Nous vous livrons ci-après divers passages d’une interview de Gerry Levine, membre des Avengers, groupe qui joua avec les Beatles dans leurs premières années.
« Before I even heard them play I knew they were going to big because it took them 15 minutes to open all the presents that kids had thrown on stage for them (…) They used to get jelly babies thrown on stage because they’d once cracked a joke about them. (…) One of The Beatles, I think it was John Lennon, said something ridiculous like, ‘Don’t throw me girl jelly babies, throw me boy jelly babies because you get more jelly.(…) That was the sort of thing that Lennon said – and after that everywhere they’d go they would get jelly babies thrown onstage. (…) Because we played more in Liverpool at the time we became less pop and more Rhythm and Blues, and we were doing the same sort of numbers as The Beatles(…) We did our act at Sutton and then came over to Tamworth. They turned up to do their second gig in Tamworth while we were still on stage (…) John was shouting through the curtains, « Gerry do this, do that, do A Shot of Rhythm and Blues – he was almost telling us what to do because he knew our act. So we said okay, and apart from doing Please Please Me and Love Me Do, the kids had heard all The Beatles’ numbers before they came on. (…) A lot of people who knew us and didn’t know them said The Beatles are doing your act! It was funny, but that was John Lennon’s humour for you. When we were at the Cavern Club George Harrison was stuck for a couple of bob, » he said. « Two or three months later we bumped into George and Ringo and I said to George: « Do you want a drink? » He said: « Yes…I’ll have a glass of milk. » (…) Neither of us drank in those days so I ordered two glasses of milk and gave the guy a ten-bob note. When he gave me the change he gave me change for a pound. George said: ‘Put it in your pocket. I won’t say anything if you don’t because I owe you some money. We’ll just call it quits’. (…)Beatlemania hadn’t yet kicked in but there were already signs of the crowd madness that would be such a hallmark of the group’s rise to fame. Gerry says there were many fights, and the girls were often worse than the boys. Bouncers would literally have to throw female fans off the stage. (…) The first or second time we played with The Beatles George Harrison actually had a black eye. I think he’d been in a bit of a ruck.(…) I used to get on great with Paul and George and alright with John, but Ringo was a bit of a distant sort of character. (…)He was one of The Beatles but the other three seemed more of a clique. (…)I can remember at Tamworth that Paul McCartney would pretend to be taking photographs and you would have to pose for him in the changing rooms. That was nice. (…)(…) It’s terrible to become famous for playing with a band that became famous, » he says. « I thought the Beatles were great in those days because what you saw was what you got. »
