Thursday 3 November 1960 | Live performance | Hamburg, Germany | By Beatles Fabdom
On 3 November 1960, The Beatles played the 31st night of their residency at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best were working through their first visit to Germany, returning to the club at Große Freiheit 36 for another evening of alternating sets with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
Ringo Starr was already part of this Hamburg setting, but he was the Hurricanes’ drummer, not a member of The Beatles. The two Liverpool groups shared the nightly workload in the St. Pauli club, more than a year before the Beatles’ first EMI recordings and almost two years before Ringo joined the band.
| Date | Thursday 3 November 1960 |
|---|---|
| Venue | Kaiserkeller |
| Address | Große Freiheit 36, 22767 Hamburg, Germany |
| Residency night | 31st of 56 nights |
| The Beatles | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best |
| Shared bill | Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, with Ringo Starr on drums |
| Format | Alternating sets through the night |
| 56-night performance calendar | 4 October–28 November 1960 |
The 31st night at the Kaiserkeller
The Beatles had begun their Kaiserkeller engagement on 4 October. By 3 November they were a month into the residency, having already spent several weeks performing at the nearby Indra Club. Rather than travelling between venues each day, they returned repeatedly to the same stage, sharing it with another Liverpool band.
This date followed the 30th Kaiserkeller night on 2 November 1960. The five-piece line-up and alternating-bill arrangement continued into the Thursday performance. The setting was a working nightclub, very different from the short theatre and arena appearances that later became familiar during Beatlemania.
The engagement brought The Beatles and the Hurricanes into sustained contact. The Hurricanes were not simply a support act playing once before the headliner: the bands took turns as the evening progressed. This placed Ringo alongside the future members of his own band in a recurring working environment.
From the Indra to Große Freiheit 36
The Beatles first performed in Hamburg at the Indra on 17 August 1960. Club owner Bruno Koschmider had sought British musicians through Liverpool promoter Allan Williams. Their subsequent move to the Kaiserkeller kept them on Große Freiheit, one of the streets at the centre of St. Pauli nightlife.
The venues should be distinguished. The Indra stands at Große Freiheit 64; the Kaiserkeller is at number 36. The later Star-Club was at number 39, while the Top Ten Club was on the Reeperbahn. The Beatles’ appearances at these clubs belong to different engagements across their Hamburg career, not to one interchangeable venue.
The Kaiserkeller remains part of the Große Freiheit 36 venue complex. Hamburg’s official city guide identifies it as the basement club where the then little-known Beatles performed in 1960. Its address provides a precise location for this event, rather than merely a general pin in Hamburg.
The Beatles’ five-piece Hamburg line-up
In November 1960, The Beatles still had three guitarists and a separate bass player. Stuart Sutcliffe held the bass role; McCartney’s later position as the group’s bassist should not be projected backwards onto this engagement.
| Musician | Role |
|---|---|
| John Lennon | Guitar and vocals |
| Paul McCartney | Guitar and vocals |
| George Harrison | Guitar and vocals |
| Stuart Sutcliffe | Bass guitar |
| Pete Best | Drums |
Best was the drummer for this performance. Sutcliffe’s presence is equally important to the identity of the early band: the Hamburg group was a quintet, not the familiar recording-era quartet. Our biographies of Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe explore their roles in this formative period.
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, with Ringo Starr
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were fellow Liverpool musicians working the same club circuit. With Ringo on drums, their appearances at the Kaiserkeller form an important connection between the two groups before his eventual arrival in The Beatles.
The distinction on 3 November is clear: Pete Best played with The Beatles, while Ringo worked with the Hurricanes. Their shared bill explains why Ringo belongs in the story of this engagement without placing him behind The Beatles’ drum kit on this date.
Alternating sets also meant that the two bands experienced the same club, audiences and working conditions. Their Hamburg association preceded the later changes in The Beatles’ personnel and recording career.
Astrid Kirchherr and the Hamburg photographs
The first Hamburg visit brought The Beatles into contact with Astrid Kirchherr, Klaus Voormann and Jürgen Vollmer. Kirchherr photographed the five-piece group in 1960, creating portraits that remain among the best-known visual records of their pre-fame years.
The National Portrait Gallery identifies Kirchherr’s five-member portrait as a photograph taken at the Hamburger Dom fairground in 1960. It records the line-up of Best, Harrison, Lennon, McCartney and Sutcliffe rather than a Kaiserkeller stage performance.
In his 2020 tribute, McCartney remembered Kirchherr visiting the Hamburg clubs with Voormann and Vollmer and praised the mood of her black-and-white photography. Those friendships belong to the wider Hamburg visit; they are not separate encounters assigned specifically to the night of 3 November.
Complete 56-night Kaiserkeller residency calendar
The performance calendar below runs from 4 October to 28 November 1960, placing 3 November at night 31. The Paul McCartney Project lists this 56-concert span. Some general accounts extend the engagement to 30 November; the individual performance chronology and the later arrests are kept separate here.
October 1960: nights 1–28
- 4 October 1960
- 5 October 1960
- 6 October 1960
- 7 October 1960
- 8 October 1960
- 9 October 1960
- 10 October 1960
- 11 October 1960
- 12 October 1960
- 13 October 1960
- 14 October 1960
- 15 October 1960
- 16 October 1960
- 17 October 1960
- 18 October 1960
- 19 October 1960
- 20 October 1960
- 21 October 1960
- 22 October 1960
- 23 October 1960
- 24 October 1960
- 25 October 1960
- 26 October 1960
- 27 October 1960
- 28 October 1960
- 29 October 1960
- 30 October 1960
- 31 October 1960
November 1960: nights 29–56
- 1 November 1960
- 2 November 1960
- 3 November 1960: this performance
- 4 November 1960
- 5 November 1960
- 6 November 1960
- 7 November 1960
- 8 November 1960
- 9 November 1960
- 10 November 1960
- 11 November 1960
- 12 November 1960
- 13 November 1960
- 14 November 1960
- 15 November 1960
- 16 November 1960
- 17 November 1960
- 18 November 1960
- 19 November 1960
- 20 November 1960
- 21 November 1960
- 22 November 1960
- 23 November 1960
- 24 November 1960
- 25 November 1960
- 26 November 1960
- 27 November 1960
- 28 November 1960
The end of the first Hamburg engagement
The 56th performance in this calendar falls on 28 November. McCartney and Best were arrested on 29 November, as the first Hamburg visit came to its troubled conclusion. These later events should not be confused with the 3 November appearance, which took place several weeks earlier.
By separating the individual performance from the end-of-visit chronology, this date remains in its proper setting: a Thursday night in an ongoing club residency, with the five-piece group sharing its bill with the Hurricanes.
Kaiserkeller venue map
The Kaiserkeller is at Große Freiheit 36, 22767 Hamburg, Germany, in the basement of the Große Freiheit 36 venue complex. This map targets the club address.
Open the Kaiserkeller address in Google Maps.
Explore The Beatles’ Hamburg designs
The Beatles’ connection with Hamburg continued beyond their first visit. The Star Club Hamburg unisex T-shirt references their later Star-Club association and December 1962, rather than this 1960 Kaiserkeller engagement.
The Beatles Hamburg boxed mug also uses a later Hamburg-themed design, with December 1962 lettering.
Frequently asked questions
Where did The Beatles perform on 3 November 1960?
They performed at the Kaiserkeller, Große Freiheit 36, in Hamburg, Germany.
Which night of the Kaiserkeller residency was 3 November?
It was night 31 in the 56-night performance calendar beginning on 4 October 1960.
Who played drums for The Beatles?
Pete Best was The Beatles’ drummer during this engagement.
Was Ringo Starr at the Kaiserkeller?
Ringo was playing with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, who shared the bill with The Beatles in alternating sets.
Who played bass in The Beatles in November 1960?
Stuart Sutcliffe played bass. Paul McCartney was still a guitarist in the five-piece group.
Is the featured photograph from the 3 November concert?
No. It is Astrid Kirchherr’s portrait of the five-piece Beatles in Hamburg in 1960, used here as a period image.
Explore all 17 stories in the 3 November in Beatles History timeline, browse the On This Day archive, or return to The Beatles Knowledge Hub.
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