“Where is John Lennon?” – The province

John and Paul were still close in the spring of 1963: the war came later. That was not the reason that fractured the Liverpool quartet weeks after scoring their first great musical conquest with Please Please Me. Six decades ago, just as beatlemania was beginning to flow, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr They enjoyed a mini-vacation in the Tenerife island. John Lennon, on the other hand, chose the sun and the prawns of Torremolinos. The story had not yet been written, but that circumstance occurred 48 hours before the Beetles achieved their second number one on the British music chart with From Me To You, another single from the album Please Please Me, the album’s debut album. group that set out to dominate the world from the modest The Cavern Club.

Cynthia Powell, John’s classmate at the School of Arts, became pregnant with Lennon’s first child (Julian) in 1962 and this relationship ended in a wedding. From there a tortuous relationship matured that exploded as soon as Yoko Ono appeared: for many experts, the dynamite that burst the myth. Paul, George and Ringo landed at Los Rodeos on April 29, 1963 without making a sound.

Nobody asked them for an autograph at the baggage claim carousel, nobody wanted to immortalize that chance meeting before the British delegation headed to the north of the Island. Yes. The (almost) Beatles were shot dead. They did not choose a select tourist complex in Puerto de la Cruz. They went straight to a chalet in the area of ​​La Montañeta, a rural area of ​​Los Realejos. where not all the streets were paved, the electrical service was primitive [había más de un enganche ilegal a la red], telephones were a luxury item and herds of goats, sheep and cows traveled along roads that, from time to time, recovered some life with the shouting of the sellers of milk, cheese, yams or potatoes… The The newly renovated house was owned by the family of Klaus Voormann, a photographer who met the musicians during their second stage in Hamburg. He and Brian Epstein, popularly known as The Fifth Beatle, organized the excursion to Tenerife.

Mojo picón and wrinkled potatoes

Voormann knew some of the gastronomic keys of the Island and already on the first night [Paul, George y Ringo llegaron en plena oscuridad a La Montañeta] He made sure that there were traditional cuisine dishes and a good load of beers – the brand that was made in Tenerife and other German and Dutch ones – in the fridge to refresh the first dinner of the (almost) Beatles in Tenerife.

The English tried different varieties of fish [viejas, cabrillas, morenas fritas, salgos…] and meats during their stay on the Island, but they were captivated by the flavor of a product that they constantly requested to mix with bread, cheese or the traditional wrinkled potatoes: red mojo [revalorizado por Caco Senante con su Mojo Picón] and the green. More than one boat flew to the United Kingdom protected like gold in cloth in the suitcases of those daring young people. The trip was planned to open a parenthesis after an intense year of concerts and the planning of two albums [Please Please Me y With the Beatles]. The disconnection was instantaneous. The Liverpool “three” did not stop for a week and a half.

George, Ringo and Paul made the same mistake as the millions of tourists who come to Canary Islands looking for a good tan. They became confident, spent many hours shirtless and understood too late the terrible effects of donkey belly [la sensación de nubosidad que sobrevuela habitualmente el Valle de La Orotava] on their light, almost translucent skin. All three ended up with crabs, but, without a doubt, the one who had it the worst was Harrison. He got sunstroke from here I’ll wait for you and he was medicated. Nothing that he couldn’t fix with a few hours in bed. The loner did not alter his desire to celebrate that after several attempts the first albums were on the way: they were recorded with EMI Studios, which later evolved into Abby Road Studios. Precisely, very close to those facilities, an iconic photograph was taken in which John, Ringo, George and Paul walk on one of the most famous pedestrian crossings in the world, but that is another story.

In Tenerife there was no media pressure and the (almost) Beatles moved freely through the streets of Porto. A tiny entourage always followed the artists with camera in hand [unas veces las fotos las reclamaba Klaus Voormann y otras la petición de un posado la daba Astrid Kirchherr, su expareja] that were seen on the Lido de San Telmo or the fishing dock. The architect’s imposing Lago Martiánez LanzaroteNo Cesar Manrique It had not yet been built, but there was an old café on Colón Street that Paul and Ringo went to several times. They were so comfortable that gossip suggests that George, Paul and Ringo threatened to organize a free concert at the Lido that was never held due to the refusal of the venue manager. That was the day that the (almost) Beatles did not give a concert in Puerto de la Cruz. They didn’t do it because an enlightened person thought it wasn’t a good idea for three long-haired men to start giving voices in English on stage. Needless to say, an error of that magnitude is not easily forgotten. Unforgivable!

But a trip to Tenerife without a visit to the Teide It seems like less of a trip. Yes. There was a climb and a photo session in a natural space that overwhelmed the illustrious visitors. History saved images in the middle of its volcanic landscapes, riding in an attractive Austin Healey Spring or posing with strange clothes and a Cordoban hat in the middle of nowhere. The (almost) Beatles even went to a bullfight in Santa Cruz, flirted with countless young girls and got some major scares. [Paul McCartney estuvo a punto de ahogarse en el arenal de Martiánez arrastrado por las olas] before returning to the UK… They say that those vacations were the last before an unstoppable global phenomenon broke out: The Beatles.