Every day, at noon, organ music fills St. Michael’s Church in Hamburg.
From the central organ, Jörg Endebrook can control several others.
Long before there were concert halls or opera houses, music was played in churches.
Including in the "Michel" — as people from Hamburg call their church.
For centuries, this was the first symbol of the port city that sailors saw from afar.
The church organs of St. Michael‘s — this is where our musical journey through Hamburg begins.
The city has a rich musical history, and an exciting present.
I will take you to the Elbphilarmonie, to clubs across the city, and to many other places.
We filmed in early March 2020, before the corona lockdown.
My first stop: the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg's new concert hall, which opened in 2017.
As you can see from the brick base, this was once a warehouse.
It became a concert hall with this spectacular glass structure.
The Elbphilharmonie offers guided tours to visitors.
Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron created unusual sightlines in the stairwell and foyer.
Here, we are in the main concert hall: with 2,100 seats.
Behind us is the so-called "white skin." It’s important for the acoustics.
The cavities reflect the sound around the hall.
Many love the sound here, but some don’t.
There are a few who feel the sound to be too analytical.
But the Vienna Philharmonic, for example, could probably play in the Antarctic
and still produce a warm sound.
So I always think: It’s not about the room, but rather the way music is played
and how people perceive it.
I’m lucky!
The Vienna Philharmonic, who will be performing in Hamburg tonight, are rehearsing before the concert.
Beatles music in the Reeperbahn, played by Stefanie Hempel.
She always has her ukulele with her when she is showing fans the St. Pauli district.
Believe it or not, the Beatles career took off here in Hamburg.
You start to sing and 'Here comes the sun'! George Harrison‘s with us!
St. Pauli is more than just a red light district with bars.
There are also many clubs, like the INDRA.
It was here that the Beatles gave their very first performance in Hamburg, in 1960.
They were complete amateurs, a fourth choice band.
Only because three other bands from Liverpool couldn’t make it
were The Beatles sent to Hamburg as a quick fix.
I have photos with me, all of them still had Elvis hairdos.
A murmur often goes through the group when I show them this pic: 18-year-old Paul.
Then we have: 17-year-old George Harrison.
I really like this photo because folks always said:
He was the youngest lad with the biggest hair!
They played at the INDRA for three months.
From 7 pm to 5 am.
They hadn't composed their own music yet, so they played rock 'n' roll songs from 50s.
And they lived here:
This used to be a movie theater.
And the old Bambi cinema was The Beatles‘ first residence.
They lived in little rooms without windows or heating.
They were here until the end of November, so it was really cold.
They had to bathe in the men’s room
So they quickly gave this place the nickname 'The Black Hole of Calcutta'.
Eventually, both the clubs and the accommodation got better.
After the Indra, The Beatles played for 50 nights at the “Kaiserkeller”.
They performed for sailors, rockers and gangsters, because rock 'n' roll came to Hamburg with the seafarers.
Back then ships‘ layovers were much longer and sailors came from around the world.
Americans and Scandinavians wanted live music, rock 'n' roll.
But there weren’t any good rock bands in Hamburg, so they brought them over from England.
And bands from Liverpool came cheap.
This is where The Beatles met Ringo Starr, who later took over from Pete Best as drummer.
Next, we head to the legendary STAR-CLUB. The venue burned down in the 80s.
But a plaque still lists all the big names who performed here.
And guess who played at the opening in 1962?
That’s right! The Beatles!
By then, they were already wearing suits and had their iconic mop-top haircuts.
What did Hamburg mean for The Beatles?
The world’s most reknowned Beatle author, Mark Lewisohn, put it bluntly: No Hamburg, no Beatles!
They performed more here than anywhere else: playing for over 1200 hours in the clubs and honing their craft.
Here they became a professional live band, here they met Ringo Starr.
Here they acquired their style, their image, their mop-tops.
Or as John Lennon said: We grew up in Hamburg, not Liverpool!
It was at the Star-Club that The Beatles performed their own songs for the first time.
Stefanie plays one of her favourites.
St. Pauli has turned on its lights. People are queuing in front of the clubs in the Reeperbahn.
I’m going to the Molotov club, to meet the young British band King Nun.
I join them backstage.
Hi, I‘m Nathan.
I’m James.
I’m Caius
And I am Theo.
And we are King Nun!
This is true!
It‘s your second time in Hamburg, right?
Yeah it is. Yeah.
How do you like it here?
Wonderful!
The last time we were here we had a, typically for Europe, incredible audience,
an engaged and excited audience.
And I hope we’ll see something similar tonight.
Do you know that The Beatles made a big step in Hamburg?
Oh yeah, so just around the corner is where they practiced over and over again.
Or they played this show again… What exactly is the story?
INDRA…
They just played and played and played. There’s the statues outside.
Right, our photographer…
We actually haven’t heard of this before, but our photographer was it explaining it to us.
She said that they became The Beatles here.
And we said: What a great way to put it. That’s fantastic!
It’s like a lot of history happening here, musical history.
Yeah, I mean how lucky we are to be here!
Will King Nun one day become the new Beatles? Who knows?
As I said, we shot all this before the outbreak of the corona pandemic in March 2020.
Let's hope that soon we will be able to go to the clubs and concert halls
all over the world again without any worries!
Take care and see you soon!