The Star Club, Hamburg
Grosse Freiheit 39,
St. Pauli, Hamburg, Germany
The famous Star-Club in Hamburg was one of several owned by Horst Fascher and a partner. This particular club opened on Friday 13th April 1962, and closed on 31 December 1969. The building was subsequently burned to the ground in 1987.
It first really rose to prominence in April 1962, when The Beatles began playing there. They played in several venues owned by Horst Fascher who was a tough taskmaster and made them play long hours with little rest in between.
The stories of their adventures over this time are legend. They were taken there by their first Booking Agent/Manager, Allan Williams and when they returned home, Paul’s father barely recognized his own son when he rang the front door bell. He was so pale and thin, from lack of sleep, too many “uppers” to keep them away through the long hours, and not enough nourishment.
Grosse Freiheit is a side street of the Reepherbahn, the red light district of Hamburg.
Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/NNR7ErJ9uun7SJ7S6
Check out these sites…
- http://www.center-of-beat.com/ Information about the Star-Club
- http://www.starclub-hamburg.eu/ Information about the Star-Club
- http://www.merseycats.com/Maja’s-Memories-of-the-Star-Club.html Reminisce to the opening of the Star-Club, with an original recording of the Beatles (“A Taste of Honey“)
- http://beatles.ncf.ca/starclubtapes.html Eric Krasker, The Star-Club tapes : The set that never existed.
