Paul McCartney’s debut with the Quarrymen

Liverpudlian promoter Charlie ‘Mac’ McBain held regular skiffle and rock events at his venues. On Friday 18 October 1957 he ran one such event, at the New Clubmoor Hall in Norris Green, Liverpool. It was the first show in which Paul McCartney appeared onstage with the Quarrymen.

McCartney played lead guitar. First-night nerves, however, caused him to make a hash of his solo during the Quarrymen’s version of Arthur Smith’s 1946 instrumental hit ‘Guitar Boogie’.

For my first gig, I was given a guitar solo on ‘Guitar Boogie’. I could play it easily in rehearsal so they elected that I should do it as my solo. Things were going fine, but when the moment came in the performance I got sticky fingers; I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ I was just too frightened; it was too big a moment with everyone looking at the guitar player. I couldn’t do it. That’s why George was brought in.

McCartney’s debut with the Quarrymen was a significant occasion in the development of the group. For the promoter, however, they made little solid impression. Charlie Mac’s recorded verdict on the group was a scribbled “Good & Bad” on the Quarrymen’s visiting card.