Concert organizer: Foreningen Jelling Musikfestival
Pete Best and the band arrived from Manchester on May 27th, and spent the night at the Center Hotel in Vejle.
The Festival was sold out (around 32.000 tickets). The concert with Pete Best Band was not held at the festival’s main stage, but at the 'Alfreds Scene', a tent with room for an audience of 1500.
Festival poster
After the concert, Pete Best and his band drove to their hotel in Vejle, and returned to UK from Billund the next day.
The festival committee with wives and employees had gone on an extended weekend to Liverpool to experience the history and enjoy ourselves in and around the Cavern Club, and what else Liverpool had to offer.
I arranged a couple of taxis and asked if they would take us to the Cashbah Coffee Club. The place looked quite deserted when we got out of the taxi, but the garden gate was open, so we went in. Here we bumped into Roag Best – Pete Best’s brother. Before we left the Cashbah again, Roag pulled me aside and said that if we wanted to attend, Pete would come home that night and give his annual concert at the club. We decided that we would check out that party later in the evening. The music greeted us in the packed room, 'Long Tall Sally' and so on. There we stood over 50 years after The Beatles had played there, joining Pete Best Fans from all over the world. It felt like a cult experience … and soon we got carried away.
Before I left Cashbah Coffee Club that evening in August, I invited Pete and the guys to the Jelling Festival, and he accepted the invitation! The concert in Jelling went great. Alfred's scene was packed to the brim when the man who had scrapped John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison back in 1962 gave a gig. Flanked by two guitarists and a bass player, the volume was turned up. His repertoire was a mix of the old songs he used to play with The Beatles back then. It was a magical concert played with authenticity, driven by energy and joy of playing. People were dancing and singing, and when the band finished with 'Twist and Shout', the tent was about to take off.
Truly a beautiful and nostalgic concert experience delivered on a humble stage by a humble man who had performed with the greatest band...
Roag Best is Pete Best's half-brother and son of Neil Aspinall, The Beatles' tour manager and later head of the Beatles' company Apple for almost 40 years. Their mother is Mona Best. Roag Best is also the founding father of the Beatles Museum in Liverpool. Bassist Paul Perry has also been employed at the museum.
This line-up toured together for a number of years before they played the Jelling Music Festival. At the concert they delivered an energetic mix of the songs he used to do with The Beatles.
The reviews on The Pete Best Band's concert in Jelling was mostly positive. The audience enjoyed equal parts nostalgia, good old rock'n roll and a little Beatles stardust. The concert in Jelling attracted a curious and dedicated audience who expected to meet and experience a living Beatles legend. I am convinced that most of them left in a good feel-good atmosphere. The music itself was a positive experience because the band delivered a raw and unpolished 60s sound. The double drum set-up with the two half-brothers Pete and Roag gave the music an extra boost. All in all, a great festival experience.
Due to my accreditation as a festival photographer, I had the opportunity to have a little chat backstage with Pete. We talked about this, that, and the other. He seemed interested and asked about my life and gave the impression of a nice down to earth bloke. I never mentioned The Beatles but asked about his current situation and the tour with his band. He mentioned that he has long since moved on after being fired as The Beatles' drummer. 'If you carry bitterness around your whole life, you just end up as a grumpy old man', were the words from Pete Best.
He seemed very grateful for the reception the audience gave him and the band.
The backstage area is the musicians' private space, so taking photos and chasing autographs is off-limits. Therefore the camera was put out of the way, however, I still managed to sneak in a postcard and the festival's little leaflet to be signed by Pete Best.
