Discovery 6

A Beatles themed evening replaced our second Celtic stage show.  First up a trivia session.  Twenty questions: guess the song from a few introductory bars, easy enough, but give the date of release.  Twenty questions.  We scored 28/40.  We knew all songs other than one particularly obscure recording that Paul had suggested and was only recorded in early workshopping and appears on none of the released albums.  The name was Junk.  It's on Spotify.  As for dates, they were approximate, mostly just a year or so off, but many not correct.  So be it.  We had the period basically right (1963-1970).  Then a set of Beatles tunes that had many seniors singing along, irresistibly.  Rhythm Jive are the ship's main covers band from the Philippines.  Three years on the ship with a recently new bassist.  Capable, varied with huge repertoire of all styles.  Ivan told me of his pedal board and midi on his guitar so he can play a third keys line when required.  They were always entertaining and capable of running one cover into another for 45 mins in various conceivable styles and carrying it off with panache.  Another band intrigued, just a duo with a similar name, Jiva Duo.  Relatively sedate with guitar and vocals, but harmony effects and guitar and midi accompaniment.  Lovely bar fare.  And something strange to end with: silent disco.  Dancers on the floor with their selected playlists through headphones dancing to or with whoever.  I'm told its a thing off the ship, too.  How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't. (Tempest, Act 5, Sc 1).

Rhythm Jive comprised Lizette Canaan (vocals), James Gonzales (guitar, vocals), Ivan Cabreros (guitar), Gomer Robles (bass), Jerica Ladia (keys) and Jon Roland Sandoval (drums).  Jiva Duo comprised Jimmie Yanvar (guitar) and Sarah Natasha Zico (vocals).  They performed on Discovery Princess.

Ridiculous to sublime

We’re not the only ones to visit Reeberbahn and surrounds, either for the Beatles or the sex. It’s certainly a raunchy area. Beatles Platz looks innocent but the street behind, Grose Freiheit, featuring two venues that the Beatles played at, Indra (site of their first German gig on 17 Aug 1960) and KaiseKeller, is colourful and has it fair share of raunch. (The Beatles are perhaps better known for playing at the Star Club in Hamburg, but that’s since burned down). But Herbertstrasse with its girls in windows, supposedly locked off for women and men under 18, is in a genuinely beery and sleezy area. It’s a badge of honour, this sleeze, and the Reeperbahn deserves it. Easily up there with famed Amsterdam streets. So, the Beatles and raunchy Reeperbahn was our first port of call.


The day ended with vespers at 7pm. We’d found a pamphlet listing Kirchen musik in Hamburg for Oct/Nov and three events were listed for this one evening. We chose the easiest to get to, which was vespers at (Lutheran) Hauptkirche St Trinitatis Altona, sung by soprano with organ accompaniment. Vespers are an ancient rite, one of the daily prayer services and perhaps the last to remain. We received a handout of words and some written music on entry. We arrived to hear the musicians preparing (that’s the pic: they were in white garb for the service). The German was difficult, but we could follow and sing along at times. The soprano singing was deeply satisfying and the organ was powerful and impressively deep with several massive pipes, perhaps 5/6 metres. The Beatles can be sublime, so my title may be a little unfair to them, but Reeperbahn is in no way sublime and the Vespers certainly are.

Oksana Lubova (soprano) sang the vespers at Hauptkirche St Trinitatis Altona with accompaniment by Hanno Schiefner (organ). The Beatles performed in the Reeperbahn in Hamburg in the early ‘60s.

As close as it comes these days

I waited outside the South Australia Hotel but not long enough. I missed the Beatles when they came out on the balcony to the screaming despair of Adelaide teenagers. Other than happening on Abbey Road in London, it’s the closest e ever come to the Fab Four. The Beatnix are my live alternative. I heard them years back at the Southern Cross Club in Woden and was blown out by the accuracy of the cover. The Paul character played left hand Hofner; they all sang their own parts (as best I know them); there was no recorded backing other than inevitably for Day in the Life; the costumes were apt (mop tops in suits before interval; Sergeant Peppers after). This was just one set, so I wondered how or if they’d change (they did, and neatly as mop-top Paul sang Yesterday solo on right handed guitar played lefty, switching to George in Peppers garb with While my guitar gently weeps and a great return of the full band through that tune – that was neat). The voices were there, even if some weren’t quite as close or with the same range as I remembered. There was chatter, especially (inevitably?) from John that sounded Liverpudlian enough to my ear (some Brits were not so convinced). The guitar solos were right, if missing some recording studio magic. The bass lines were good if Hofner indistinct. The amps were Fenders and a Gallien-Krueger, not Vox, but that’s OK. Ringo’s Little help was convincing and his drums nice. We all rocked along and enjoyed a range of their discography. The fact that everyone had their missing favourite just confirms how wonderful was this band. Penny Lane was my missing fave. Paul always was my favourite Beatle and Eleanor Rigby and Penny Lane still work for me as deeply personal portraits of English life and characters. We were sitting with Brits; he who recounted the Beatles live (all standing on seat backs and no one could hear them) and she who’d met John Lennon. This and other stories remind me that these were celebrities before celebrity culture; young English kids who got taken on a wild ride (they split aged 27). But these guys had genuine talent, even if the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Beatnix were a nice reminder of it.

Beatnix covered the Beatles on Legend of the Seas.