Top ten club

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Former Top Ten Club , now moondoo
Former entrance from the Top Ten Club , today entrance from moondoo
Memorial plaque on Beatles-Platz commemorating the discovery of the Beatles and Tony Sheridan in the Top Ten Club by Bert Kaempfert and Alfred K. Schacht

The Top Ten Club was a music club in the Hamburg district of St. Pauli on Reeperbahn 136, which opened on October 31, 1960 and kept the name until 1994. In 1961, The Beatles appeared in the Top Ten Club 92 times.

history

At the beginning of the 20th century, Carl Richter's Grand Hippodrom and Café were located on Reeperbahn 136 for a long time . Later it was called the Hippodrome (not to be confused with the hippodrome in the Große Freiheit of Willi Bartels' father Hermann) and, together with the hippo hermitage , belonged to Herbert Eckhorn. In 1960, the heir to the hippodrome , Peter Eckhorn (* February 12, 1939 in Hamburg; † May 19, 1979) decided to close the hippodrome , convert it, and reopen it as a music club with a new name. This was done after a short renovation phase. The Top Ten Club was opened on October 31, 1960 by Peter Eckhorn and its managing director Horst Fascher . Shortly afterwards, after disagreements, Peter Eckhorn separated from Horst Fascher, who then worked as a waiter in a restaurant in the Große Freiheit , where he persuaded Manfred Weissleder to turn his former star cinema into a music club, the Star Club , and he became its manager has been.

The Beatles

The Beatles , who were under contract with Bruno Koschmider , the owner of the Kaiserkeller , until December 31, 1960 , often visited Tony Sheridan , who appeared with his The Jets in the Top Ten Club , when they were not playing . Occasionally they played together, which Bruno Koschmider learned. On November 21, 1960, George Harrison was deported to England by the police because at 17 he was too young to work in a nightclub after midnight. It is believed that it was Bruno Koschmider who gave the police the tip because he was annoyed that the Beatles were unfaithful to the Kaiserkeller and wanted to switch to the Top Ten Club . George Harrison had to travel back to Liverpool .

On November 29th, only a few hours old, Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested for attempted arson. They are said to have set on a tapestry or a curtain cord when they packed their personal belongings in Bruno Koschmider's Bambi cinema , in the adjoining room of which they always slept, to bring them to the Top Ten Club . They spent the rest of the night in a Davidwache cell and were released that morning. A short time later, they were arrested again and learned that they were to leave Germany. Before they were deported, they signed a contract with Peter Eckhorn in order to be able to appear in the Top Ten Club from April next year . On the evening of November 30, 1960 both flew back to London, and from there traveled on to Liverpool. Pete Best had to leave his drums behind in Hamburg.

Police wanted John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe as a result of a complaint from Bruno Koschmider, presumably for breach of contract . On December 10, 1960, John Lennon returned to England after hiding for more than a week. Stuart Sutcliffe stayed with his girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg until February .

The Beatles then appeared from April 1 to July 1, 1961 in the Top Ten Club with Tony Sheridan . It became ninety-two nights with The Beatles and Tony Sheridan performing non-stop at the Top Ten Club. It should have been exactly 503 hours on stage. They played seven hours an evening, eight hours on the weekend. After every hour there was a fifteen minute break.

In the Top Ten Club one evening were during a performance record producer Bert Kaempfert , as well as the music publisher Alfred K. Schacht, the Tony Sheridan and the Beatles discovered and took under contract. On June 22nd and 23rd, several tracks were recorded for Polydor in the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle with Tony Sheridan and the Beatles, who, due to an objection from the record company, appeared as Beat Brothers on this recording . Among them was the track My Bonnie , which they also played during their appearances in the Top Ten Club . Stuart Sutcliffe was not present at the recording and the last appearances in the Top Ten Club . He left the band in June 1961.

Peter Brüchmann documented the Beatles' visit to the Top Ten Club in 1961 . The report did not appear in Quick until 1966 . Gerd Mingram photographed the Beatles by chance when he was taking photos for a union newspaper in the Top Ten Club . Some of the photos he sold mid-seventies for 30,000 pounds to Paul McCartney.

The Beatles actually wanted to appear in the Top Ten Club in 1962 , but the owner of the new Star Club , Manfred Weissleder, and its managing director Horst Fascher had outbid Peter Eckhorn until the Beatles manager Brian Epstein finally took the place of the Top Ten Club who preferred the Star Club .

Bands

Well-known bands that performed here included The Jets (with Tony Sheridan ), Gerry & the Pacemakers , The Beatles & Tony Sheridan, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich , The Nightsounds (with Albert Lee ), Alex Harvey's Big Soul Band (with Alex Harvey ), The Mastersounds (with Isabella Bond), The Tramps (ex-members of King Size Taylor And The Dominoes who also performed with Isabella Bond), Bluesology (with Reg Dwight aka Elton John ), The Smokeless Zone (with Deke Leonard ), Paddy, Klaus and Gibson (with Klaus Voormann ), The Magic Lanterns (with Jimmy Bilsbury ), The Liverbirds , Freddie & the Dreamers , The Monks and Cisco and his Dynamites .

From 1984 to 1994 Kalle Schwensen was the operator of the Top Ten Club . Bands also played during that time. Just for fun, friends of his also appeared when they were there, including the Scorpions , Duff McKagan from Guns N 'Roses , Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi , Udo Lindenberg , The Rattles and Tony Sheridan .

In 1992 a pimp named Bobby died from a ricochet in the entrance area of ​​the Top Ten Club .

Time after that

From 1994 about ten changes of ownership followed, and the names changed just as often. The names were MC-Music Club , new Top Ten Club , Soap Opera , The Irish Harp , La Cage (1997 to 2001), Titty Twister (based on the bar Titty Twister in the film From Dusk Till Dawn ) (2002 to 2003 ), Golden Stars (2003), Glam (2003 to 2005) and La Rocca (2005 to 2006) Since 2008 the name has been moondoo , and the operator is Lago Bay Betriebsgesellschaft mbH . The owner of the property Reeperbahn 136 has been a real estate agent for many years, who resides on Lake Starnberg and operates worldwide.

In 1994, the London Club Dome in Tufnell Park in the London Borough of Islington was transformed into the Top Ten Club for the film Backbeat .

Sound carrier

Live recording from the Top Ten Beat Club, Hamburg, Reeperbahn - The records were recorded in the Top Ten Club and are from Decca Records , except for the one Israeli pressing, which is from the Pax label .

  • 1964: Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Downtown / Breat And Butter (Single)
  • 1964: Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Everything's Allright / Thanks A Lot (Single)
  • 1964: Top Ten Allstars - Live recording from the Top Ten Beat Club, Hamburg, Reeperbahn (album)
  • 1964: Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Everything's alright with Isabella Bond (Album)
  • 1965: Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Everything's alright with Isabella Bond (album) (reprint or revision)
  • 196 ?: Top Ten Allstars - Three o'clock in the mornin '(Album)
  • 196 ?: Top Ten Allstars - Three o'clock in the mornin '(Album) (Israeli pressing)
  • 1966: Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Surfin '66 (Album)
  • 196 ?: Top Ten Allstars - Sweet Beat and Fun, Fun, Fun! (Album)

Web links

Commons : Top Ten Club  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grand Hippodrome , interior view, postcard from 1911
  2. ^ Postcard , Reeperbahn with hippodrome
  3. ^ Postcard , Reeperbahn with Hippodrom , around 1955
  4. ↑ Two postcards from the Hippo-Klause (interior view), Reeperbahn 136 ( Hamburg-Bildarchiv.de , Reeperbahn) (click on the black numbers)
  5. ^ Peter Eckhorn in the Internet Movie Database (English) with life data
  6. ↑ Proof of the hippodrome and the renovation
  7. ↑ Opening date ( memento of January 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on beatles-festival.com
  8. ↑ Proof In the footsteps of the Beatles in Hamburg
  9. ↑ The Little Secrets of the Beatles , Quick, No. 28, July 10, 1966
  10. ↑ Article When village music was a thing of the past in Die Zeit , May 23, 1980
  11. ↑ Photo of the Scorpions before the performance
  12. ↑ Kalle Schwensen ( Memento from February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Interview, part 2, on reeperbahn.de
  13. ↑ The Kiez is tame , article in Die Welt from December 7, 2003
  14. ^ MC Music Club on the Billboard from April 9, 1994
  15. ↑ Article Titty Twister becomes Golden Stars , Hamburger Abendblatt from January 30, 2003
  16. ↑ Golden Stars
  17. ^ Evidence of glam
  18. ↑ Proof of La Rocca .
  19. ↑ Article The eventful history of the Top Ten , June 10, 2006, Hamburger Abendblatt
  20. ↑ PDF file of the excerpt from Michael Töteberg's book Filmstadt Hamburg by VSA-Verlag , page 14
  21. ↑ Single Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Downtown , Breat And Butter
  22. ↑ Single Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Everything 'Allright , Thanks A Lot
  23. ↑ Revival of Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Everything's alright with Isabella Bond, article in Der Spiegel July 21, 1965
  24. ↑ Album Isabella Bond & Top Ten Allstars - Surfin '66

Coordinates: 53 ° 32 '59.1 "  N , 9 ° 57' 34.1"  E