Mathew Street Festival Rocks On
Liverpool's Cavern and International Beatles Week - Where It's At!
The world famous Mathew Street Festival, coinciding with Liverpool's Beatles Week and the Cavern's 50th birthday, was threatened with cancellation. Now it's been saved.
The Festival
Liverpool's Mathew Street Festival has been running for over a decade and getting bigger each year. Held in the city centre, it celebrates the street in which the Cavern Club was (and remains in a slightly changed location) and the Cavern Club was, of course, the venue made famous as the place where The Beatles first found fame. It was also one of the venues that gave birth to Merseybeat and the Merseysound. Today, the Cavern Quarter is a mecca for Beatles fans who visit from all over the world to pay homage to the 'Fab Four'.
The Threat of Closure
Held across August Bank Holiday, the 2007 event was threatened by health and safety concerns, and its cancellation was publicly announced only four weeks before it was due to be held. The reason given was that the amount of construction work being undertaken in the run-up to Liverpool’s 12 months as European City of Culture in 2008 made the city centre an unsafe area to host a large number of outdoor events. These outdoor events, held on stages in the blocked-off streets of central Liverpool complemented the larger number of performances taking place in indoor venues.
Following an outpouring of astonishment from many sections of the community, including the Leader of the City Council who, surprisingly, had not been informed of the decision, urgent discussions took place. The result was that the act scheduled to perform on outdoor stages on Sunday and Monday, August 26 and 27 would be moved to more than 40 indoor arenas.
The Festival Back On
This development takes the Mathew Street Music Festival back to its roots which lie in bands paying tribute to The Beatles and the Merseysound in the bars, clubs and pubs that surround the Mathew Street area. Many of these bands are 'tribute' bands, but each year also sees appearances by some of the original artists who played alongside The Beatles in The Cavern.
Among the venues that may be used are:
- Babycream
- Bar L1
- Blue
- Heebie-Jeebies
- Korova
- La Bateau
- Metro
- Mood
- Pan-M
- Rat and Parrott
- Reflex
- Society
- The Barfly
- The Krazy House
- The Picket
- University of Liverpool's Mountford Hall
- Varsity
- Walkabout
- Zanzibar
Information about the Mathew Street Festival is available at its website.
Liverpool International Beatles Week
As has been the tradition, the Mathew Street Music Festival will coincide with the annual Liverpool International Beatles Week, which this year starts with a special concert to launch the Cavern album marking the 50th anniversary of the world famous club. There will also be a programme of guest talks, concerts and Beatles-related auctions. As wit the Festival, the International Beatles Week maintains its own website.
