The Silver Beetles live: Town Hall, Alloa, Scotland – 20 May 1960
Friday 20 May 1960 | Live
Town Hall, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland
The Silver Beetles' seven-date tour of Scotland, backing singer Johnny Gentle, began on this day with a performance at the Town Hall in Alloa, Clackmannanshire. It was the first professional tour of the group that would become The Beatles — and the first time they were paid to perform outside of Liverpool and Hamburg.
Larry Parnes and the Audition
The tour had been arranged by London-based promoter Larry Parnes — known in the industry as 'Parnes, Shillings and Pence' — following an audition in Liverpool on 10 May 1960. Parnes was the most powerful pop manager in Britain at the time, handling a stable of artists with carefully chosen stage names: Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Georgie Fame, and Vince Eager among them. The Silver Beetles had been recommended to Parnes by promoter Allan Williams, who ran the Jacaranda coffee bar in Liverpool and had become an informal manager to the group.
At the audition, held at the Wyvern Social Club on Seel Street, Liverpool, the group performed for Parnes and Billy Fury, who was looking for a backing band for his own forthcoming tour. Fury liked the group but Parnes felt their drummer — Tommy Moore, a 36-year-old forklift driver — was too old. The Silver Beetles did not get the Fury tour, but Parnes offered them the lesser engagement of backing Johnny Gentle on a short Scottish tour instead.
The Group in May 1960
The Silver Beetles at this point consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Stuart Sutcliffe, with Tommy Moore on drums. Moore was a reluctant touring musician — he had a steady job and a girlfriend in Liverpool — and would leave the group shortly after the Scottish tour. Pete Best would not join until August 1960, ahead of the group's first Hamburg residency.
The name 'Silver Beetles' was itself in flux. The group had used various spellings and formulations — The Quarrymen, Johnny and the Moondogs, The Beatals, The Silver Beetles — and would settle on 'The Beatles' later in 1960.
Johnny Gentle
Johnny Gentle — born John Askew in Liverpool in 1941 — was one of Parnes' lesser-known acts, signed in 1959. He had released a handful of singles on Philips without significant chart success. The Scottish tour was a modest regional engagement, not a major national tour, and the billing reflected this: all posters gave the billing as “Johnny Gentle and his group”, with no mention of The Silver Beetles by name.
Stage Names
They decided to adopt stage names for the first time — in keeping with the Parnes tradition of showbiz reinvention.
Now we were truly professional, we could do something we had been toying with for a long time, which was to change our names to real showbiz names. I became Paul Ramon, which I thought was suitably exotic. I remember the Scottish girls saying, ‘Is that his real name? That’s great.’ It’s French, Ramon. Ra-mon, that’s how you pronounce it. Stuart became Stuart de Staël after the painter. George became Carl Harrison after Carl Perkins (our big idol, who had written ‘Blue Suede Shoes’). John was Long John. People have since said, ‘Ah, John didn’t change his name, that was very suave.’ Let me tell you: he was Long John. There was none of that ‘he didn’t change his name’: we all changed our names.
So here we were, suddenly with the first of Larry’s untempestuous acts and a tour of Scotland, when I should have been doing my GCE exams. A lot of my parents’ hopes were going up the spout because I was off with these naughty boys who weren’t doing GCEs at all.
— Paul McCartney, Anthology
Stuart Sutcliffe's stage name — Stuart de Staël — was a reference to the Russian-French abstract painter Nicolas de Staël, whose work Sutcliffe admired. Sutcliffe was himself a gifted painter and had won a £75 prize at an exhibition in Liverpool in 1959, money which he used to buy his first bass guitar at McCartney's urging.
The Repertoire
The repertoire throughout the Scottish tour was drawn entirely from American rock and roll and pop: Buddy Holly's 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' and 'Raining In My Heart', Elvis Presley's 'I Need Your Love Tonight', Ricky Nelson's 'Poor Little Fool', Clarence Frogman Henry's 'I Don't Know Why I Love You But I Do', Eddie Cochran's 'Come On Everybody', and Jim Reeves' 'He'll Have To Go'. The set reflected the group's musical diet at the time — American records imported through NEMS, the record shop owned by Brian Epstein's family on Great Charlotte Street, Liverpool.
The First Night
Johnny Gentle first met The Silver Beetles half an hour before they went onstage in Alloa, and they had just 20 minutes of rehearsal. Gentle gave Harrison a black shirt to wear on stage, to match those worn by Lennon and McCartney. This first night was somewhat ragged, but they improved over the following six days. This was the only date of the tour not to take place on Scotland's north east coast; the others were all around the coast in the Highlands.
The Full Scottish Tour
- 20 May 1960: Town Hall, Alloa
- 21 May 1960: Town Hall, Inverness
- 23 May 1960: Northern Meeting Ballroom, Inverness
- 25 May 1960: Dalrymple Hall, Fraserburgh
- 26 May 1960: St Thomas Hall, Keith
- 27 May 1960: Town Hall, Forres
- 28 May 1960: Regal Ballroom, Nairn
Key Facts: 20 May 1960
- Venue: Town Hall, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland
- Billing: Johnny Gentle and his group
- Tour: Johnny Gentle Scottish Tour (20–28 May 1960)
- Promoter: Larry Parnes
- Stage names: Paul Ramon (McCartney), Stuart de Staël (Sutcliffe), Carl Harrison (Harrison), Long John (Lennon)
- Drummer: Tommy Moore
- Rehearsal time before first show: 20 minutes
- Note: Only date of the tour not on Scotland's north east coast
Frequently Asked Questions
Did The Beatles tour Scotland before they were famous?
Yes — in May 1960, as The Silver Beetles, they backed singer Johnny Gentle on a seven-date tour of Scotland arranged by promoter Larry Parnes. The tour opened at the Town Hall in Alloa on 20 May 1960 and was the group's first professional tour.
What stage names did The Silver Beetles use on the Scottish tour?
Paul McCartney became Paul Ramon, Stuart Sutcliffe became Stuart de Staël (after the painter Nicolas de Staël), George Harrison became Carl Harrison (after Carl Perkins), and John Lennon became Long John.
Who was Johnny Gentle?
Johnny Gentle (born John Askew, Liverpool, 1941) was a singer on Larry Parnes' roster, signed in 1959. He had released singles on Philips without major chart success. The Scottish tour was a modest regional engagement; he and The Silver Beetles met for the first time half an hour before the first show in Alloa.
Who was Larry Parnes?
Larry Parnes was the most powerful pop manager in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s, handling Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Georgie Fame, and others. He was known for giving his artists glamorous stage names, earning him the nickname 'Parnes, Shillings and Pence'. He arranged the Scottish tour after The Silver Beetles auditioned for him in Liverpool on 10 May 1960.
Who was the drummer on the Scottish tour?
Tommy Moore, a 36-year-old forklift driver from Liverpool. Moore was a reluctant touring musician and left the group shortly after the Scottish tour. Pete Best replaced him in August 1960, ahead of the group's first Hamburg residency.
What did The Silver Beetles play on the Scottish tour?
Buddy Holly's 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' and 'Raining In My Heart', Elvis Presley's 'I Need Your Love Tonight', Ricky Nelson's 'Poor Little Fool', Clarence Frogman Henry's 'I Don't Know Why I Love You But I Do', Eddie Cochran's 'Come On Everybody', and Jim Reeves' 'He'll Have To Go'.
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