME Awards. What isn't as talked about is that afterward, they did a concert at the Pigalle Club in London. Future Beatles hairdresser Leslie Cavendish was at that show and said, "I attended the Beatles show on 21st April 1963 at the Pigalle Club in London. The gig was only advertised in the Jewish Chronicle as far as I know and almost the entire audience were Jewish."

One of the opening acts for this show was Tony Rivers and the Casterways and here is Tony's remembrance of that night.

On the 21st of April 1963, we supported the Beatles at the 'Pigalle' nightclub in Piccadilly, London. This was a great gig. They had just come from Wembley Arena where they had received the 'best group award' or something, and also discovered that their famous Beatles suits had gone missing! We did our set to open the show, and while we were playing, we could hear the Beatles clapping behind the curtain at the back of the stage. "Lon" Lyons, our rhythm guitarist, thought it would be a great idea to pull back the curtain and let everyone see the Beatles -- wrong! The audience went potty, and that was it! Dumb move!

Watching The Beatles up really close was amazing. My wife Pat was with me on the side of the stage, no more than 5/6 feet from George Harrison. They were great! Earlier that evening, we'd sat in a pub just outside the club with Ringo Starr. He seemed to be a bit of an outsider at that time. He said that he hadn't been with them for long and didn't really know them too well. The rest of the Beatles stood talking to Gerry Marden and the Sounds Inc. at the bar.