Quoted from Bobber

Does anybody know how long the lunchtime concert in the Cavern usually took?

Okay, Bobber, I checked the library yesterday.  No love.  I checked Cynthia's book John, Elizabeth Partridge's book on John, and Ray Coleman's book Lennon.  None of them contained the anecdote which I know I read somewhere recently.  It describes a young office worker getting ready for a cavern session, rushing over there, and returning to her desk before the boss got too mad.  Since I couldn't find it in any of the previous books, I assume it must be in Goldman's Lives of John Lennon.  Unfortunately, that book is in a different library.

Ray Coleman did have an interesting anecdote from a former Cavern girl, now the manager of the Beatles store in Liverpool.  According to her, the Cavern sessions began at noon.  She and her girlfriends would get ready to leave about 11:45 a.m.  Depending on what ferry they made, they could get there shortly after 12 or, if they missed the first ferry, they would get there at 12:40 p.m.  The woman is quoted as describing it was "worth it".  This blows my 45-minute session theory.  I can't imagine all that work would be "worth it" for a 45-minute session if they only caught the last 5 minutes.  Therefore I assume that the Beatles must have been on at least until 1 p.m., possibly longer.

I'll see if I can find that interview with the former office worker.  She did give the exact time that she had to be back at her desk.  I'm pretty sure it was probably 2 p.m., particularly if the cavern sessions began at noon.

Good luck!  I really want to hear your results. Cheers!

^Thanks for the work. I'll count an hour for every lunchtime session.

Hari: If she was an office worker she would definately not have been given more than an hour for lunch. And if she was regularly late back she would eventually have been fired. Lunchtime would - for most people - have been for one hour between 12 and 2. So I'm guessing that they may have done 2 sets of, say 45 minutes each. Only a guess, mind.

It may say in the Anthology book. I'll have a look later.

Thanks, BM!  I was also wondering if the Beatles did more than one set. I'm sure this must be documented somewhere.  The question is, where? *flails*

I don't really keep up with books about The Beatles, so I don't know, but maybe there's a book about The Cavern? Or did Mal Evans ever write a book?

I've e-mailed The Cavern Club. Let you know what they say.

^Great idea! *bows to you*

Here's what The Cavern Club said in their reply:

"The sessions went from 12 til 3 as a rule to get the office workers and school kids on their lunch hour. The bands played  45 minutes to an hour depending on however many bands were on sometimes one band would play two sets. There are no records available showing particular line ups and times for specific bands."

Ah! That is great. So I guess if The Beatles were the only band during a lunchtime session, I can count two hours. If there's another band scheduled along with The Beatles, I'll count one hour. That's fair, isn't it?

Sounds like the logical thing to do. But how do you know if there were other bands? Lewisohn rarely mentions them. But he does say this on 22 January 1962:

"The lunchtime spot at The Cavern Club was the first of five experimental one hour sessions, half the usual duration."

Quoted from BlueMeanie

Sounds like the logical thing to do. But how do you know if there were other bands? Lewisohn rarely mentions them. But he does say this on 22 January 1962:

"The lunchtime spot at The Cavern Club was the first of five experimental one hour sessions, half the usual duration."

It's those kind of remarks that I must try to hold on to. There's a lot of gigs that are clueless about the duration. Hamburg is quite obvious, but how long did they play on a random Saturday night at the Litherland Town Hall?

Quoted from Bobber

It's those kind of remarks that I must try to hold on to. There's a lot of gigs that are clueless about the duration. Hamburg is quite obvious, but how long did they play on a random Saturday night at the Litherland Town Hall?

You can only approximate. If they were playing on their own call it 2 one hour sets. On a bill with other bands I'd say 45 minutes.

Bobber, keep track of all this research. You should publish a paper!

Here's a cute clip of fan memories. These two Cavern dwellers give more evidence that the sets might have been an hour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlM6Ms6YWbk

About 3 minutes in, the 2 fans talk about 1 of them fainting, and she had to wait "about an hour" for her friend to join her-- who was not about to miss the Beatles!

I'm looking forward to your research results. Cheers.

Oh, I'm still busy. Up to February 1961 and Pete is still in front. Thanks a lot for that link by the way! These are links by maccalennon: see his comments on the Films Section.