50 years ago on 17 August 1960, the Beatles gave their first concert in Hamburg, Germany. The Beatles changed their name from silver Beatles and were on stage for the first time in Reeperbahn.
The Beatles had their first concert on 17 August 1960 in music club Indra in Reeperbahn, a district famous for its nightclubs in Hamburg. After this concert, the Beatles had 280 concerts in 2.5 years in “Der Kaiserkeller” club in Hamburg and laid the foundation of their musical career.
The ones who witness the Beatles live in the 60s are now retired. The young generation Beatles fans can only experience this legend from records, museums and old concert records. There will be a 50-years of musical rebirth in Hamburg for the Beatles and “Beatlemania” events will be organized at the Beatles Museums.
First names in the band
When the Beatles was on the stage for the first time in Reeperbahn, these names were in the band. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliff and Pete Best. The senior member Stuart was in his 20s. The youngest was 17-years-old George Harrison. The owner of the legendary Indra club and former boxer Horst Fascher followed his father’s advice and gave a chance to these 5 young men to play in the club. His father told Fascher “just bring these young men to the club and let them have some food.” With that, the five members of the Beatles took their seats on Fascher’s table. The mother Fascher cooks for them and does their laundry. Fascher who is 74 years old now talks about those days as, “they were always hungry and they always needed their clothes to be washed.” Today, Paul McCartney still asks “how is mother” when he meets Fascher.
The Beatles had concerts in Top Ten club in Hamburg between 1960-1962 and the classic members are formed as Stuart died from a disease and Pete Best is replaced by Ringo Starr. These were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The Beatles was paid 30 mark per person when they played in the Indra club in Reeperbahn, Hamburg in the early days and started to earn 700 marks per person per week in Star Club in 1962.
When the Beatles had their last concert on the Christmas of 1962 in Star Club, the band already won the hearts of Hamburg. The band released their first single “Love Me Do” that ranked number 1 on the UK lists and took the first step to go around the world from Hamburg. The Beatlemania first started in the UK and expanded to the whole world. The Beatles was disbanded in 1970 and recognized as the most successful band in the 20th century but the band never forget their early years in Hamburg. John Lennon states this as follows: “I grew up in Liverpool but I was matured in Hamburg.”
