by Malcolm Pheby | Nov 30, 2019 | 1960s, Liverpool, Music
More than 40,000 fans applied for tickets to see the Beatles play Liverpool’s Empire Theatre on Sunday December 5th 1965. The venue could only seat 2,250. So the concert, part of the band’s UK tour, was massively oversubscribed. The lucky ones, who paid 15 shillings...
by Malcolm Pheby | Nov 14, 2019 | Music
Popular music has always struck a vibrant chord in Wigan, stretching from George Formby and his father right through to 90s rock group The Verve. The dance troupe The Eight Lancashire Lads, who gave Charlie Chaplin his professional debut, were from Wigan. So too was...
by Malcolm Pheby | Nov 2, 2019 | Liverpool, Music
You could say the only way was Essex at the Liverpool Empire 45 years ago this month in 1974. Crowds of adoring fans crammed into the theatre to see their idol David Essex croon his way through some of his greatest hits while hundreds waited outside. They’d queued for...
by Malcolm Pheby | Oct 19, 2019 | Liverpool, Music, TV
Forty five years ago this month, a young band from Liverpool made a landmark appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Watching them from the wings on the same programme in 1964 was a fresh-faced young singer from down the road in Manchester. The singer was Davy Jones, who...
by Malcolm Pheby | Oct 9, 2019 | Celebrity, Manchester, Music
Forty five years ago this week, a budding solo singer from Openshaw, Manchester, was waiting to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show in America. On the same programme in 1964 were a fresh-faced young band from Liverpool who were taking the music world by storm. The singer...
by Malcolm Pheby | Sep 14, 2019 | 1960s, Liverpool, Music
It was probably a bad idea for the Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein to snub a breakfast invitation from Imelda Marcos, the first lady of the Philippines. Especially as they were staying in her country. The Fab Four were in the Far East on a concert tour in July...
