12:42pm Friday 5th March 2010
Fans old and new get the chance to go back in time when tribute band All You Need is the Beatles mark the Fab Four’s first paid performance outside Liverpool and Hamburg with a gig at the same venue, the Subscription Rooms in Stroud.
Melksham musician Julian Pugsley, who deputises for John Lennon in the band, has organised the March 27 night to mark almost 50 years since The Beatles’ seminal performance there in 1962, giving the chance to relive the moment when the band first ventured out of Liverpool to conquer the rest of the country.
He said: “We are going to put on a show that will bring back memories for the people who were there on that historic occasion and also give a flavour of what it would have been like for those, like us, who were born too late.
“We have met people who wanted to be there in 1962 but weren’t able to make it. They have of course regretted it for nearly 50 years, as less than nine months later Beatlemania was in full swing.”
The posters advertising the original event noted the local council’s regulation that Teddy Boy suits were not allowed, nor stiletto heels for ladies. “Fortunately, these restrictions do not apply to our performance,” laughed Julian. “In fact, if people want to dress up it would really add to the atmosphere.”
He formed All You Need is the Beatles in 2006, and said: “I’ve been into The Beatles since I was about 10. My dad interviewed John Lennon when he was doing the bed-in for peace in 1969 with Yoko Ono at the Amsterdam Hilton.
“I spent years trying to make it as a musician in my own right, but it’s a tough market to crack. I finally decided that if I wasn’t going to be in the best band since The Beatles, I should at least try and be in the best Beatles band since,” he said.
The line-up is completed by Joe Brown, also from Melksham, as Paul McCartney, Paul Kench from Swindon as George Harrison and Chris Scrivens, who lives in Stroud, as Ringo Starr.
“I put an advert up in Mark’s Musical Instruments in Melksham asking would-be Beatles to come forward, and Joe was the first to respond,” Julian said. “Not only did he look like Paul McCartney but he already knew how to play all the songs.” Paul and Chris had played with Julian in his originals band.
Admission in March 1962 was five shillings. Tickets for the March 27 gig cost £12.50 (£10 cons) and are available from the Subscription Rooms box office on 01453 760900 or www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk.
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