By Kendall Peterson

As one of PA’s Instructional Technology Specialists Steve Delaney walked into Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded their albums, he tried to soak in the “surreal experience, especially for a big Beatles fan.”

Delaney has been obsessed with the Beatles ever since his childhood. He has been to one of Ringo Starr’s concerts and two of Paul McCartney’s concerts, “which last at least three hours,” said Delaney. He plans on seeing another concert in May 2019.

Before Delaney’s birthday this summer, his brother managed to get rare tickets to London for six days so that they could visit the places the Beatles spent most of their time.

They went to the recording studio where the Beatles recorded most of their songs; Liverpool, which is where the Beatles grew up and started the band; and visited the pubs and other places the Beatles performed. They even went to the pub that James Corden and Paul McCartney filmed the viral carpool karaoke video. Along with these places, they traveled to some of the sites they Beatles mentioned in their songs like “Penny Lane,” like “the roundabout,” and shop where “the barber shaves another customer.”

At Abbey Road Studios, which was, according to Delaney, “definitely the highlight of the trip,” he was able to sit at the sound control panel and touch the actual instruments they used, which “for me, as a sound and music person, was amazing,” said Delaney.

Delaney and his brother also heard a lecture on the history of Abbey Road Studios and met Ken Townsend, who worked as an engineer when the Beatles were still recording.

They drove around with a taxi driver, who was born and raised in Liverpool, for two hours. They spent the whole time talking about the history of the Beatles and the driver showed them all the places where the Beatles performed.

Across the Abbey Road Studio is the street that was on the famous album cover of Abbey Road. Delaney actually reenacted the album cover by having a picture taken of himself walking across that same iconic crosswalk.

This trip really fulfilled his dreams as a major Beatles fan. Delaney said, “If I were to complete the Beatles experience, I would probably go to Hamburg, Germany to all the pubs where the Beatles played [before they became stars].”

The trip has helped Delaney to fall even more in love with the Beatles. For him, “It was the trip of a lifetime.”