T E N E R I F E ’ S O N LY Issue 666
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W E E K LY N E W S PA P E R
20 August 2010 - 26 August 2010
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Here comes the sun! Liverpool to spread Tenerife gospel with rare Beatle pictures
WHERE do all the best Beatles go for a holiday? Why Tenerife, of course! Well, three of them did, at least, way back in 1963, just as they were launching the Mersey Invasion, featuring Billy J Kramer, Gerry and the Pacemakers and the Merseybeats, plus a host of other groups.
And just as they popularised their home town Liverpool with their dazzling brand of pop music for many years, so Liverpool is about to spread the Tenerife gospel in the shape of a rare photograph exhibition featuring the Fab Four in their early days. The collection, which includes snapshots of George, Paul and Ringo during their stay in Tenerife - John Lennon
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and manager Brian Epstein decided on mainland Spain will be on view in Liverpool from next Wednesday (25th August) until the end of next January. The exhibition of Astrid Kircherr’s work will be displayed in the University of Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum, for all to see. The collection features more than 70 pictures, previ-
ously unseen, taken by the German photographer, who met the band in 1960 while they were playing in Hamburg nightclubs. Astrid was engaged to Stuart Sutcliffe, the Beatles original bass player who died from a brain haemorrhage in 1962. She was the first person to take studio shots of the group. Her work also includes 1964 images of the Fab Four taken in Liverpool during the making of the film, A Hard Day’s Night, and shots of the city as it appeared in the Sixties. She said: “I am delighted to come back to Liverpool to show my photographs at the
Victoria Gallery and Museum, having enjoyed seeing Stuart’s work in the same venue in 2009.” Matthew Clough, museum director, said: “The primary focus of this exhibition is to demonstrate Astrid’s work as a significant 20th Century photographer. “Astrid is known for her photographs of the Beatles in Hamburg, but her images of Liverpool in the early 60s provide a unique snapshot of a particular moment in its history.” The three Beatles spent nearly a fortnight chilling out in La Montañeta, near Los Realejos, Puerto de la Cruz,
and their stay has been in documented in a recent book by local historian Nicolás G Lemus. They had just recorded their first album, Please, Please me, which had gone straight to No1, and were obviously on their way to international fame and a huge fortune. Beatlemania was taking off rapidly, and the following year they became the first British band to conquer America. The Fab Four actually returned to Spain in 1965 as global superstars, when they played in front of packed venues in Madrid and Barcelona,