YOU are likely to meet some big music names in the streets of Liverpool this weekend. At any time you could bump into bands like The Beatels, The Corrds, Led Zed and the Kounterfeit Kinks.
Of course as the names suggest, these are copycat bands doing their utmost to create the sound and look of the originals.
And these are just a handful of the hundreds of musicians descending on the city over three days from tomorrow for the annual Mathew Street Festival.
It has been running for 11 years now and is confidently described as Europe's largest free annual music festival - and there would be few to dispute the fact.
This year, somewhere around 200 different bands will be playing on stages set up in streets around the city, many of them Beatles copycats, some aping other famous bands and others actually playing their own music.
It all began as a one-day festival based around Mathew Street, home of the Cavern Club. But it has expanded beyond anyone's expectations.
Other streets in the city soon had to be utilised for open stages while the one-day event became a three-day event six years ago.
The organisation is something of a nightmare and Bill Heckle of Cavern City Tours is one of the men charged with the job over the years. To add to his self-made problems, he also organises the week-long International Beatle Week which takes place at the same time.
"Well, the Beatles Week is a commercial thing for Cavern City Tours," he explains.. "The Mathew Street Festival is a non profit-making event for the greater good."
This year the Liverpool Culture Company has offered support and been a great help, says Heckle. But when it comes to booking bands and organising things, that's down to Heckle and his colleagues.
"Yes, there are 200 bands and I don't know why but this year has been the hardest one to organise by a mile. Maybe I'm just getting older.
"But it's a bit like planning an invasion dealing with all the logistics of manpower, putting people there with their vehicles, backup and equipment and moving people. Potentially over the weekend we are having gigs at 16 or 17 venues."
