Yeh, yeh, yeh - an Adelaide Cavern

28 August 2003
By: Patrick McDonald

The Cavern - the famous Liverpool venue which spawned The Beatles - will be re-created in Adelaide as part of a global franchise.

Monty Ruggiero, from tribute band the Fab Four, and Beatles memorabilia collector Graham Linton, have secured the rights to open The Cavern Australia here early next year.

Details of the venue are still being finalised but Mr Ruggiero said it would be in a "prime CBD" location.

The Fab Four, which also performs overseas as "the Australian Beatles Show" and interstate as the Beatals, was formed by Mr Ruggiero eight years ago. They have been invited to perform at Liverpool's Mathew Street Festival for the past three years.

The Adelaide venue grew out of discussions between Mr Ruggiero and the owners of the original Cavern Club in Liverpool, who wanted to expand internationally.

"It has taken 12 months," Mr Ruggiero said.

"We looked at Melbourne and Sydney but decided Adelaide would be the place," Mr Ruggiero said.

Adelaide's Cavern Club will house a restaurant and performance venue as well as Mr Linton's collection of Beatles memorabilia, valued at over $1 million.

"We have things that can't be seen anywhere else in the world," Mr Ruggiero said.

"You can't see John Lennon's suits, you can't see the awards, the Apple memos or the watches.

"For tourism, what a fantastic thing to have a small rock 'n' roll Beatles museum that people don't have to travel for 24 hours on a plane to go and see."

Mr Ruggiero would not disclose whether the performance stage would be underground, like the original Cavern Club.

Warehouses above the original Liverpool Cavern Club were demolished in 1973. The basement was filled in and the venue subsequently relocated across Mathew Street but eventually closed.

In 1984, the original site was excavated and the club was rebuilt using the original bricks.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney returned to play there again in 1999 and recently held his end-of-tour party at the venue.

The company behind The Cavern Club plans to open similar concept venues in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Marbella in Spain and Miami and New York in the US.

Adelaide's Fab Four performed in Liverpool this week in front of 30,000 Beatles fans as part of the city's 10th annual Mathew Street Festival.