B46518 – John Lennon 1962 Fan Club Night At The Cavern Unseen Photograph (UK)

An extremely rare original photograph of John Lennon performing live on stage at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, England on the 5th April 1962. The photograph is thought to be unpublished.

This unseen photo of John Lennon on stage at the Cavern was taken on the 5th April 1962. This was a special concert called ‘The Beatles For Their Fans’ which was organised by The Beatles Fan Club. During the first part of the show, for all times sake, the group played the first part of the show in their black leather outfits and then they changed into their new Beno Dorn suits and ties for the second part. The night of April 5th was one that Beatles fans from the Cavern had been anticipating with great enthusiasm. Yellow and black advertising flyers proclaimed: ‘The Beatles Fan Club presents an Evening with John, George, Paul and Pete, at the Cavern, 7:30 PM.’ Ticket holders would receive a free photograph and everyone would be able to apply for free membership to the fan club.

Pete Best recalls ‘This was a very exciting evening for us. The fans were wonderful and this was a very special evening for them. The photograph on the posters was misleading in that we had long abandoned our leathers in favour of suits Brian bought to present us with a more clean image. But we had a surprise in store for the fans that they were not prepared for. The old Cavern crowd had made us what we were, and they were not too keen on our new image. So on fan night we came out in our leathers to wild cheers from our fan club girls.’

The Cavern had become known as the ‘Home Of The Beatles’. The group made their first appearance at the club at lunchtime on Tuesday 21st February 1961 – the only time that Beatles bassist Stu Sutcliffe ever played at the Cavern. They made their debut evening performance a month later.

Paul McCartney in The Beatles Anthology remembers ‘We started getting gigs down the Cavern. The Cavern was sweaty, dark, loud and exciting. As usual we didn’t start out with much of an audience, but then people began to hear about us. We could always entertain them. It became our strength later, whether playing live or marking records – we always had something up our sleeve.’

The Beatles final performance at the Cavern was on the 3rd August 1963. Also on the bill were: The Escorts, The Sapphires, The Mersey Beats, Johnny Ringo and The Colts and George Harrison’s favourite R&B group The Roadrunners. Tickets for the show sold out within thirty minutes of going on sale. Ray McFall, the owner of the Cavern, allowed only 500 people into the club, each ticket cost 10 shillings (50p).

The photograph measures 9cm x 9cm (3.5 inches x 3.5 inches). The condition is very good.