A Day in the Life

My journey ended at exactly the same spot that it had begun. Staggering half asleep from the bus, the effects of a bottle of red wine helping neither with the vision nor with the walking, it was hard to comprehend that 19 hours had elapsed since I had last stood on the exact same spot, then full of excitement and anticipation and now; well a little unsteady  if truth be told. I returned a broken, but happy, man. It had been a remarkable experience providing me with a rare insight into what goes on behind the scenes when a band undertakes, as Them Beatles did, a 420 mile round trip in a single day to play just one gig.

Sometimes things fall just perfectly and this was one such occasion. A weekend without any football coincided with Them Beatles appearing at The Cavern in Liverpool; no fan of The Beatles needs told of the significance of playing at that particular venue. Any plans of making a weekend of it were soon abandoned so it was a case then of taking up an offer of a lift to any gig outside of Glasgow. That, then, is why I found myself standing outside my flat at 11 in the morning in a dank and miserable Glasgow, awaiting a lift to what turned out to be an equally dank and miserable Liverpool.  

With the amount of travelling Them Beatles do comfort is clearly very important and their bus combines functionality and comfort perfectly with ample room for kit (and I would discover just how much kit a little later in the day) and band alike. So much so that the presence of my own rotund body didn’t, I hope, significantly compromise anyone’s comfort too much.

You needn’t at this point worry too much. I’m not going to provide a blow by blow account of the journey. One bus journey differs little from another bus journey. For me at least there was the thrill of doing something a little different. For the other four having to deal with the monotony of travel can’t be easy. There is at least a TV and an excellent sound system to help deal with that monotony. Not that either was used on the way down as the first portion of the journey was punctuated by yelps of excitement from the front of the bus as the football commentary brought news of goal after goal for Liverpool in their match with Arsenal.

The journey was otherwise pretty uneventful. If being blown across the motorway lane by the wind can be considered uneventful. Having to deal with traffic and the vagaries of the weather are clearly other occupational hazards that a touring band has to deal with. Being buffeted from side to side by the wind was a disconcerting sensation and the conditions didn’t make for an especially swift journey south.

The Cavern

In due course though, the bus pulled up outside the back entrance to The Cavern. With show time still well over 3 hours away there would surely be time for everyone to relax, unwind and generally recover from the journey? Not a bit of it. There was first of all the small matter of unloading all the kit. A laborious task even if there was a lift to take the gear deep down into the bowels of The Cavern.

I knew at a depressingly early age that I would never be a professional footballer. The discovery not much later of a total absence of musical talent ruled out a career as a rock and roll star too. To the list of ‘cool’ jobs that I can’t do you can now add that of Roadie.

You don’t realise just how many guitar stands are needed until you have to put them up. You don’t realise too just how useless you are at such things until you have singularly failed to perform such an operation as simple as assembling a guitar stand. Deciding that I was more hindrance than a help I left the band to continue setting up and to sound check. I had some money burning a hole in my pocket and a thirst for a couple of beers. They had work to do.

An hour or so later, as I performed the strenuous task of tucking into a pizza, I met up with the band once more. Trusted with carrying in a drum cover we struggled our way through the crowd waiting for doors to open. Nobody seemed to mind too much and I was denied then the chance to say, in a smug voice; “it’s okay I’m with the band”. Another ambition cruelly thwarted.

As I sat relaxing on the dressing room sofa (I must have carried at least couple of guitar cases to the lift earlier and I was tired) bits of paper came out as it was time to confirm the set list. I decided at this point that it was time for me to leave. I didn’t want to know in advance what the set would comprise of and I wanted the Fourth Wall to be rebuilt; for Clark, Joe, Craig and Grahame to become once more in my eyes John, Paul, George and Ringo.

The view from the stage

Doors were open by now and the seats down by the front of the stage were already occupied. Not that this bothered me too much. I managed to find a nice spot just at the back of the seated area. This gave me a more or less unobstructed view of the stage but also the chance to see what was going on around me.

For a variety of reasons I must confess not to being a huge fan of the main part of The Cavern. Or at least when it is, as it was on this day, crammed full of stag and hen parties. The Cavern Live Lounge though is a different matter. Yes much of the audience were well lubricated come the end of the night but they were there for the music and for a good time.

They weren’t to be disappointed on either front with Them Beatles producing a genuinely stunning performance. They came on stage around 8:45pm and midnight had long since passed by the time they finished. There were breaks between their three sets but that’s near enough 3 hours on stage. No chance of the sell out audience being short changed.

As already mentioned Them Beatles performed three separate sets taking the audience virtually through the entire Beatles story. During the first of those three sets Them Beatles had the rare opportunity of performing a song for the very first time, not that you would have noticed from their performance of ‘I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party’ that they were doing it for the first time. I look forward to seeing that feature in their set in the future.

I’ve seen ‘This Boy’ many times before but still love the three part harmony being performed at the one microphone; a very simple concept but visually a very striking one.

The second set took us into The Beatles more psychedelic phase complete with full Sgt. Pepper outfits. ‘A Day in the Life’ was, as always, utterly fantastic but for once it wasn’t my own personal highlight from that section of the show. That went to ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ with ‘Flying’ a very close second.

We moved onto the Apple years for the closing set. By now the audience, which coincidently contained a large Glaswegian contingent, were in full flow and the band visibly fed off that. We were treated to a number of tracks from the White album including ‘Glass Onion’ and a remarkable rendition of ‘Dear Prudence’. ‘Let it Be’ was performed beautifully and all too soon we were into ‘Get Back’ and the end of the show.

Them Beatles though were going to have to work overtime. They were back on stage for an encore in next to no time and perhaps surprised many by performing ‘Free as a Bird’ which I first heard them play at the Liverpool Philharmonic during Beatle Week 2013. Requests from the audience saw them continue with ‘Rocky Racoon’ and ‘The Night Before’ before the show finally came to an end with ‘Hey Jude’.

Work not quite done the band came out to pose for photographs and chat to the audience before, eventually, everyone started to drift off into the night.

It’s usually at this point that my night is at an end too. Of course this time I had to wait for the band to pack up. Again I tried to be of some assistance but really should have realised that if you are going to move a case from the dressing room to the lift then it is best to check if the person has finished with it first.

After the magic is over

I was surprised at just how quickly it took to get the gear into the back of the bus but it was still 1:40am before all was safely tucked up in the back of the bus. Before we could leave Liverpool though there was still some refuelling to do. Not just the bus itself but for four hungry and thirsty musicians and one equally hungry and thirsty hanger-on. Thanks to Liverpool liberal licensing laws it was possible for those not driving, which included my good self, to acquire some beer and wine to help speed along the miles back to Glasgow.

And what of the journey back? Well there was plenty of music, plenty of chat and plenty of flatulence. Lots of flatulence.

I managed to drop off to sleep for the last 40 miles or so of the journey and at a little after 6am I found myself deposited outside my flat. Which I suppose brings us back to where this story began.

For me my day was nearly at an end. In just a few minutes I would be tucked up in bed. I was lucky though; I was one of the first to be dropped off. For others there was a bit to go yet and gear to be once more unpacked. For some it was 8am before the key went into the door. I had had a great day; a day that gave me a much greater insight into the sacrifice that four incredibly talented musicians make. For the audience at The Cavern it was a three hour show and a smashing night out. For the band, one of whom was celebrating their birthday and whose girlfriend is due to give birth in just a few weeks, it was another of many days and nights spent away from the family. For me it was a break from the norm. For them it was a job; their living. That is worthy of our respect and admiration. They’ve certainly got mine.

Tom Evans