Although The Quarrymen had few formal engagements between March 1958 and the end of the year, they did perform often at parties and family events.
On 20 December 1958 they played at the wedding reception of George Harrison’s brother Harry and his bride Irene McCann. The event was held in Speke, Liverpool.
Page last updated: 24 January 2024
Awe this is such a nice pic. Speke is only down the road from me. One of those areas in Liverpool considered “rough”.
The place that the reception was held in was at Childwall Abbey Road. What a coincidence.
That place is still there to this day with the exact same window that you see in the picture. 🙂
This is in the upstairs function room of the Childwall Abbey Hotel. I can’t add a photo here, but the windows can clearly be seen (on photos) today. This room is on the top right as you face the building.
Was there any particular reason why The Quarrymen had so few formal engagements between March and December of 1958? Did they receive many offers, and turned them down, or they received virtually no offers at all?
I believe John was grieving at the time
They were actually called “Japage3” at this point (according to Tune In), which stands for John (but “Ja” instead of “Jo” for some reason), Paul, George. The band only consisted of those 3 my then…
Is this the wedding where in the anthology George’s brother takes about John getting wasted and pouring beer over the pianists head?
Yeah, haha. “I anoint thee David.”
They had no drummer is why they were not getting bookings.
Actually, they did still have a drummer at the time of this gig, although not for much longer. Following a particularly nasty blowout with the others, Colin Hanton, the Quarrymen’s drummer, quit the group in disgust in the early hours of New Year’s Day 1959. And thus began their long period of difficulty in finding a permanent drummer to replace him.
That night, the pianist was a lady, she was a real pub player. John poured the pint of beer over this lady head, there was not reaction.
This photos happens to be taken on the day I was born (11:41am in Milwaukee, so early evening in Liverpool.) I like to think John, Paul, and George are greeting me in this picture!