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| The Grosvenor Ballroom, Wallasey |
Regarding the 'Fab Four', there has been a lot of debate as to when the group's name change occurred. However this may have been clarified when articles uncovered from the old 'Wallasey News' state that on Whit Monday, June 6, 1960, the fabulous 'Silver Beetles', direct from their Scotland tour with Johnny Gentle performed a double bill with 'Gerry and the Pacemakers'. The following Saturday night, on the 11th of June 1960 the Grosvenor Ballroom advertised a swing session featuring the sensational new group 'The Beatles'. The name change may have occurred unofficially on their earlier Scotland tour but this seems to be the first time in print.
So it would appear that 'The Silver Beatles' and/or 'The Beatles', performed some of their early professional gigs at the notoriously rough Grosvenor Ballroom on 14 occasions between June 1960 and September 1961, the concerts usually taking place on a Saturday night. The venue was run by local promoter Les Dodd, under the name Paramount Enterprises, and it was the group's manager at the time, Alan Williams, who secured the bookings while the Beatles were away in Scotland.
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| Paul McCartney cut the above advert from the paper and his brother Mike included it in his book Thank U Very Much. |
Alan Williams fixed a Saturday night residency there with Wallasey Corporation and a Whitsun bank holiday Monday engagement with Les Dodd. 'The Beatles' were paid £10 for each appearance, from which Alan took a fee of £1. They would initially meet at the Jacaranda, Allan Williams' coffee bar in Slater Street and travel to the Grosvenor together in Allan's van, usually driven by Tommy Hartley a former professional boxer who worked for Alan as a 'bouncer'.
The
Beatles’ third booking at the Grosvenor on the 11th of June 1960 didn't pass
without incident.
Tommy
Moore had had enough. Tired of John Lennon's sniping wit and browbeaten by the
woman he was living with over his irregular source of income he decided to pack
it in on the 9th of June after appearing with the Beatles at a Les Dodd promotion in
Neston. He failed to show up at the Jacaranda and upon arrival at his home to ask what was going on Alan William's was informed by Moore's woman, "He’s quit your group and got a job working the night shift at Garston
bottle works." Placated by Alan Williams eventually Tommy Moore, the man described by Allan Williams as ‘the best drummer the
Beatles ever had’ re-joined the group on the 13th of June for one last appearance before
packing it all in for a life at the bottle works.The violence became such a problem that local residents complained to the Wallasey Corporation, the owners of the ballroom, resulting in Council officials cancelling promoter Les Dodd's future rock 'n' roll dates and ordered him to reintroduce more sedate dances. More live rock 'n' roll events did take place towards the end of 1960, but the events were organised by the Corporation itself, without the involvement of Paramount Enterprises.
Paul McCartney in The Beatles Anthology remembers very well their penultimate performance there on the 23rd July 1960. "The Grosvenor Ballroom in Wallasey was one of the worst places; there would be a hundred Wallasey lads squaring up to a hundred lads from Seacombe and all hell would break loose. I remember one night a rumble had started before I realised what was happening. I ran to the stage to save my Elpico amp, my pride and joy at the time. There were fists flying everywhere. One 'Ted' grabbed me and said, 'Don't move, or you're bloody dead!' I was scared for my life, but I had to get that amp".
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| An early 1960 'set list' in Paul's handwriting |
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