The Beatles had given a triumphant homecoming performance at Litherland Town Hall on 27 December 1960, following their first trip to Hamburg. They returned to the venue on this date for a second time.
The night was promoted by Brian Kelly, whose Beekay events took place at halls across northern Liverpool. The Beatles performed at 36 Beekay engagements between this date and 11 March 1961, several of which were booked immediately after their December show.
This was the first time Paul McCartney played bass guitar with The Beatles, as Stuart Sutcliffe had chosen to stay in Hamburg with Astrid Kirchherr.
The Beatles were paid £7 10s (£7.50) for this appearance. In the audience were Johnny Guitar and Ringo Starr from Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, who had returned from Hamburg the day before.
The Beatles played a total of 20 shows at Litherland Town Hall; the final one took place on 9 November 1961.
Nice to know when Paul McCartney played bass guitar with The Beatles for the first time.
Tony Bramwell states that Brian Newby played bass that night.
He goes on to say that they all caught the last bus home ???
Where was the equipment ? Not on the bus I’m sure.
The guy in question was called Chas Newby. He only played bass with them for four gigs and he declined John’s invitation to join them on their next expedition to Hamburg in order to remain at university.
Paul didn’t even own his left-handed Höfner bass yet and photographs reveal that he reworked his Rosetti Model 7 electric guitar into a temporary makeshift bass by using piano strings reportedly stolen from a piano owned by a club either in Liverpool or Hamburg.
Stuart actually did loan Paul his Höfner President bass, but he had instructed him to not change the strings around or restring it left-handed.
How come we don’t know more about Brian Kelley? He would have known the Beatles pretty well in this period.