Apple has announced a new Beatles “experience” …
In 2028, a landmark redevelopment in the heart of Liverpool will become a new 100,000 sq ft Beatles experience.
Apple Corps will take over management of the award-winning attraction The Beatles Story in 2028, moving it to a new location in St Johns Shopping Centre. The new experience will transport fans from The Beatles' post-war Liverpool childhoods through Hamburg, The Cavern, Beatlemania, Abbey Road, Shea Stadium, Savile Row and beyond, using immersive technology, original artefacts and spectacular reconstructed sets to bring the Beatles’ extraordinary story to life. Fans will also be able to visit a brand new Yellow Submarine experience at Liverpool's iconic St Johns Beacon tower, also arriving in 2028.
Visit the website via the link below and add your details below to confirm your interest in The Beatles: Liverpool 2028, be the first to receive all updates and to be notified when tickets go on sale.
In other Beatles news …
On Monday, October 26th (that's TODAY), Discogs and Germany-based Black Plastic Records will announce a special public sale of nearly 1,300 rare Beatles records from an extraordinary private collection assembled over decades by a devoted fan.
Beginning Friday, October 30th, the collection will be available to fans and collectors worldwide exclusively through Discogs Drops, a series of specially curated sales of rare records and remarkable private archives.
The collection includes some incredibly rare Beatles records, including a 1963 promotional pressing of Please Please Me, one of only an estimated 250 copies produced for British radio stations; an original UK first pressing of the album featuring the black-and-gold Parlophone label; a rare 1968 pressing of The White Album; and a remarkably well-preserved 1970 Let It Be box set, complete with its original packaging and book of photographs.
What makes this collection especially interesting is its depth of rare international Beatles releases. As Beatlemania spread around the world, different countries issued their own versions of the group's records, often with entirely different artwork, track listings and packaging. The collection includes hundreds of these hard-to-find European pressings, offering a fascinating look at how The Beatles' music was released and collected around the world.
The records were originally amassed by a private collector over decades and acquired by Black Plastic Records following his passing. The sale is the latest in Discogs' Drops series, which has also featured the personal record collection of Television's Tom Verlaine, and comes as Discogs recently surpassed 1 billion items cataloged in users' personal collections, a major milestone reflecting the continued popularity of physical music collecting.
The sale follows the success of several recent Discogs Drops, including the personal vinyl collection of Television's Tom Verlaine, which was featured in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Consequence and SPIN, among others. The first online offering sold out in just 5 hours and 44 minutes, with 261 records purchased in the first 10 minutes. Discogs also recently partnered with Permanent Records to offer the extraordinary personal music archive of acclaimed Rolling Stone journalist Mikal Gilmore, with the sale earning coverage in USA Today and other music publications.
Annie Stowe Mickum
Shore Fire Media
And, for John Lennon completists, how about this upcoming release …
I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but this era of Lennon’s solo career has not aged well for me. In hindsight, John seems to have appointed himself as the leader and speaker for our generation … after continuously playing down The Beatles’ influence for years. After years of stating that fans “shouldn’t follow us as leaders … we were just a rock band that made it very, very big” all of a sudden he pulled a complete 180 and said “listen to me, believe what I tell you and follow what I say,” at the same time putting out some pretty horrendous music that just doesn’t hold up at all. (Quite honestly, I didn’t find it all that strong at the time either … but the records sold because they were by John Lennon, leader of The Beatles). Truthfully, Paul, George and even Ringo were putting out FAR superior material during this same era. I, for one, was happy with “Imagine” despite it’s message agenda as it was a good, sincere pop song … but all the “Power To The People” crap just didn’t cut it for me. That being said, John made so few appearances after the split of The Beatles, that we have to relish ANYTHING that remains from his live solo career … so there is a certain amount of curiosity and history surrounding this release.) kk
The four individual movies scheduled for 2028 spotlighting each one of the four Beatles may now be released simultaneously after all, rather than in staggered form as originally planned. Some say the reason for this is so that fans don't dictate the "John film" to be SO much more popular than the "Ringo film." (Wouldn't you still have to buy tickets to see each of them anyway??? I'm not quite sure I get that logic!)
And I can't imagine sitting there for eight hours straight watching all four films back to back to back to back at one showing ... so I'm really not sure just what the logic is here! (kk)
Going back to the big Discogs sale being announced later today, I have a COMPLETE set of all of the original U.S. released Beatles picture sleeves that I will likely be listing on eBay early next year. If these are something you might have an interest in, drop me a line and I'll send you an advance notice. Please note that I am only interested in selling these as a complete set however. (kk)
