Studio 2, Abbey Road Studios, London
Studio 2, Abbey Road Studios, London – Thursday 27th August 2026.
There are some gigs / events that we simply HAVE To tell you all about! This was one of those!
Two days before the event I get a phone-call from our good friend Jane Garry (daughter of former Quarrymen member Len Garry). We had become friends with the whole family after visiting Len last year when we were in Liverpool for International Beatleweek. Jane has something very special to invite us to. Another friend of hers has hired out Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios in London (where The Beatles pretty much recorded every piece of music that they released) and are looking for a band to play for the select invited guests. We don’t take long to think about this. Some of the band cancel other events (Eddie was supposed to be going to Liverpool early for International Beatleweek, which we are playing at the weekend) and it’s all arranged. Jane is a wonderful help with the logistics and organisation, making sure all the drums and backline are all available and ready for us so that we can travel light and just bring our instruments.
We don’t turn down an opportunity like this!
On the day Eddie and I head into London nice and early, we want to make the most of this experience. The rest of the band are coming up after work and we will be due to play just before 7pm. After a steady drive into the capital we arrive at Abbey Road Studios. The gate at the front is open and the nice security guard says we can come in and park right in front of the main entrance to unload. Eddie will have to move the car afterwards though, the 2 spaces reserved for us are needed for Ted and Goldie when they arrive later.
We head in and are greeted by Jane who is so happy to see us, she’s really grateful that the band are making the effort to come. We should be thanking her though, it’s not every day you get the chance to play at Abbey Road Studio 2! We unload our stuff, Eddie has brought some vintage guitars for props, we have all our vintage microphone and banners. We want to make it look as good as possible because we have Ringo Starr’s granddaughter Ruby coming down to take photos and the wonderful Swan coming to film the event.
We want to make the most of this opportunity!
Eddie moves the car and I mingle with all the invited guests and meet Tom and Evy who have organised this event. Everyone is lovely! It’s all very informal with everyone sat around in a circle watching 3 or 4 acoustic acts who have also been invited to perform by Jane. Everyone takes their moment, there’s Zach, there’s Jake and there’s Lucky. Some of these guys have travelled all the way down from Liverpool to perform here. Can’t blame them really!
After all the acoustic acts have taken their turn Eddie and I set about setting up the area ready for the rest of the band arriving. Once everything is in place we’re just waiting for the others and then we’ll take some photos before playing.
Videographer Swan and photographer Ruby arrive next and proceed to set up cameras all around the stage area. We’re going to get some good quality footage from this, that’s for sure! Buzz arrives next, fresh off the train and it’s fair to say we’re all in awe of where we are. So much good music has been made in this place. The walls just ooze history. It’s almost overwhelming it has to be said. Ted and Goldie arrive next and we head straight into the control room for some promo photos. Then we have our photos taken on the stairs and before long we have to start, the room is only booked until 8pm.
Sound engineers Ben and Ed have done a great job setting up a little PA system for us to run through and we have a little soundcheck. It sounds great. There’s no time to waste though, so we rush straight into our prepared set. Ted has put together an excellent set of some of our choice cover versions and some of our great original tracks. “Until The Dance Is Over” is up first. It starts well. Then it stops. The chain on Ted’s bass drum pedal has snapped. That’s never happened before! A quick swap and we’re back on track. We romp through the set and the select guests seem to be really enjoying themselves. They even break into sporadic dancing. Then it’s all done. We’ve played for an hour. In Studio 2 at Abbey Road.
We have had the best time, in the most amazing place. We have some more photos taken outside the front entrance and we can see some tourists outside the gates of the studio looking and wondering who the hell we are! We feel like rock stars for a moment.
What a day! One to truly remember! We can’t wait to see all the videos and photos!
Lucky