Indra Club, Hamburg: The Beatles' First German Stage

The Indra is a music club at Große Freiheit 64 in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, and it is where the Beatles first played in Germany. Owner Bruno Koschmider booked them, and they opened on 17 August 1960. They played 48 nights before noise complaints ended the run on 3 October 1960. The club still hosts live music.

Who got on stage on 17 August 1960

Bruno Koschmider ran clubs on Große Freiheit and wanted English bands. His Liverpool business contact Allan Williams sent him the Beatles. The group that arrived was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums. Best had joined only a few days before they left.

The contract was due to run until 16 October at 30 DM per man per day. Koschmider wanted a "Schau", a show, and the band had to fill long nights: four and a half hours on weekdays, six hours at weekends. According to the city's own Beatles history, the club's customers at the time were mostly prostitutes and their clients.

The five did not live at the club. They slept in a storeroom at the Bambi Kino, a cinema Koschmider owned at Paul-Roosen-Straße 33.

Why the run stopped after 48 nights

Neighbours complained about the noise, and the Beatles played their last Indra night on 3 October 1960, two weeks before the contract ran out. They did not leave Große Freiheit. From 4 October Koschmider moved them to his Kaiserkeller a few doors down, where they played 58 nights. Also on that bill was Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, whose drummer was Richard Starkey, later Ringo Starr.

What is at No. 64 now

The Indra is still open as a mid-sized live club. Its programme includes concerts, jam sessions and comedy nights, and hours depend on what is booked, so the inside can only be seen during an event. The street front can be seen at any time.

A plaque on the front marks the date. In German it says that on 17 August 1960 the Beatles went on stage at the Indra, that this was their first engagement in Germany, and that it was the start of a great career. We could not find when the plaque was put up. A photo on Wikimedia Commons shows it was there by April 2011.

The rest of Große Freiheit

The Indra is at the top of a short run of Beatles sites. Measured on map coordinates, the Kaiserkeller at No. 36 is about 90 m away. The Star-Club memorial stone in the courtyard of No. 39 is about 110 m away. At the Reeperbahn end of the street, Beatles-Platz and its steel silhouettes are about 250 m away. There, the drummer figure is left unnamed so it can be Pete Best, the drummer who played the Indra.