Girls Don’t Play Guitars
Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool

IN the early 1960s, changing their name from The Squaws to the fictional symbol of Liverpool, the four Liverbirds were one of the very few female bands on the Merseybeat scene, as well as one of the first all female rock and roll bands in the world. Yet how many of us have even heard of them? 

Inspired by the Beatles, they went down to the Cavern Club to see what the Fab Four thought of an all-girl band. The response from John Lennon was his now infamous remark: “Girls don’t play guitars.” Unsurprisingly, The Liver Birds were shocked by this and they became even more determined to prove Lennon wrong.

“You are something else,” says a booking agent after their first gig. He pays them £7 a week, they exchange their jobs for a life on the road playing gigs. 

The Royal Court stage is dominated by amplifiers, guitars, drums, cameras, TV screens, a set of huge neon lights forming the shape of guitar strings, the peg head embossed with the abbreviation “GDPG.” I sensed we were in for something special and I was right. 

This was an evening of the most terrific live music, resonating with rock and roll rhythms superbly performed. Amongst the Liverbirds’ repertoire was the song You Can’t Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover, no doubt written as a reaction to the way they were being treated as they tried to succeed in a man’s world, doing things they were told girls shouldn’t do. The Sunday People newspaper published a major, misleading story about them under the banner headlines: “Girls You Wouldn’t Bring Home To Mama.” Yet these same girls were being subjected to sexual harassment, bullying, misogyny. 

Unsurprisingly they accepted the offer of gigs in Hamburg, a city famous for its Beatles connections and went on to achieve fame and commercial success in Germany where they became known as the female Beatles. It wasn’t an entirely smooth path though. They turned down Brian Epstein, drove Chuck Berry wild, hung out with Jimmy Hendrix, had to live in the red light district, and were asked to perform topless. While their real-life story unfolds, we are treated to continuous live performances of their original songs, brilliantly executed, utterly toe-tapping. 

Within a couple of years, the reality of life hit them once again. As they developed relationships it was not made possible to contemplate being a wife, a mother and continue playing gigs at the top of the pop music scene. Consequently, they split up in 1968. 

At the end of the show we had a wonderful surprise. Two of the original Liver Birds joined the cast on stage for the encore, and to Sylvia Saunders incredible drumming, they performed their song, Peanut Butter.

Girls Don’t Play Guitars is a brilliant, untold, Merseybeat story of how four talented women dared to break the mould. Something we can all learn from. Go see it. Enjoy the music. A great night out.

Runs until October 26. Box office: 0151 709 4321, liverpoolsroyalcourt.com