Merseyside pop legends get walking to reveal city's alternative musical heritage

The alternative tours celebrate the Liverpool post-Punk musical scene. Credit: ITV News

Members of two iconic bands are taking to Liverpool's streets to show there's much more to the city's musical heritage than the Beatles.

While not underestimating the Fab Four's affect on the city, musicians from The Farm and Frankie Goes To Hollywood have begun walking tours to look at the influence of music from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Peter Hooton, The Farm's lead singer, joked: "I wanted to do a walking tour to get my 10,000 steps a day in."

Hooton is the chair of The Beatles legacy group, but says this tour will focus on the unexplored period after the Fab Four split up.

He said: "There's lots of stuff about the Beatles in tours in Liverpool already, we wanted an alternative tour to celebrate the Liverpool post-Punk musical scene which produced so many brilliant bands. 

"The idea of walking to these venues, it's all about the mythology really.

"It's about personal experiences. It's all our stories about growing up in the city. We'll go to record shops that don't exist anymore and say 'this is where the famous record shop Probe was."

'The Hope Street Suitcases' is one start point for the tour. Credit: ITV News

Hooton first had the idea of running a tour before the pandemic and has long acted as an unofficial guide for friends visiting the city. 

The tours will be led by one of Peter, bandmate Keith Mullin or Brian Nash from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who will entertain the group with personal anecdotes from one of the most vibrant music scenes in UK history.

The tour will start off at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) and involve a two hour walk through the city centre, exploring some of Liverpool's most important gig venues, recording studios, pubs and hangouts.

St Luke's Bombed Out Church is among the stops. Credit: ITV News

And with Eurovision to be staged in Liverpool in May the time is right according to Mullin: "I love my city. We are a musical city, our heritage is music, we have people from all over the world coming to this city, so it makes sense to have something like Eurovision here as well."

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