An immersive new experience has opened in Camden Town this month to celebrate six decades of British Music.
So Daily Express headed over to Live Odyssey to chat with John Lennon’s sister, Julia Baird, who was opening a temporary exhibition of her Beatles brother there.
The 78-year-old shares the same mother with the late star and witnessed him meeting Paul McCartney, that fateful day at a Liverpool church fete in 1957.
She even recalls the world’s two most successful songwriters sitting outside their house jamming together.
Asked why she wanted to get involved with the new exhibit, Julia told us: “I just thought it sounded brilliant and rich”.
John’s exhibit kicks off the Live Odyssey experience in the 1950s as fans traverse chronologically through British music. Lennon’s sister shared: “This is a journey from the beginning with John in the late 50s with the Quarrymen and then going through to the 60s, 70s, 80s through five or six rooms until you get to the Libertines.” Along the way, there are two spaces with live bands playing music from that room’s era, before holograms of Pete Doherty and the Libertines entertain you in the present day at the end. Back in John’s room, Julia helped recreate his childhood bedroom in one of the corners, surrounded by a treasure trove on the walls, including actual Imagine artefacts.
As you exit the Lennon exhibit, you see a couple of art pieces made of grey wire shaped into John’s face and the words “Peace and Love.” These were made with part of a microphone lead used by the Beatles star to record his album and single Imagine. Julia shared: “The wires are all from Tittenhurst Park. And again, any fan will know that John spent a lot of time and energy and probably money, of course, on the studio within that huge country pile. The most important room to John was the studio and he spent all his time and energy making it perfect.”
Live Odyssey is open now in London’s Camden Town and tickets can be purchased here.