The Cavern Club

Inside the Cavern Club on Mathew Street in Liverpool: a low brick vault, pink stage lights and a crowd packed shoulder to shoulder in 2009. It feels exactly as cramped and sweaty as the legend suggests. The Cavern opened in 1957 as a jazz cellar, and the Beatles played it 292 times, the last on August 3, 1963. Be clear about what you are visiting: today's club was built nearby in 1984 using bricks from the original. Bands still play most days, and a set in that arched room is the closest thing left to Merseybeat as it sounded.