<P> Before their first Cavern Club performance, the group argued amongst themselves about the set list, as rock' n roll songs were not allowed at the club, but skiffle was tolerated . After starting with a skiffle song, Lennon told the others to start playing "Don't Be Cruel", by Elvis Presley . Banjo - player Rod Davis warned Lennon that the audience would "eat you alive", which Lennon ignored, starting the song by himself, which forced the others to join in . Halfway through, Sytner pushed his way through the audience and handed Lennon a note which read, "Cut out the bloody rock' n roll". In 1959, Sytner sold the club to an accountant, McFall, for £ 2,750 . In 1960, the Quarrymen changed their name, initially to the Silver Beetles, and finally to the Beatles, before their initial residency in Hamburg . </P> <P> The Beatles' history with the Cavern Club is also explored in two recent documentary films: I Was There: When the Beatles Played the Cavern (2011), directed by John Piper; and Good Ol' Freda (2013), directed by Ryan White . (See note below in "Epstein".) </P> <P> The Beatles' name was first noticed by Epstein in the first issue of Bill Harry's Mersey Beat magazine (which Epstein successfully sold in his NEMS music store), on numerous posters around Liverpool, and on the front page of the second issue of Mersey Beat . before asking journalist Harry who they were . </P> <P> The Beatles--then consisting of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Best--were due to perform a lunchtime concert in The Cavern Club on 9 November 1961, as part of a residency, for £ 3, 15 shillings a concert . According to Sytner, Epstein had visited the club quite a few times previously on Saturday nights, once asking Sytner to book a group for his twenty - first birthday party . Epstein asked Harry to arrange for Epstein and his assistant, Alistair Taylor, to watch the Beatles perform, so Epstein and Taylor were allowed into the club without queuing, with a welcome message being announced over the club's public - address system by Wooler, the resident DJ . Epstein later talked about the performance: </P>

Where did the beatles play their first gig