On June 30th and July 1st, the Beatles-inspired festival “Come Together Experience” will take place in Hamburg. Beatles-related acts will be performing in clubs on and around the Reeperbahn such as the Kaiserkeller, Indra and Moondoo. In addition, there will be further concerts in the Laeiszhalle, the Große Freiheit 36, the Gruenspan and the Molotow “to celebrate the Beatles in all their diversity”, as the organizers write in a statement.
As is well known, the Fab Four started their world career in the Hanseatic city. In the early 1960s, the group performed in venues such as the Indra for Hamburg audiences; at that time there were still five of them with bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best on the stage of the Indra Club on Große Freiheit. “It was Hamburg that did it. That’s where we really developed,” said John Lennon at the time.
Program items at the festival
The festival would like to focus on curated “Come Together Milestones”. This refers to special commissioned works in which current newcomers meet international, established names in order to draw from the Beatles’ fundus.
Earl Slick with Mark Hudson, Jesse Smith and Kasim Sulton
One of these “milestones” is Earl Slick. John Lennon’s later guitarist will play a John Lennon tribute evening in the Laeiszhalle with an all-star band and various singers. For his evening he has put together a band with which he would like to perform songs from all phases of John Lennon’s work. Including Mark Hudson: The songwriter and producer has worked with artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Cher and Celine Dion and produced eight albums with Ringo Starr.
Also featured is session musician Kasim Sulton (bass, vocals), who has been Todd Rundgren’s bassist of choice for over 45 years, and Jesse Smith (vocals, guitar, keyboards), a London-based rock singer, musician and songwriter who also fronts the Romances, The Classic Rock Show and Boot Led Zeppelin. Earl Slick’s own son, Lee John, will play the drums.
Blac Rabbit, Bambi Kino, Bootleg Beatles
Two other “milestones” are the New York psychedelic band Blac Rabbit and the indie supergroup Bambi Kino, also from New York. Another program item in the line-up is the jazz trio Julia Hülsmann – Nils Wogram – Christoper. The three musicians translate Beatles songs into music from grand piano, vibraphone and trombone.
Beatles tribute bands such as The Bootleg Beatles from Great Britain and Pepperland (SWE), Hamburg Beat (UK), Just Beatles (SCO), the German Mersey Beat champs Blackbyrds and St. Pauli Beatles are also represented.
tickets
Three different ticket categories are on offer for the festival:
- On the one hand, the “Come Together” festival ticket for 149 euros, with which you can visit all events including the shows in Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle – including, for example, the review for the 50th birthday of the “Blue Album” and the concert by Earl Slick his guests.
- The “All You Can Beat” ticket gives you access to all shows, performances, talks and panels for 99 euros, with the exception of those that take place in the Laeiszhalle.
- In addition, young fans under the age of 25 can look forward to the “So Much Younger Than Today” ticket: It offers the same services as the “All You Can Beat” ticket, but is reduced by 25 percent and is therefore available for 74 euros offered.