For those who are not UK natives, Liverpool is a city that is in the northwest of England and is a stone’s throw away from the North Wales border. It is home to two football teams, a thriving nightlife (at least, before COVID19), and a whole load of Liverpool pride (and too right, too!). It is also home to The Beatles, Cilla Black, Echo and The Bunnymen, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the oldest of its kind still around today. The importance of music in Liverpool is not something to be taken lightly. So much so, that it is the only English city to be ‘ UNESCO City of Music ‘ status and, from spending just a day in Liverpool, I can see why.
Firstly, I would just like to point out some non-musical observations about Liverpool because I found them to be so striking! The first is how modern the city is. The second is how friendly the locals are (that’s the north for you!). The third is how sentimental, yet self-aware the city is. I found this one the most interesting as there were so many statues and ‘in-jokes’ around the city, as if it was designed for scousers, not tourists but in the best way possible. As a Brit, it was almost like entering another culture but without feeling unwelcome. As mentioned before, Scouse pride is rampant in Liverpool’s streets but they also have the ‘ International Slavery Museum ‘, recognising the part their docks played in the slave trade.
But now onto the music.
Me and my friend-turned-tour guide, Alex, headed to the Albert docks when we first arrived into Liverpool. I found that this is where a lot of Liverpool’s history was quite literally displayed in statues, museums and superlambananas (more on those later).
Billy Fury
The first statue I encountered was of Billy Fury. Fury was classed as ‘ one of Britain’s only genuine rock ’n’ rollers ‘. Fury’s career thrived in the 1960s and, amazingly, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison applied to be part of his backing band but were turned down. If they had been given the job, would ‘Beatlemania’ still have existed? The Tornados were given this position instead.
Despite the fact that Fury had 26 singles in the UK top 40, with 11 of them making the top 10, he never reached number 1. He spent a total of 332 weeks in the chart and matched the Beatles’s record of 24 hits in the 1960s alone. He also went on to act in various films including That’ll Be the Day with David Essex and Ringo Starr. Well worth a statue, don’t you think?
I found throughout our day in Liverpool that the statues were all very tasteful and modern in design. Many of the statues of entertainment figures from Liverpool were designed my Tom Murphy, Arthur Dooley and Andy Edwards so there’s a nice cohesion between them.
Superlambananas
Right, this is a strange one, I know, but there are statues dotted all over the city called ‘superlambananas’ or should I say ‘mini superlambananas’. They were one of the more unique spectacles I came across in my day in Liverpool.
A super brief history
The original bright yellow superlambanana was commissioned for the Art Transpennine exhibition in 1998. It was created by a Japanese artist by Taro Chiezo and stood at 17 feet tall. It was made to warn against the genetic modification of food whist maintaining some humour. Liverpool docks also regularly traded sheep and bananas.
Eventually the superlambanana was returned to Chiezo and a replica was made. In 2008, Liverpool was made one of Europe’s ‘capitals of culture’ and, in recognition of this, created 125 two-meter tall replicas of the superlambanana, all decorated differently. Eventually these were auctioned off for charity (with one being sold for £550,000).
In 2010, 8 more were created as a permanent display around the city (nicknamed ‘eight for 08’) and these were the ones I came across on my day to Liverpool.
So what does this have to do with music in Liverpool?
Well, like I said before, Liverpool is very sentimental and the superlambananas were decorated to reflect different things. For example, one was covered in poppies to commemorate WW1 and another was covered in fish. There was also one dedicated to Echo and the Bunnymen and one with famous faces from the area painted on. This included stars such as Cilla Black and Lily Savage. These monuments emphasise the strong musical culture within Liverpool.
The Beatles
Statue
There’s a famous statue of the ‘Fab Four’ on the dock which proved to be immensely popular with those on the docks, me included! A very clever busker also decided to play right next to it, meaning that we were being serenaded with Beatles songs whilst looking and taking photos of the statue. If you’re planning a ‘Beatles’ day in Liverpool, I would definitely include this in your itinerary. There was also a ‘Fab4’ Cafe nearby, which at the time was ‘take-away only’ due to Covid restrictions but at other points in the future, may be worth going in to! Alex and I, however, bought a coffee from a nearby van and drank it whilst looking out into the sea.
The Beatles Story Museum
After this, we went to ‘The Beatles Story’. I have to say it was one of the best museums I have ever been to. It was so well planned! Before I begin, I have to preface that this is the only section of this blog post which is not free. One adult ticket cost £16, but I thought it was more than worth it. My friend and I quite literally lost track of time because we were so engrossed — we couldn’t believe we had spent around 3 hours inside (after we did the maths). Of course, it is easy to spend a shorter or longer amount of time in the museum depending on how much time you have!
I bought the ‘official souvenir guide’ for £2.50. I don’t usually do this at museums because usually you find out all you want to know from the museum itself but I thought it was useful for this blog post as well as, naturally, being a nice momento. The guide essentially summarises the information given to you by the audio guide (which is given for free and has a lot of interviews in both audio and video form it’s crazy!).
Health and Safety during Covid
Our day in Liverpool was during the Covid pandemic but restrictions have started to ease in the UK. I want to let you know, in case you are considering visiting at this time but want to do it safely, that it is required for a face mask to be worn but I found it fairly hard to social distance in parts of the museum. It was certainly not crowded by any means but there may be points where you have to wait a few minutes before moving forward. Overall, though, this is wasn’t too much of an issue. Hand sanitiser was provided in the museum and they also had a ‘track and trace’ system in place.
The Museum
Anyway, on to the museum itself. I think one of the best parts of it is not knowing what is coming next. Essentially the museum is a stream of rooms or ‘sections’ all surrounding a different part of the Beatles’ lives, from the Cavern Club, to Abbey Road. The museum reemphasised just how crazy ‘Beatlemania’ was and taught me a lot about Brian Epstein. He was crucial in the Beatles success and very much the ‘brains’ behind the operation. He also happened to be a fascinating character. Learning about him was perhaps, daresay, the most interesting part of the museum for me!
I was worried I was dragging Alex around a museum she wouldn’t be too interested in but she absolutely loved it and was firing off Beatles facts for days afterwards. I would recommend this to anyone with either a love of music, music business, the 60s or, of course, the Beatles.
Mathew Street
After we left the museum and marvelled about how amazing the experience was, we headed to the Cavern club and Oh My Goodness! When we turned in to Mathew Street I was awestruck by how cool it was. It was a massive celebration of not just the Beatles but of all popular music in Liverpool. In one street there is:
- The Cavern Club
- The Grapes — the pub where the Beatles used to hang out before going to the Cavern Club
- A bronze statue of Cilla Black
- The ‘Wall of Fame’ listing everyone who had performed at the Cavern Club including Oasis, The Arctic Monkeys and Status Quo
- Sgt Peppers pub — we may had a few drinks here (after all, when in Rome…), but they have lots of cocktails named after songs. These include ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘Highway to Hell’.
- Strawberry Fields Cafe
And more! In fact we hadn’t even reached the street yet and there were statues of the Beatles looking down at us from above.
It’s a city of bright lights and bold colours and was just spectacular! Regardless of whether you know a lot about British music or not, it is worth visiting. The ‘Wall of Fame’ will certainly contain at least one name that you vaguely recognise.
Conclusion from Our Day in Liverpool
There is way more to do in Liverpool to explore its musical history. As mentioned before the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is the oldest in the UK still around today. It does tour, though, if you would like to see them but can’t get to Liverpool. The city also has, apparently, one of the greatest organs in the world which I would have loved to have seen if I had had more time. In the future, I would also love to go on the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ too!
But, in one day, I think Alex and I achieved quite a lot! I think we both know a lot more about Liverpools musical history and it’s importance in British culture. Really, I couldn’t have asked for more!
Originally published at https://aroundtheworldin80staves.com on August 12, 2020.
