The Fairfield Halls is to mark the 60th anniversary of its staging a concert by the Beatles, at the height of “Beatlemania”, with a gig by the tribute act, The Mersey Beatles.
Diamond geezers: it is 60 years since The Beatles played Croydon
The Mersey Beatles biggest ever tour of Britain will play in Croydon on Sunday September 10.
The Fab Four played two sell-out shows at the Fairfield Halls on September 7, 1963 – 6.15pm and 8.45pm.
Freddie Starr, who became better known as a hamster-eating 1970s comedian (it was a S*n headline, and so entirely untrue), was still pursuing his dream of pop stardom, and was one of the support acts. Also on the bill that night was Mike Berry (with “the Innocents”), who became an actor and in the early 1980s appeared alongside John Inman in the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?
The promoters of the September 2023 concert say, “To celebrate this diamond anniversary, The Mersey Beatles have created a special hit-packed show no fan of the Fab Four will want to miss.”
The Croydon audience is promised a magical mystery tour, with songs from the 1963 debut album Please Please Me, through the psychedelic brilliance of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to classics such as “Get back”, “Revolution” and “Hey Jude”.
The Mersey Beatles were the resident tribute act at the Cavern Club for a decade – playing more than 600 times at the world-famous venue.
Merseybeats: the tribute act performing during their residency at the Cavern Club in Liverpool
The British Beatles Fan Club rate them as “The best Beatles tribute band around”. The band – Mark Bloor (John), Steven Howard (Paul), Craig McGown (George) and Brian Ambrose (Ringo) – have since toured the world many times over.
“It’s going to be a brilliant night at Fairfield Halls,” Howard said.
“Not only are we celebrating 60 years of Please Please Me topping the charts, but the diamond anniversary of The Beatles rocking Croydon – virtually 60 years to the day of our show!
“Playing Fairfield Halls has been on our bucket list for some time – it’s such a beautiful and historic venue.
“Audiences at our shows always include people who were at The Beatles’ shows back in the day. They are up on their feet dancing from the very first song – just like they were in 1963. So, Croydon… get your dancing shoes on!”
Tickets for The Mersey Beatles at Fairfield Halls on Sunday September 10 are available from fairfield.co.uk or by calling 0300 500 0595.
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