Liverpool gears up to celebrate Sgt Pepper turning 50

Fifty years ago, The Beatles released the defining Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Now Liverpool prepares to celebrate the anniversary.

What’s consider one of the best rock albums of all time, The Fab Four’s iconic record is set to be celebrated from May 25th till June 16th. With a series of events ranging from live music to art, poetry to theatre, bringing a combination of world class and local based artists together to bring the festival to life.

The festival, Sgt Pepper at 50: Heading for Home will see the record broken down track by track with each song getting a unique performance to make sure that each track gets the recognition it deserves, ranging from intimate to large scale performances.

Taking place across the city, including Liverpool’s Royal Court, Hope Street, Woolton Picture House, Camp Hill, Tate Liverpool, St George’s Hall and Aintree Racecourse, it’ll be pretty hard to miss out as the festival will take over the city.

Helping piece the event together, John Cage will be hosting an event, based on the track ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!‘ called Mr Kite’s MUSICIRCUS! Cage played a key role when he was a neighbour of John Lennon in New York, eventually being responsible for him getting his green card.

One of the biggest events on the festival line-up, Mr Kite’s MUSICIRCUS! will be held at Aintree Racecourse, where Cage will be bringing together the thousands of locals, performers and musicians to make this a potential best moment of the festival. Expect it to be packed with noise, inspiring and fun!

‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds‘ is one of the most famous tracks by The Beatles and to recognise its popularity amongst music fans, on June 1st, Suspended Time will be an experience on par with the London Olympics opening show. With Groupe-F, the French entourage led by Christophe Berthonneau will bring their jaw-dropping and unique performance that’s curated some of the most memorable olympic ceremonies in memory to Liverpool. Filled with pyrotechnics, lights and stunning visuals, Suspended Time will be an incredible event to catch at Camp Hill this summer.

‘Getting Better‘ will be brought to life by composer and DJ, Paul D. Miller, AKA DJ Spooky. With a combination of performing arts and audio-visuals, Miller’s event, ‘Getting Better?‘ questions wether our world is actually ‘Getting Better‘. With the help of several multimedia artists, The Holladay Brothers and guest artists, together with a stunning show from June 5th till June 16th, will give us an answer to the question poised.

To see the full list of events taking place, head to the Sgt Pepper at 50: Heading For Home website by clicking here.

A lot of these events will be free but some are ticketed and are sure to go fast. To avoid disappointment head to the website to get your tickets by clicking here.