![LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -- The stuffy cave-like club where The Beatles staged some of their earliest performances has celebrated its 50th birthday. LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -- The stuffy cave-like club where The Beatles staged some of their earliest performances has celebrated its 50th birthday.]()
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -- The stuffy cave-like club where The Beatles staged some of their earliest performances has celebrated its 50th birthday.
The Cavern Club -- a former fruit warehouse cellar and air raid shelter -- opened as a jazz venue in 1957 with the Merseysippi Jazz Band, but it was the advent of rock 'n' roll that popularized the club where music producer Brian Epstein eventually discovered the Fab Four.
John Lennon's sister works at the club today and says those early performances were important for her brother.
"John felt he was the raw-edged rocker he wanted to be on this stage before being polished up," Lennon's sister, Julia Baird, told The Associated Press. "He regretted the way they were later smartened up, pulled into suits and ripped out of their leathers."
The Beatles first played a lunchtime session in 1961, but Lennon and Paul McCartney both appeared at the club with the Quarrymen Skiffle Group years before.
Ringo Starr is also thought to have made his debut at the club with the Eddie Clayton Skiffle group -- another band playing an improvised form of jazz popularized in Britain in the 1950s -- while George Harrison appeared at the group's 1961 debut. The Beatles' first tickets sold for about £5 pounds ($10).
After struggling to survive, the club was demolished in 1973 but was rebuilt on half of its original structure in 1984. Bands from Argentina to Russia played in a 13-hour session to honor its anniversary on Tuesday.
Jane Enenko, 26, endured a five-day journey from Siberia for the anniversary.
"Even for someone of my generation its so special to come inside and relive the '60s," Enenko said.
The Cavern is now a global brand with operations in Australia, Argentina and Japan.
"This place put Liverpool on the world map," said Sam Jones, 37. "It's still a name in the psyche of everyone and integral to city's music heritage."
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/16/beatles.club.ap/index.html