The Beatles’ Hamburg shows go under the hammer

Original recordings of the Beatles’ 1962 December gigs at Hamburg’s Star Club are to be sold at auction, it’s been confirmed.

The band played a series of shows at the venue to small audiences and performed tracks including Twist And Shout and I Saw Her Standing There along with covers of Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven and Phil Spector’s To Know Her Is To Love Her.

Now Ted Owen and Co auctioneers will sell the 33-track collection on behalf of Larry Grossberg, the business manager of Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali, who spent £100,000 remixing 26 of the songs for a 1977 album release.

Grossberg says: “I’m 74 and it’s time to sell. I don’t want my family to have the burden of going through my things and liquidating everything.”

The sale will not be contested by the Beatles’ Apple record label with Grossberg adding: “There are no rights coming with it. What people do with it is up to them, but we’ve got no control of that.”

A reserve price of between £100,000 and £150,000 has been put on the tapes which go under the hammer on March 26.

Earlier this month, three minutes of silent footage featuring the band in 1964 was sold at auction, while a series of pictures taken for the cover of 1969’s Abbey Road went for £180,000 in November last year.

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.