British Music Experience

The British Music Experience is a permanent exhibition in the Cunard Building on Liverpool’s waterfront. It occupies more than 2,000 square metres inside a Grade II-listed Edwardian office block designed by the architects of the Royal Liver Building. The space tells the story of British popular music from 1945 to today. Harvey Goldsmith led the project, with design by Land Design Studio and funding from AEG, owners of The O2. The exhibition moved from London’s O2 Bubble, where it opened in 2009 with a concert by The View, to Liverpool in 2015. It was set up as a charitable trust, backed by £9.5 million from AEG and sponsorship from Gibson Guitars, Sennheiser and The Co-operative Group. The galleries are arranged as moments of change rather than decades, each with an interactive timeline. Visitors can scan a projected matrix to call up magazine-style headlines, images and films about key events. Major exhibits include Hey DJ!, Where It’s At, Gibson Interactive Studio and Dance the Decades. The curatorial team included Robert Santelli, who worked on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the initial curator Paul Lilley. Artefacts number more than six hundred stage outfits, instruments and handwritten lyrics, alongside six thousand images and video clips embedded in the digital archive. Among the highlights are Elton John’s glasses, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust costume and Amy Winehouse’s dress from the ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ video. Guitars belong to Keith Richards, Brian May, Pete Townshend and others. Temporary exhibitions have featured Bob Dylan photographs by Daniel Kramer and a Rolling Stones show titled Rip This Joint. Schools can book interactive workshops linked to the National Curriculum in geography, ICT and citizenship. The building itself, with its marble halls and river views, frames the experience of exploring Britain’s musical past.