Liverpool music scene as experienced by a non-musical person

I took a side trip for a few days to Liverpool and Manchester.  It's actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be.  Liverpool is a city I could see myself living in.  I loved that all day every day I could hear people singing on the streets, usually The Beatles, of course.

I was lucky because David, the guy I met on the ferry from Northern Ireland, had stayed at a great hostel while he was in Liverpool (and I was in Edinburgh) so he recommended I stay at Hoax.  It's a new hostel -- only opened this month -- so it had low prices despite being in the most desirable part of town.  It was right by the Cavern (top left), which is where the Beatles played before they outgrew it.  I happened to be there during Beatles Week and so there was a constant (sold out) line up of cover bands playing there.  There's also a statue of Eleanor Rigby (top right) in the alley where Hoax is, and the brick wall outside the Cavern (bottom left) has the names of all the famous people to sing there.

The basement of Hoax, Hopskotch (bottom right), is a bar they also own, and I wandered down for open mic night, where I heard this adorable girl play some great covers of American Country music.  You just never know what you're going to hear over here!