Museum of Liverpool Announces New Exhibition Celebrating 70 Years of The Cavern Club

A new exhibition 70 Years of The Cavern Club is set to open in Liverpool in 2027 celebrating 70 years of one of the world’s most iconic live music venues. The new exhibition, in collaboration with The Cavern Club charts the venue’s rise from a post-war jazz club in a Mathew Street cellar, to global cultural phenomenon and the thriving live venue it is today.

Internationally recognised as the birthplace of The Beatles and the defining venue of Merseybeat, The Cavern Club’s story is inseparable from that of Liverpool itself, shaped by thesame social, cultural and economic fortunes as the city around it.

Founded by Alan Sytner as a jazz venue, the club opened its doors on 16 January 1957 and quickly attracted big jazz names such as Acker Bilk and Johnny Dankworth. The basement stagealso became home to local emerging talent, including Ringo Starr, playing drums with Rory Storm’s Hurricanes and The Quarry Men Skiffle Group, featuring John Lennon, and later Paul McCartney and George Harrison. The Beatles became the resident Cavern band,building their reputation and their sound there, before going on to spark the worldwide phenomenon of Beatlemania.

The 1960s Cavern was THE place to be seen, and international artists flocked to the club, from Chuck Berry to Stevie Wonder, who performed there in 1966 aged just fifteen. Since then,the venue has welcomed an extraordinary roll call of talent, from The Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen and Elton John to Oasis, Adele, The Arctic Monkeys and home-grown stars such as Jamie Webster, cementing its place as a living, breathing part of music history.

Julia Baird, John Lennon’s sister and Cavern co-owner said: “My brother John always said his happiest times as a band were playing in the Cavern. He wasn’t alone in his love of this wonderful club and what a great opportunity to get those storiesand memories together in one place. Here’s to another seventy years!”

Charting seven decades of unforgettable gigs, performances and nights out, 70 Years of The Cavern Club traces the Cavern’s closures, redevelopment and revival, following its journey through to today’s recognition as an integral part of a UNESCO City of Music. Personalstories and first-hand accounts run throughout, bringing the wider story of Liverpool’s music culture to life through the voices of the communities who lived it. The exhibition presents The Cavern Club as a shared cultural experience, shaped by those who werethere and those who continue to be part of it today.

Karen O’Rourke, Curator of Sport, Music and Performance at Museum of Liverpool, added: “The Cavern Club is so much more than the dank basement where The Beatles were discovered, it’s a cellar full of noise that has shaped Liverpool’s identity for seventy years. Thisexhibition is our chance to tell that fuller story: the rise, the fall, the emotion, the people and its life today as a hard-working venue. We want visitors to leave our exhibition feeling The Cavern Club the way generations from across the globe have feltit, not as a historic place, but as a living, breathing part of our amazing city.” 

70 Years of The Cavern Club opens at Museum of Liverpool from Saturday 16 January 2027 to Sunday 31 October 2027. To find out more about 70 Years of The Cavern Club and to sign up to become a National Museums Liverpool member, visit: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/cavern-club-70.

Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, Museum of Liverpool and The Cavern Club will host Summer of Sound, a month of live music bringing some of Liverpool’s most celebrated acts to themuseum this summer.

The line-up includes The Quarrymen and Friends on 25 July; Dave Monks BBC Introducing presents STONE and featuring support acts SILENT-K and BITE on 1 August; This is Merseybeat on 8 August; Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band on 15 August, and Ian Prowse and The Monday Club on 22 August.

The programme closes on 29 August with performances by Nube 9 from Argentina, The Flaming Shakers from Spain and Gleison Túlio from Brazil, all taking part in the International Beatleweek Festival.

These special events begin on 24 July with Tom Kelly’s Musical Bingo, running every Friday evening through to 28 August, offering a warm-up to the Cavern Club’s 70th anniversary celebrations. Full details and tickets are availableat liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/summer-of-sound.