Jon Keats said the actor was renting a flat nearby at the time
Jon Keats on the Three Landlords Walk into a bar podcast(Image: Three Landlords Walk into a bar podcast)
The man behind a world famous Liverpool venue has opened up on the reality of running it. Jon Keats, the director of The Cavern Club and Cavern Pub, has spoken about what it really takes to keep the Liverpool institution thriving, and the importance of grassroots live music venues.
In the latest episode of Three Landlords Walk Into A Bar podcast, Jon shared stories from the Cavern’s past and present, including an intimate gig from singer Adele before she reached the heights of fame she has today. Jon recalled how he got a call from a radio station asking if he’d host an intimate gig for an artist who’d had some success with her debut album, 19 – and that artist was Adele.
He said: “She launched 21 at the Cavern – just 120 people in the room. She did four tracks from 21 and three from 19, with just a piano and a guitar. We’d never heard the songs obviously, but you just knew. She was lovely as well, she really was lovely.’’
Another famous face Jon was surprised to see “casually stroll” into the club, much to his disbelief, was Henry Winkler, better known as The Fonz. Jon explained how The Waterboy and Happy Days actor became a regular during panto season as he was renting an apartment nearby.
Adele lays a brick in the Cavern wall after performing in 2011
He said: “I’m in the office booking the music when we get a call. Bill, one of the owners, answers it and goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, okay, we’ll do it.’ He puts the phone down and I ask, ‘What was that about?’. He says, ‘Oh, typical, apparently the Fonz just walked into the Cavern.’
“I got there – and there he was. The Fonz. He was my childhood hero. When I was 10, I thought I was the Fonz. He was renting an apartment just around the corner from the Cavern. He’d come in quite a lot – usually for a half.”
While playing Captain Hook at the Empire’s Peter Pan panto, Henry told the ECHO how he bought his sons t-shirts from the Cavern, adding: “They are lovely people there”.
The podcast episode comes as Jon, alongside the Music Venue Trust, pushes for government support and protection for live venues.
The Cavern Club on Mathew Street
He said at the Cavern the same mission plays out every night. He added: “We’re losing so many of these grassroots music venues. There are less and less places for people to learn the trade.
“There’s so many more buskers on the street as there’s less and less opportunities for new bands because new music – it doesn’t put money in the till.
‘’Music is at the heart of the Cavern. The Beatles played 292 times at The Cavern. It’s a place of pilgrimage – but for not only Beatles fans but music fans in general.
‘’You talk about the Cavern and you’ve got to talk about the Beatles. We wouldn’t be here without them. But the Cavern story isn’t just about the Beatles. As owners, as custodians of it – it’s our job to tell the whole story of it.’
‘’The Cavern is all things to all people. It’s about that shared experience of music. We have live music on every night – and no one night is the same. You might go in one night and there’s a Brazilian Samba band who are visiting. Next night it might be a local school or college doing their end of year showcase.’’