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2017 EVERGREEN 51<br />

many different bands they actually<br />

became.<br />

It took just four years to reach the<br />

lush, pastoral tones of “Strawberry<br />

Fields” from the nasal hum of “Love<br />

Me Do”. Four years, and yet it was<br />

practically a whole dimension away.<br />

There was a world out there to<br />

be conquered, and conquer it they<br />

would, but back in January 1962<br />

they had only played in the south of<br />

England once — on 9th December<br />

1961 when they took part in one<br />

of Sam Leach’s Big Beat Sessions<br />

at the Palais Ballroom, Aldershot.<br />

Billed as a “battle of the bands”<br />

between the boys and Ivor Jay and<br />

the Jaywalkers, a major publicity<br />

blunder resulted in only 18 people<br />

turning up.<br />

Undeterred, manager Brian<br />

Epstein started to extend the band’s<br />

reach by booking venues further<br />

out of Liverpool, in places like<br />

Northwich and Rhyl. He also began<br />

dealing with the London-based<br />

Cana Variety Agency.<br />

Jack Fallon, who owned Cana<br />

(and who ended up playing fiddle<br />

on “Don’t Pass Me By” in 1968), also<br />

ran Jaybee Clubs, which promoted<br />

dances predominantly in the west of<br />

England. With contracts signed and<br />

hands shaken, The Beatles’ first gig<br />

for Jaybee was at the Subscription<br />

Rooms, Stroud, on 31st March 1962.<br />

The second, on 17th July, was at<br />

McIlroy’s Ballroom, Swindon.<br />

This came near the end of a run<br />

of 61 live engagements and a look<br />

During the day a department store, in<br />

the evening McIlroy’s became a popular<br />

entertainment venue.<br />

at the shows before and after gives<br />

a good idea of just how busy the<br />

boys were. On the 16th they played<br />

a lunchtime session at the Cavern,<br />

followed by an evening concert at<br />

the Plaza, St. Helens. They then<br />

came all the way down to Swindon,<br />

only to go virtually straight back<br />

to Liverpool for another lunchtime<br />

booking at the Cavern the next<br />

day — where they also played that<br />

night. Now that was hard work —<br />

for the band and their van!<br />

McIlroy’s, or “Mac’s” as it<br />

was known, was within a plush<br />

department store. What was a<br />

restaurant by day was converted for<br />

evening use by moving the tables<br />

to the carpet around the central

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