It was 50 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play (whoever he was). In Hamburg, of all places.

50 years? Wasn’t it more like 500 years ago? Was that really the same planet?

“Incredible though it may seem, today it will be 50 years ago to the day since the band played the first of what, during the course of five separate visits over the next two and a half years, would be 281 concerts in Hamburg.”

“Their work rate was phenomenal – at one point in 1961 they played for 98 nights in succession, frequently starting at 7pm and going through until 7am. They learnt how to survive on their wits, their flair for improvisation, their innate cockiness – and on a steady stream of uppers.”