Saturday 27 October 1962 | Live performance | Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, Wirral
The Beatles returned to Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight on 27 October 1962 for their fourth and final performance at the venue. Promoted by the local Recreations Association, the evening was advertised as Rhythm & Twist, with Pharoh and the Exiles and the Beat Cats also on the bill.
The concert brought together two parts of the Beatles’ early story: their continuing work on the local dance-hall circuit and the new recording career beginning with Love Me Do. Before going on stage, they recorded an interview for Radio Clatterbridge. That conversation survives, giving this particular local booking a significance far beyond the audience in the hall.
| Date | Saturday 27 October 1962 |
|---|---|
| Venue | Hulme Hall, Bolton Road, Port Sunlight, Wirral |
| Promoter | Port Sunlight Recreations Association |
| Advertised event | Rhythm & Twist |
| Advertised event hours | 7.30pm–11.30pm; these are not the Beatles’ individual stage times |
| Other advertised acts | Pharoh and the Exiles; the Beat Cats |
| Place in the venue history | Fourth and final Beatles appearance |
| Lineup | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr |
| Associated recording | Monty Lister’s Radio Clatterbridge interview, recorded before the performance |
Rhythm & Twist: what the poster tells us
The surviving poster names the Port Sunlight Recreations Association at its head and gives the venue as Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight. Its large Rhythm & Twist lettering places the booking firmly in a dance-night setting rather than presenting it as a seated concert devoted exclusively to one group.
The Beatles receive prominent billing above Pharoh and the Exiles and the Beat Cats. The poster establishes that those acts were advertised together; it does not provide an individual running order, set lengths or a song list.
The printed hours, 7.30pm to 11.30pm, describe the advertised evening. They should not be turned into a claim that the Beatles played for four hours. Likewise, the time associated with the pre-show interview is not a separately established stage time.
Four Beatles appearances at Hulme Hall
The Beatles played Hulme Hall four times during 1962. Their return on 27 October completed that short sequence of bookings:
| Appearance | Date |
|---|---|
| First | 7 July 1962 |
| Second | 18 August 1962 |
| Third | 6 October 1962 |
| Fourth and final | 27 October 1962 |
This sequence shows the group returning to the same local venue across the summer and autumn. By the final booking, Love Me Do was a current release, and the band could talk to hospital-radio listeners about their own Parlophone record while still appearing on a shared dance bill.
A popular booking in Port Sunlight
Hulme Hall stood on Bolton Road in Port Sunlight, on the Wirral near Birkenhead. Although the Beatles’ story is closely associated with Liverpool, this was a booking on the other side of the Mersey, not a Liverpool city-centre engagement.
Accounts of the venue’s Beatles bookings describe a normal capacity of around 450, unofficially increased to 500 because of the group’s popularity. Those capacity figures describe the reported arrangements, not a verified ticket-sales total for this particular evening.
The local setting also comes through in the interview recorded that night. Asked about their connections to the district, the Beatles discussed relatives and familiar places across the water. The conversation preserves a band speaking to an audience for whom those nearby names had immediate meaning.
The interview before the performance
At about 8.45pm, before their stage appearance, the Beatles recorded the conversation led by Monty Lister, with questions from Malcolm Threadgill and Peter Smethurst. The recording was made for the hospital-radio service serving Cleaver and Clatterbridge hospitals.
The interview was subsequently heard on Lister’s Sunday Spin programme. Its recording at Hulme Hall and its transmission to hospital listeners are separate events; the recording time should not be treated as evidence of a simultaneous live broadcast.
It is recognised as the Beatles’ earliest surviving recorded interview. That distinction does not make it their first radio performance. They had already undertaken BBC work, including Here We Go in Manchester on 25 October 1962.
Read the full history of the Monty Lister interview, or go straight to the text transcript with speaker labels.
Love Me Do and an early recording career
Love Me Do had been released only about three weeks before the Hulme Hall booking. The record gave the interviewers something new to ask about, but the musicians were still introducing themselves, explaining their instruments and discussing how the group worked.
John, Paul, George and Ringo were now the familiar four-piece lineup. In the interview, Ringo described himself as having been with the group for nine weeks. That contemporary exchange helps place the concert within the early months of this lineup, rather than looking back at 1962 through the group’s later worldwide success.
For a piece connected with this first-single chapter, explore the Love Me Do Graffiti Heart T-shirt.
What can be said about the setlist?
The supplied poster and concert account do not establish an exact setlist for 27 October. The interview survives as a spoken recording, but it is not a recording of the stage performance and cannot be used to reconstruct the order of songs played that evening.
Love Me Do is central to the conversation and to the group’s recording story at this date. That alone does not prove its position in the Hulme Hall set. The same distinction applies to My Bonnie and other music discussed by the interviewers: a title mentioned before the show is not automatically a documented concert performance.
Find Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight
The map below locates Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight on the Wirral. The venue links the live booking and the surviving interview, but each remains a distinct part of the evening’s history.
Explore the surrounding days
Set the Hulme Hall concert alongside the 25 October Here We Go session and the Cavern lunchtime performance on 26 October 1962. Within a few days, the Beatles were balancing BBC recording work, familiar club performances, a dance-hall engagement and an interview for hospital listeners.
For another Love Me Do item, browse the Love Me Do cotton tote bag.
Frequently asked questions
When did the Beatles last play Hulme Hall?
Their fourth and final Hulme Hall performance took place on 27 October 1962.
Where was Hulme Hall?
Hulme Hall was on Bolton Road in Port Sunlight, on the Wirral near Birkenhead.
Who else was advertised on the bill?
The Rhythm & Twist poster names Pharoh and the Exiles and the Beat Cats alongside the Beatles.
What time was the event?
The poster advertises 7.30pm to 11.30pm for the evening. It does not give the Beatles’ individual stage times.
What were the other Hulme Hall dates?
The preceding appearances were on 7 July, 18 August and 6 October 1962.
Was the Monty Lister interview recorded that night?
Yes. Monty Lister, Malcolm Threadgill and Peter Smethurst recorded the interview before the performance on 27 October 1962, at about 8.45pm.
Read the interview transcript · Explore the interview’s history · The preceding day’s timeline · More On This Day in Beatles History
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