…That The Beatles played two shows in the Pavillion at Candie Gardens, St Peter Port, Guernsey.
Earlier this, evening, Guernsey Arts put on a Beatles tribute band, who not only replicated the (25 minute) live set from 8 August 1963, but also played another hour’s worth of songs The Beatles played and/or recorded that year.
Also, to mark this anniversary, GNET Radio is broadcasting 3 hour-long programmes of Beatles-related music:
Part 1 = “Yesterday & Today” – including influences on, and contemporaries of, the band during its lifetime.
Part 2 = “Can We Work It Out?” – we imagine (if you will) a potential 13th Beatles’ LP, utilising tracks being worked on/started during the band’s existence.
Part 3 = “Help(ed)!” – a focus on bands and musicians clearly influenced by The Beatles.
Parts 1 and 2 – in case of any interest – already available here:
We are always grateful for any bouquets and/or brickbats…
…Oh and there is a very good art exhibition at the same venue. Local artists are randomly allocated a Beatles’ LP and can choose a song therefrom to interpret. Again put on by Guernsey Arts.
…And it was 60 years and around 4 months ago that as a 12 y.o. I saw The Beatles at St. Helens Plaza.
I am in Jersey and this story appeared in the local paper this morning.
https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2023/08/10/this-is-the-day-beatlemania-hit-jersey-six-decades-ago/
Warning: contains picture of Paul smoking by the pool.
The Guernsey concerts that @biggles mentions were bookended by concerts in Jersey on 6 and 7 August and on 9 and 10 August. I can’t imagine any band coming to Jersey for four days now.
Festivals aside, the last big-name band I remember here was when Echo & The Bunnymen played the Fort Regent sports hall in October 2018, although my cursory research shows me that Alison Moyet came here in February 2019.
Several years ago, I got really excited to see that Martin Stephenson was due to come and play at the Opera House, only to find out that they cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. It was a bit bl**dy embarrassing that an island of 100,000 plus couldn’t raise enough enthusiasm to fill the Opera House for one evening to see someone as wonderful as MS (with or without his Daintees).
As a footnote to my post above, more cursory research tells me that the mighty Quo played Fort Regent for three nights on the trot, 15-17 June 1992.
Rick Parfitt was, famously, a tax exile on Jersey for a while. Apparently, he got so bored here, that he wrote Living On An Island.
Lyric extract:
I’m getting lonely in my empty room
Living on an island
Working on another line
Waiting for my friend to come
And we’ll get high
@pajp – blimey, are you a Crapaud?
You are spot on with your other comments…
… Back in the day (1980’s mostly) here in Guernsey we had The Jam, Big Country, Hot Chocolate, Depeche Mode, Slade, Depeche Mode and Elvis Costello.
Sad to say, my favourite was in Jersey with The Boy in 2012 (The Folklore Festival) – Van Morrison, Ray Davies, plus Lee Perry (“Good evening, err, Dublin”), John Cooper Clarke, Nouvelle Vague, Joan Armatrading and Badly Drawn Boy amongst others.
In our/your(?) little island, it wasn’t a success, but man it was good!
@biggles No, not a local, but I have been here (far longer than ever intended) since 2006.
Only this evening I had a conversation with someone who was telling me how good it was in the 80’s and it’s not the first time I have heard such things.
Joan Armatrading must have liked it here, because I saw her here at the Opera House in about 2007.
… I have seen a number of great gigs in Guernsey (including Elton John in a pub!), but that 2012 line-up in Jersey over 2 days was pretty special. And included Wanda Jackson!
Guernsey sounds like New York compared to North Wales where I grew up. The only bands you were likely to see were either hopelessly lost or on the way to the Holyhead ferry for Ireland. Kursaal Flyers once played Bangor University. Tells you all you need to know.
More 60-years-ago news from the Channel Islands.
I found this article today in the JEP’s sister paper, the Bailiwick Express published yesterday.
https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/news/hey-jude-its-60-years-beatles-brought-beatlemania-jersey/
It contains three more pictures of the Fab Four in Jersey in 1963 and refers to the recreation in Guernsey earlier in the week of the Beatles Candie Gardens set mentioned by @biggles in the OP.
It also has a bit about the cost of living in the Channel Islands in 1963. The cost of the return flight to Paris (at about the same price as 7 pints of beer) is cheaper than I would have expected, as is the cost of “coats and suits” at De Gruchy (a Jersey department store – still with us) at the equivalent of the cost of between 2 and 4 pints.
I know that you have to bear in mind how much (or little) people were earning at the time, but it either makes beer expensive or flying cheap.