Liverpool venue where The Beatles first honoured

National World - LocalTV

A legendary Liverpool venue steeped in Beatles history has been awarded a prestigious honour. The Jacaranda opened in 1957 by Allan Williams offering a stage for up-and coming artists.

Transcript

00:00The Jacaranda played a key role in the creation of the Mersey Phenomenon that

00:05took the world by storm in the 60s. Now the venue has been awarded a

00:09prestigious plaque to honour its status as a place where the Beatles first played.

00:13Lord Woodbine who was the leader of the Caribbean Steel Band that played most

00:18nights in the Jacaranda is considered by a lot of people to be the sixth Beatle

00:22and introduced them to lots of Calypso beats and things like that. Hugely

00:26influential on their musical style, he went to Hamburg with them, Lord Woodbine,

00:32so he's a big part of Beatles history. Opened in 1957 by Alan Williams, the

00:36Jacaranda offered a stage for up-and-coming artists. Regular

00:40customers included John Lennon, Stuart Sutcliffe, George Harrison and Paul

00:44McCartney. They played here about 16 times, 15 of them as the Silver Beatles

00:50and then one as the Beatles the day before they went to Hamburg. As the

00:54band's first manager, Alan secured the defining first tour of Hamburg in 1960.

00:59Being recognised as the first place the Beatles played as the Beatles, you know,

01:03that's super important because it's sending a message. It's sending a

01:07message to this new government and it's sending a message to the music industry.

01:10Places like this really matter. Unfortunately 125 live music spaces

01:15closed their doors to live music in 2023. It's not getting a lot better in 2024.

01:19We're still losing round about one a week. This World Origin Site plaque is a

01:23government-registered certification mark. A World Origin Site is somewhere

01:27completely unique. It marks a place, people and moment when something truly

01:32groundbreaking was invented, discovered or first used. They changed music, they

01:37changed art, they changed culture. Suddenly the teenager became somebody

01:41who could, well, evaluate themselves, have their own music. Music genre. It's still a

01:47music venue, it's still an active music venue and it's bringing on new bands,

01:51giving them somewhere to focus and somewhere to be seen. Local art students

01:56including Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon even painted murals on the cellar

02:00walls in payment for a rehearsal space. We don't know why Liverpool has become

02:06this city in the way. We can't go back to 1960 when they were stood here and say

02:11you know what in 64 years time millions of people will be coming to Liverpool

02:16spending billions of pounds to be in this place and if we don't protect

02:21spaces like this, we don't protect the UK's reputation as a music nation with

02:26all the creativity and all the fantastic artists we've got. We're not looking

02:30after that. What are we doing? For more than 60 years this has been the stage on

02:34which generations of young artists have tried to make the grade, earning the

02:38venue a status in Liverpool's rich music history. It has been a really tough time

02:43for grassroots music venues so if there is a grassroots music venue near you and

02:48you like live music, go out and support your local grassroots music venues and

02:52also support your local record stores as well. Support local and support music if

02:57you love music.

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