Liverpool has never been short of music legends and local talent - from the Merseybeat scene to new artists still emerging in the charts.
But the city is also where it all started for the "longest running band in pop history," who are still performing today. When 16-year-old John McNally formed The Searchers in 1957, he could never have imagined the phenomenal success the band would go on to achieve.
A sound that inspired artists like The Byrds, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, the band went on to achieve 50 million record sales, thirteen UK chart hits - including three No.1’s - and a fan base that continues to grow through the generations. Members John McNally, Spencer James and Richie Burns are now set to perform the last show of their tour tonight in Liverpool where it all began, which could be fans last chance to experience the legendary band.
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John told the ECHO: "I started the band in the late 50s with a friend of mine who had just come out the army, a guy called Joseph Anthony West who was the last of the conscription crowd. He had a little group in the army and then when he came out I was playing guitar and we got together and started The Searches.
"It wasn’t planned, but we just did it. We were impressed with the movie The Searchers and decided to call ourselves The Searches.
"Everything has been said about the Liverpool 60s scene and I couldn't improve what’s been said. You're so young you don't understand.
"When you're a part of it you're not thinking if it’s going to be legendary, you just go on and do your music, play the pubs, enjoy what’s going on." Since their early days on the Merseybeat scene, the band has travelled the world and achieved much success, something John never "in a million years" thought would happen.
John said: "When you're in a band, that’s what you wish for. Even today people say we were in bands in the 60s and we never made it - what’s it like?
"You have to explain it but it's a great feeling. You have a number one, then another number one, then you have another number one - it’s mind-blowing. One of my earliest memories is when we got the telegram to say Sweets For My Sweet was number one.
"A couple of days ago it was the 60th anniversary of the release date, June 10. We got a telegram when we were playing the Boston Gliderdrome."
By the early 1960s, Frank Allan, from London, joined The Searchers on bass and vocals, experiencing the Liverpool music scene which was like "nothing else he'd ever heard before." Frank told the ECHO: "The first time I met them was at the Star-Club in Hamburg, right at the beginning of 1962 before they had started recording.
"I was with another band called Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers in London. We made six singles by the time I met The Searchers but none of them had made it into the charts.
"The Searchers were my kind of people and suddenly through being in Hamburg, I heard all these other great bands from Liverpool and realised what an incredible, thriving music scene the city had.
"It was pretty unique, it was like nothing else I'd ever heard before. It was a privilege to be around at that time, it was a fantastic atmosphere."
Some of Frank's fondest memories through the years include playing the Royal Variety Show and Wembley Stadium with Cliff Richard, as well as performing for British Troops abroad. Frank said: "The first time I ever went to America with The Searchers, that was in September 1964.
"We went out to do a mini world tour, we went to America then on to New Zealand and Australia but it began as a week of concerts at the Fox Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. It was six shows every day. They started at 10am and finished at 10pm - that sounds strange to British people but Americans did their shows like that.
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"The most astonishing thing was the list of people on every show. We were headlining this bill but it was also Dusty Springfield, Millie Small, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Martha and The Vandellas, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Temptations, The Contours, Little Anthony, The Ronettes, The Shangri Las, The Dovells, The Newbeats and Jay and the Americans.
"You'd have to have a stadium to put on that bill these days. That's going to stay in my memory forever."
Four years on from their last tour, the band has chosen to call their current tour the ‘Thank You Tour’ as a mark of respect and appreciation for the legions of fans who have supported them over the years. The tour began at Wimborne Tivoli in Dorset in April, with the finale taking place in Liverpool at the Liverpool Philharmonic tonight, June 17.
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John said: "It won't be just the hits because we think they deserve more than that, we're going to do some popular B-sides and album tracks." Over the years, new generations of fans have emerged and for the 43-date tour, people have travelled from all over the world.
Frank said: "It's turned out to be the most enjoyable thing ever. I was waking up in the middle of the night for the whole year it was planned thinking what have I signed up for, this could be a terrible mistake - but it’s turned out to be one of the happiest years of our lives. It's going to be an absolutely brilliant night."
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