A
Magical History Tour
Click
on the photos to see a larger image in a new window.
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(L-R): Brian, Jay,
Steven and Dave
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The
Mersey Beatles
formed in 1999, when school friends Steven Howard and
Brian Ambrose got together with Steven's cousin David
and fellow aspiring musician Jason Murray.
Just
like their musical role models, their early performances
were around the social and cabaret clubs in their home
city, including many venues where The Beatles performed.
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The
buzz they created in the early days soon caught the attention
of Cavern City Tours, owners of the world famous Cavern Club and
organisers of the annual International Beatles Week. The boys
were given a Thursday night residency at The Cavern and have become
the headline act at the Beatles Convention at Liverpool's Adelphi
Hotel.
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The
Mersey Beatles
are still honoured to be playing regular Thursday nights
at
The Cavern from 10pm and are well on their way to topping
the 294 performances which The Beatles achieved at the
club.
(see Gig Guide
for details).
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| The
Cavern's 'official'
Beatles tribute band |
News
of their success at The Cavern reached Liverpool City Council,
who invited them to become the city's official tribute band.
The boys have since represented their home town at various
events, including the conferences of all three main political
parties, investment inititiaves and concerts across Europe
to attract tourism to the 2008 European Capital of Culture. |
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On
the Road
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Jay
in Adelaide |
Dave
in Malaysia |
Steven
in Norway |
Brian
in Germany |
Other
trips abroad have included the inaugural Australian Beatles Festival
in Adelaide and a headline set at the Hard Rock Cafe in Kuala
lumpur, Malaysia.
The band have headlined festivals in Mons, Belgium and Denmark's
Faroe Islands, and topped the bill at outdoor events in Croatia,
Norway, Italy and Germany. They also perform an annual headline
set at the Swedish Beatles Festival in Vasteras.
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PHOTO:
Liverpool Daily Post
- No large image available.
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In
2005 Dave "George" Howard took
a year out. Cavern Pub manager Robbie Hughes - took over,
and did a fine job.
The
photo (left) shows the new line-up, with Robbie Hughes
as "George", representing Liverpool in Pisa.
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It
was one of the busiest years in the band's history, as they
took their critically acclaimed
theatre show on the road. Following this success, it is now
available as the Deluxe show on our Pick
a Show page.
When
Dave Howard returned as "George" in 2006, he
had a bit of catching up to do as the boys branched out
into the Sgt Pepper years and beyond in his absence. But
he was back on form in time for another fantastic show
at the Mathew Street Festival. |

Dave gets back to where he once belonged |
2007
was a big year of anniversaries for Beatle fans - 50 years since
John met Paul, 50 years since the Cavern club was launched,
40 years since Brian Epstein died, 40 years since Sgt Pepper
was released.
It
has also been an eventful year for The Mersey Beatles, including
some unique opportunities such as the launch event for Royal
Mail's Beatles stamps and a live set at Abbey Road studios.
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The
night before the official launch of Royal Mail's Beatles
stamps, The Beatles Story Museum hosted a party to display
the stamps for the world's press.
The
Mersey Beatles were
honoured to play at the launch.
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On the Beatles Story's replica Cavern stage. PICTURE:
Liverpool Echo
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At
the world-famous Cavern Club's 50th birthday celebration,
The Mersey Beatles headlined
an impressive bill of 32 bands in a show lasting 13 hours!
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VisitBritain,
the country's official tourism website, invited the
boys to play at Abbey Road, the world's
most famous recording studio.
They
arrived early for a press photo shoot and a few snaps
of their own.
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Veteran
DJ David "Kid" Jensen hosted the night, and
the live music took place in Studio 1.
The
Mersey Beatles closed
the show with a 40 minute set of Beatles classics recorded
just a few feet away in Studio 2 all those years ago. |
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The highlight was having
unlimited access to Studio 2 for the day, where they
breathed the air, took photos, and even wrote a couple
of songs when no one else was around.
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Dave (George) outside
Abbey Road's Studio 2
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The
band also featured in a series of photos in various
Liverpool locations as
inspiration for paintings commissioned by Liverpool's
new Hard
Days Night Hotel.
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A recreation of The Beatles
1964
homecoming shot at
Liverpool Town Hall
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1st
June 2007 marked 40 years since the release of the Sgt Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band album. The
Mersey Beatles performed
a tribute to the album live at The Mojo Club in Manchester,
in full Sgt Pepper costume.
The
lads were delighted to play at
celebrations to mark fifty years since John met Paul in July
1957,
when John's skiffle group, The Quarrymen, played at
the Village Fete near his family home in Woolton.
The original Quarrymen played a special concert to begin the
Woolton Music Festival, and The
Mersey Beatles rounded
off the weekend's events.
The
busiest summer ever for The
Mersey Beatles
included trips to Dublin,
Cannes, and tours of Germany, Sweden
and Norway,
with rare performances of their critically acclaimed theatre
show.
There
was disappointment in August when the Mathew Street Festival
was cancelled at the last minute, only for the lads' faith to
be restored by the irrepressible fans who turned up for their
show at The Beatles Convention at Liverpool's Adelphi Hotel,
and those lucky enough to be at what many called our "best
show of the year", at The Vines pub on August Bank Holiday.
The vibe at The Vines was electric - so much so there are talks
of The Mersey Beatles
at The Vines during Beatleweek becoming an annual event.
Those
who have the Let It Be Naked fly on the wall extra
disc will know that The Beatles themselves toyed with the idea
of ending the Let It Be film with a concert aboard
the prestigious QE2.
Unfortunately
it wasn't to be. However in September 2007, nearly forty years
later, the sound of the Fab Four could be heard aboard the famous
ship, and not a day too late as, sadly, the QE2 will be decommissioned
in 2008.

See
the news and reviews
pages for regular updates,
as Liverpool's
official Beatles tribute band goes from strength to strength.
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