Blog, Blog Me Do... » Festivals

Hamburg Celebrates Beatles Link

Alan Porter — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:57:52 +0000

Visitors to this year’s Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany, will be given a free tour of the parts of the city where The Beatles lived and played in the early ’60s. It’s another initiative that’s supported by the city’s marketing department to raise Hamburg’s worldwide profile by plugging its links to music.

It’s taken more than 40 years for the city to do anything about capitalising on The Beatles’ legacy, but now it sees value in reminding tourists of the connection with the U.K.’s Fab Four and also that the north German port plays an active role in international live music.

On a personal note I can add that it’s about time. I was a regular visitor to Hamburg in the late 1980s for business reasons, and at that time there was nothing in the city to mark its Beatles connections. Tracking down Beatles related sites was always something of a challenge.

Beatles Unlimited in Holland

Alan Porter — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:03:51 +0000

Beatles Unlimited, the official Dutch Beatles fanclub, has announced it will organise the 28th International Beatles Convention in Music Centre de Kom in Nieuwegein.

The programme will include Beatles films, a quiz and auction. The doors will open at 10.00 and the day will end 22.00 h . There is no advance ticket sale, tickets can only be purchased at the event on 7 April. The program: exhibitions , photos, books and art by Klaus Voormann, Beatles Golden Record Collection by Fenno Werkman, Auction, Beatles market includes 200 meters of singles/LPâ€™s/CD’s/DVDâ€™s, books, magazines, memorabiÂlia, etc. Live music will be supplied by a variety of tribute bands.

For more information check out the Beatles Unlimited website.

Ontario Beatle Festival Announced

Alan Porter — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 02:09:59 +0000

According to a post on the Abbey Road News Links webpage, plans have been announced for Ontario’s first ever community-based Beatles festival to be held in the City of Orillia. Known as the “Orillia Beatles Celebration“, the three-day event on September 21, 22 and 23, 2007 is sponsored and managed by the Orillia Festival Committee, a volunteer group representing a cross-section of community leaders, businesses, educators, students, musicians, artists and Beatles fans. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first meeting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1957, highlights include celebrity Allan Williams, the first booking agent of the Beatles; performances by Toronto’s FabFour; tribute performances across the City; museum-quality Beatles exhibits; educational presentations; a vendor’s marketplace; and a street festival.

The festival’s official website can be found HERE.