There's No Place Like...

Let me tell you about my favourite place in the world; I’ll try not to include too many spoilers.

On Liverpool's waterfront, in the famous Cunard Building, is housed the British Music Experience. First thing to note is that The Beatles are not the focus of this attraction – there are plenty of other spots in Liverpool dedicated to the Fab Four. Rather, they are in their rightful place in a timeline of British Music, covering right up to present day.

The venue has been in this spot since 2017. Unbelievably, the space lay empty for decades before the museum took up residence. The Cunard building (pronounced Q-nard) is in the centre of the Three Graces: a group of buildings dating back to the beginning of the 1900s, made up on each side with the Port of Liverpool Building and the more well-known Liver building. It is atop this building that Bertie and Bella, the Liver Birds, stand. Right across the road is where you catch the ferry ‘cross the Mersey, and where one of Liverpool’s biggest tourist attractions has stood since 2015.

I have visited often, mainly because the ticket is an annual pass. Us Scots like to get value for money! With each visit, I have learned a little more and discovered another wonder within the cabinets.

Skiffle was the earliest music craze I knew of. The history of British music starts a little before that, with Jazz and Acker Bilk, who was the first Brit to reach number 1 in America. As you weave your way around, you progress to Rock and Roll, Glam Rock, Punk and many other notable genres that had a moment in popular culture through the years. Among the 600+ exhibits, you will see outfits and instruments worn or played by names young and old have heard of. There are albums, tour programmes, early examples of band merchandise and even handwritten lyrics from some of the most sensational artists our island has known.

This is one of the exhibits I get most excited about. In the top right corner of the venue are two magical cabinets that house outfits worn by the legendary David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, as well as three sets of lyrics penned by Freddie himself. It is this keeping alive of heroes (and sometimes villains) who have passed on that make museums such valuable places. Some of us were born too late to be in the same room as our idols but standing beside the cabinets, I feel close to them. I have seen others moved in the same way.

It is in the next section where I relive the music of my childhood and am pulled back to Halloween at my grandfather’s house when I was a very young child. Someone arrived dressed as the guy I’d seen on Top of the Pops, and they looked amazing! Forty years on I can’t say if I ever knew the gender of the trick-or-treater, but I knew they were dressed as Boy George.

What is very fitting in an experience that represents a journey through time, is that along with the dated outfits and well-worn records, there are digital interactives all the way round the museum. It is impossible to represent every musician who has achieved stardom since 1945, especially when the museum is reliant on donations from those artists or their people, but the interactive stations fill in the blanks with just about any artist of note. They also tell you what the world looked like back then and the big events that shaped the culture of the time and therefore the music – or sometimes the other way round.

As if all of this was not enough, you can play Gibson guitars for yourself as well as drums and keyboard. There are even tutorials for those of us who have never mastered an instrument and can only hope to be as skilled as our music heroes. There’s a dance studio where one day I will be brave enough to learn how to strike a pose and a gift shop where one day I will either finally learn some restraint or own one of everything they stock!

Another personal favourite part is the café where I spent hours marking one day, whilst also enjoying an acoustic set by one of the multi-talented staff members. It’s also the home of their monthly music quiz that I managed to attend when the special round was on Scottish music but still didn’t come first. They have a bigger event space inside where I enjoyed a few pink gins whilst doing even worse on their Eurovision quiz, when the song contest was held in Liverpool.

In that same week I saw the Radio 2 Breakfast Show broadcast live from the BME, and the writer of the UK’s last winning Eurovision entry perform Love Shine a Light then be interviewed about his career as a musician. I’ve had to stop myself hitting the motorway and making the 4-hour journey from my part of the world to see a whole host of other events from book signings to Q&As with some very cool people.

I feel I may have indulged myself enough in writing about this place I happened upon in a Google search and that a lot of locals don’t even know about, which is a total travesty. However, I can’t sign off without mentioning the staff, who were a huge part of what drew me back after my first visit. They are always warm and welcoming and love the museum so much that they feel it’s a privilege to work there. Their knowledge is outstanding and, along with their passion, really comes through if you are lucky enough to have one of them tell you about some of the exhibits inside. You might even be lucky enough to catch someone jamming in a quiet moment and get to enjoy a free performance from some really talented musicians.

In a city that is very special, the British Music Experience and its staff are one of the highlights. While you book your tickets, I’m off to copy and paste this post on Trip Advisor!

Buy me a virtual coffee here!