Roll Up, Roll Up For The Mystery Tour -- Step Right This Way!

Today is the first day of your Beatleful dream-come-true. Meet fellow Beatles fans and travelers from all over North America and depart for the ultimate Beatles experience. “It’s guaranteed to raise a smile!" Meet at the airport terminal where your MMTour host will surprise you with a goodie bag of Beatles gifts. Meet your fellow travelers. Check-in at the airline counter, and fly with the group to Germany. Speaking of groups, we're honored to have one of the greatest Beatles tribute bands, Penny Lane, along with us for the entire tour. They will hang out with us as we do our sight-seeing, they'll party with us at our functions but they'll also perform throughout the vacation! Penny Lane will blow away audiences when they play the major concerts as well as the small venues (imagine seeing them live at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg or the Cavern Club in Liverpool!). Their involvement in this trip is just one of many once-in-a-lifetime MMTour 2007 exclusives. So try to get some sleep on the flight. . . the fun and festivities begin in full force once we land.

Arrive in Germany and transfer to our hotel. This is the 47th anniversary of the of The Beatles' arrival in Hamburg, and we begin our own "Invasion" as we follow in the footsteps of our lads. Our first stop include 2 nights/3 days in Hamburg, as we journey to the land of their savage young performances. Explore the nightlife with our group as we visit the same locales that helped launch the musical careers of John, Paul, George, Pete and Stu (they arrived in Germany on 8/17/60, nearly a quarter of a decade to the date!). Meet for our group party/orientation and then hit all the historic haunts still standing in the city. If these names aren’t familiar to you, they will be soon: The Kaiserkeller, The Top Ten Club, The Indra and The Star Club. This will be an enchanted evening you won’t ever forget.

After breakfast, there will be a comprehensive fully-escorted walking tour hosted by a very special Beatles associate serving as our personal tour guide. Visit such locales as the original site of Friedrich Ebert Halle, where The Beatles (the Beat Brothers?!) recorded their first proper recording sessions with producer Bert Kaempfert and legendary singer Tony Sheridan; the infamous

Reeperbahn, the Bambi Kino cinema over which The Beatles lived, the Akustic Studios (where John, Paul, George & Ringo recorded), the Ernst Merck Hall (where The Beatles played in 1966), as well as the entire St. Pauli district. We spend the night dancing and partying in the famed Kaiserkeller nightclub, Hamburg’s equivalent of the Cavern Club.

After breakfast, check out and jet to London for our first day in merry ol’ England. After we check in to our London hotel, enjoy a late afternoon/early evening group meet & greet with a very special fan-friendly celebrity guest. We then board a luxury coach with our tour guide Richard Porter, albeit with a video and audio presentation, for a unique panoramic tour of London and Beatle sights.

In the evening, dance the night at our annual "Twist & Shout" Party in London's original Hard Rock Café, with Beatles and solo music played by guest DJs Danny Levine and Charles F. Rosenay!!!. Members of the Mexican Beatles Fan Club and London Beatles fan Club, join us, along with other special guest celebrities, including Gordon Millings of the famed Millings family. It was his Dad, Dougie, who designed and outfitted The Beatles in their famous collarless jackets. Food and drinks will be available. Upon arrival, we will explore "The Vault" at the Hard Rock, the underground museum inside the gift shop that features the Café's rarest memorabilia. Expect to party late! We return to the hotel by coach.

Breakfast begins the day, followed by the most comprehensive London Beatles tour hosted by Richard Porter of The London Beatles Walk. Please refer to past Tour Reports on this website to read about all the amazing places that we visit along the way. Be sure you have enough rolls of film in your cameras, because you will see every locale you've ever heard about in books, seen on postcards, or dreamed about someday visiting.

Pray for sunny blue (suburban) skies this morning, because we go straight from breakfast onto the Magical Mystery Tour of all the Liverpool sites. This is it! There are places you'll remember forever: Strawberry Field, Penny Lane, the Beatles’ homes, birthplaces, schools, early hang-outs, etc. You name it -- we see it! Don’t run short on film!

Friday’s show begins in great style in the Adelphi Ballroom with a celebration of the solo musical career of all four Beatles. Wingspan, from the UK, will pay tribute to the mid-’70s with their very own Rockshow and Cloud 9 from Argentina will perform the whole of George’s "All Things Must Pass" album. We will have an All Starr Band to celebrate Ringo’s career and it will be rounded off by Instant Karma USA who will play their favourite Lennon album "Walls and Bridges". A great way to remind ourselves what a rich solo catalogue they had which compares favourably with the more lauded and famous Fabs work. The evening show will be at the Academy and will be an official Cavern 50th Anniversary Concert, one of many during the year. Why not stage it at The Cavern then? Quite simply we couldn’t get everybody in, so we are holding this particular gig in what we believe has the best Cavern ambience out of all the larger venues. Of course you will expect Beatles music and Run Devil Run, but we will also have short sets from other Cavern Bands, including The Who, The Rolling Stones and Queen tribute bands; a real musical treat! At the Adelphi at midnight the main ballroom will be turned into a cinema for a private showing of Hard Day’s Night, and Fridays bar will continue the theme of "The Beatles at the Movies" with bands playing sets from "Help!", "Yellow Submarine", "Let It Be" and "Magical Mystery Tour". Of course, the other Adelphi bars will be alive with the sound of Beatle music until the wee small hours. A great beginning to a fab weekend of celebrations.

THE CONVENTION! One of the focal points of Beatles Week in Liverpool is the annual Mersey Beatles Convention, which takes over the Adelphi's grand ballroom and entire lower lobby. You may have been to conventions before, but nothing compares to the feel and fun of the Liverpool extravaganza. Shop at Europe's largest Beatles & sixties marketplace with dealers from across the universe, listen to guests speakers on the big stage, view rare videos and just be part of what is recognized as the definitive international fan gathering. As a special treat for our tour group only, we will have private meet & greet autograph and interview sessions with some of the convention's special guests at times and in locations to be announced. The Convention will be extended through to 3am in the morning – so it’s just one humungous event that goes on for fifteen hours. However we will be lucky to get it all in – forty to fifty bands in one day, exhibitions, a play, quizzes, competitions, flea market, video shows, guest speakers and surprises galore. Throughout the morning there are also tours of the famous and not so famous sites. The flea market is the ideal place to find that rare record or elusive memorabilia. There are always dozens of Beatles celebrities present -- those that were actually part of the scene -- whether it is Allan Williams (The Beatles’ first manager), or Julia Lennon, John Lennon’s sister. Bring your autograph book along with your camera – you’ll need it!The Convention Day is jam packed with something for everybody although you will find it absolutely impossible to do everything in the fourteen hours. Just when you think it’s all over . . think again! At midnight the Cavern Club hosts the Second Annual Prellies all-nighter. The Prellies are a relatively young, high-energy Hamburg type Beatles band who have developed a reputation for being one of the very best and most popular Beatles bands in the world. The Cavern allnighters were legendary and The Prellies’ first all-nighter last year is the stuff that legends are made of. There was a huge demand for another one and who are we to argue? The Prellies’ theme this year is "Friends of the Earth" and, in particular, tree preservation. Sounds strange? You should have been there! It was a highlight last year and WILL be this year. Promise! An historic day and night (24 hours from ulcers!)

Begin with another endless breakfast and enjoy the Morning Tour of Liverpool Beatle Sites. You will see landmarks you've only read about or seen in pictures, along with places (and corresponding stories) you may not even have known existed. After the Beatlerific tour, experience city’s much-heralded Mersey Music Street Festival, the region’s top outdoor festival. . Over 300,000 fans will be entertained by over 200 bands in the city centre. Every bar, pub, restaurant and club will echo to the sound of Merseybeat! Over 80 indoor stages are supplemented by six huge outdoor stages in the city centre – and this free festival will continue until 8pm. The Mathew Street Festival is every Liverpudlian’s favorite day in the calendar, and if you haven’t experienced it yet, you’ll soon understand whyMonday is THE big one. This year’s Mathew Street Festival will begin at 12 noon. Over 300,000 fans will be entertained by over 200 bands in the city centre. Every bar, pub, restaurant and club will echo to the sound of Merseybeat! Over 80 indoor stages are supplemented by six huge outdoor stages in the city centre – and this free festival will continue until 8pm. The Mathew Street Festival is every Liverpudlian’s favourite day in the calendar, and if you haven’t experienced it yet, you’ll soon understand why! As the day’s entertainment comes to a close it is time to get down to the Empire Theatre for the finale concert. And what a finale it is! As the Mathew Street Festival draws to a close you had better get yourselves quickly over to the Empire Theatre (a venue played by The Beatles and both Ringo and Paul as solo artistes, not to mention George with Delaney and Bonnie). Merseybeat pays a tribute to the city that gave it its unique sound. The heroes of the Sixties bid a Happy Birthday to Liverpool in their own inimitable style. An all-star cast, including The Undertakers, Karl Terry and The Cruisers, Mike Pender’s Searchers, and Gerry and The Pacemakers. We intend to add more to this all-star cast. This truly is World Music, a sound that when you hear it could only be indigenous to this city. When the show finishes there will be barely an hour to ready ourselves for the countdown to the city’s 800th birthday - and who else could we get to start the party? The Overtures! The Overtures are Europe’s premier ’60s tribute band: why else would Elton and David choose them for their wedding? Why else would we choose them to play our VIP party? The Overtures will take us on a musical journey with a multi-media backdrop.What a day! What a night! What a weekend!

We begin our final full day in Liverpool (after another full breakfast!) by boarding the yellow Magical Mystery Tour bus for a two-part all-day all-inclusive exhaustive and comprehensive sightseeing Magical Mystery Tour of Liverpool. Part One (the A-side) starts with everyone's favorite guide, Eddie "The Walrus" Porter. You will pass every imaginable sight on this expanded tour of the city center, including homes, schools, hang-outs, and other landmarks including Penny Lane and Strawberry Field. Forever, you will cherish and remember this day, which continues on to the outskirts of Liverpool in Part Two (the B-side) as hosted by tour-guide extraordinaire Hilary Oxlade, who will take everyone to Wirral and the lesser-known sites. This is the true fanatics part of the tour. Make sure your cameras are loaded with film, and expect to see some truly obscure but wonderful locations.

This will be your final chance to buy some last-minute souvenirs at the Beatles Shop on Mathew Street, or visit the Beatles Story exhibit at the Albert Docks. A nap is permitted but don’t forget to get over to The Cavern Club for the final onslaught. Of course while this show is in full swing, the Cavern Pub and the front of the Cavern will be shaking with the sounds of the best live Beatle music in the world. What a week, I’m shattered just writing about it. If you’ve read this and always wanted to do this – do it! Pick up the phone and book now. You won’t be disappointed. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Back to basics, in yer face rock ’n’ roll stripped right down. It will be hot, it will be sweaty, but one cannot think of any better way to finish Beatle Week. There will still be time to catch over 25 bands at The Cavern Club and Cavern Pub!! The highlight however, is usually the "Farewell Liverpool Concert" in the Cavern Club, in the back room on the BIG stage, where Paul McCartney played in 1999 and again in 2003. Today’s gigs at the Cavern Club will undoubtedly be a highlight, as we present a tribute to Wings and take you back to the ’70s. Who better to star in such a tribute than Denny Laine himself. A former integral member of The Moody Blues, it is Denny’s time with Wings for which he is most famously and fondly remembered. Denny wasn’t just a member of Wings; with Paul and Linda, he was Wings! Backed by Ringer (legends of Beatleweek), this will be a nostalgic trip back through time. Some of Paul’s greatest ever music was recorded under the guise of Wings and if we ever needed reaffirmation of this, then these afternoon concerts will be it! The ultimate celebration, however, will be at the Empire Theatre on Tuesday evening as this day - yes, this very day - is the 800th birthday of the City of Liverpool! The gig (with artistes who will not be confirmed till Easter) will celebrate Liverpool’s rich cultural and musical diversity.

A week’s party! What more can you want! Book now to be sure of not missing out on this unique, never-to-be-repeated celebration!

"There are places I remember…" and this is the hardest part of all - saying goodbye to all the Beatleful new friends we have made during our stay in Great Britain, both within the tour group, and with other fans from countless nations.
Sometime during the stay in Liverpool, we'll have also gone on spending sprees at both the "Beatles Shop" and at the "From Me To You" collectors store in Liverpool as well as the London Beatles Shop; we'll have taken a "Ferry `Cross the Mersey" just like in the Gerry & The Pacemakers song; we'll have made our way to the Albert Docks for the incredible museum/exhibition called "The Beatles Story"; and we'll have somehow fallen unconditionally but fully in love with this seaport city.

We depart Liverpool for our return trip to London. We'll even have a suprise stop along the way. Then you'll have a free night to enjoy London. Do some shopping or catch a show in the West End.

We depart England as a group for our return flight to the United States, with magical memories that will live with us for the rest of our lives. We fly back to America non-stop …but we don't really say goodbye, because even if we leave the city of Liverpool, the city of Liverpool will never leave us.

All activities and events are subject to change