1966 beatles tour

Remembering Beatles’ Final Concert

By Jordan Runtagh

Jordan Runtagh

Touring was killing the Beatles by 1966. Perhaps not literally, but that seemed like less of a guarantee with each passing day. A trip to Asia that July ended with a frightening incident in the Philippines, when an inadvertent snub of the dictatorial first family provoked a nationwide turn against the foursome. Their entire police detail was suddenly withdrawn and the Beatles were left to defend themselves against a hoard of angry nationalists who manhandled them all the way to the airport. Only after being stripped of concert proceeds were they permitted to leave the country.

Following the harrowing ordeal, no one was particularly thrilled about having to hit the road again for a U.S. tour the following month. “We’re going to have a couple of weeks to recuperate before we go and get beaten up by the Americans,” George Harrison cracked with more than a touch of resentment. The off-the-cuff joke turned to a horrifying reality when a supposedly anti-religious statement made my John Lennon ignited a firestorm among Bible-toting zealots south of the Mason-Dixon line. They torched Beatles albums, boycotted songs and unleashed a torrent of death threats. Fresh bullet holes on the fuselage of the band’s plane cleared up any doubts: They were in harm’s way.

But it wasn’t just the physical danger. The Beatles were dying as musicians. Playing for a crowd had once been their lifeblood, but fame had robbed them of everything that made it joyful and fulfilling. The sporting arenas were too big and the screams of an adoring audience were too loud for the 100-watt Vox amplifiers to manage. Stadium rock was in its infancy, and even basic equipment like foldback speakers had yet to be invented. Unable to hear themselves, their musicianship began to atrophy.

“In 1966 the road was getting pretty boring,” Ringo Starr recalled in the Beatles Anthology documentary. “It was coming to the end for me. Nobody was listening at the shows. That was OK at the beginning, but we were playing really bad.” Perched in the back on his drum kit, he was reduced to following the three wiggling backsides at the front of the stage just to determine where they were in the song.

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At least the audience couldn’t hear how ragged they had become – not that they would have cared. “The sound at our concerts was always bad. We would be joking with each other on stage just to keep ourselves amused,” remembered Harrison in the Anthology . Lennon took particular delight in making vaguely obscene alterations to their song lyrics (“I Wanna Hold Your Gland”), knowing full well that no one had any clue what he was saying. “It was just a sort of a freak show,” he later said. “The Beatles were the show, and the music had nothing to do with it.”

The boredom of playing the same dozen songs each day also began to grate on the group’s notoriously short attention span. Making matters worse, most of the tunes were several years old. Much of their recent work was enhanced by backing musicians and innovative studio techniques, making it simply too challenging to perform given the technical limitations of a live setting. In fact, the Beatles would never play a single track off of their latest album, Revolver , released just days before they kicked off their dates.

Neither they nor the audience could hear anything, they weren’t improving their skills, they weren’t promoting their new music, and they weren’t enjoying themselves. They certainly didn’t need the money, so why were they doing this?

The question was on everyone’s mind during the 1966 U.S. tour, a cursed excursion beset by a string of unmitigated disasters. The Klu Klux Klan, still outraged over Lennon’s “bigger than Jesus” comment, picketed some gigs, while other shows competed with nearby race riots. A firecracker exploded during their Memphis concert, causing the band to momentarily believe that a gunman finally made good on the assassination threats.

Biblical rains at an open-air concert in Cincinnati put the band in the unenviable position of either canceling the show and potentially instigating a riot among the 35,000 expectant fans, or performing as scheduled amid the very real risk of electrocution. “It was really scary,” Nat Weiss, the band’s attorney, told author Philip Norman. “The crowd kept screaming, ‘We want the Beatles!’ and Paul grew so upset at the prospect of going out there that he was sick. The strain was too great. And he threw up in the dressing room.” After roadie Mal Evans received a shock severe enough to throw him across the stage, the show was postponed until the next day. “The only gig we ever missed!” noted a proud Harrison.

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After playing the makeup show that afternoon, the Beatles flew to St. Louis, where they were confronted with another rainy catastrophe. The makeshift shelter hastily constructed in the open-air Busch Stadium did little to guard against the elements. “They put bits of corrugated iron over the stage, so it felt like the worst little gig we’d ever played at even before we’d started as a band,” remembered Paul McCartney . “We were having to worry about the rain getting in the amps and this took us right back to the Cavern days. It was worse than those early days.”

There are few roles more thankless than an opening act at a Beatles concert in 1966, but the support bands struggled mightily to be heard against the fierce gusts of wind that blew in from San Francisco Bay, stirring up miniature dust storms across the infield. “It was not the sort of night you’d like to turn out for an outdoor concert,” observed Barrow. “Emperor” Nelson concurred. “As any Giants fans will know, Candlestick Park in August, at night, was cold, foggy and windy.”

The Remains were the first to take the stage. “A wild sea wind was blowing in every direction,” wrote Tashian. “The audience was about 200 feet away – much farther than usual. It made us feel extremely isolated from the audience.” According to Marshall, the setting was a long way off from today’s flashy pyrotechnics and Jumbotron extravaganzas. “The sound was pretty primitive and the lighting was just baseball lights.”

After the Remains finished their set, they stayed on the field to back Bobby Hebb, who sang his recent hit “Sunny” into the bitter cold and fog. Then came the Cyrkle, a band represented by the Beatles’ own manager, Brian Epstein. They were riding high in the charts with “Red Rubber Ball,” a tune co-written by Paul Simon. And finally there were the Ronettes, who had been friends with the Beatles since before their first trip to America. Although they hadn’t had a Top 20 hit in three years, the two bands enjoyed each other’s company and the Beatles brought them along. Lead singer Veronica Bennett was barred from the tour by her increasingly jealous boyfriend (and future Beatles producer) Phil Spector, who was paranoid that she would revive her dormant fling with Lennon. Bennett’s cousin Elaine Mayes took her place.

The Beatles kept the pre-show reverie going in their dressing room, but Tony Barrow detected something different in the air as they changed into their dark green Edwardian suits and silk floral shirts. He’d spent many years in their inner circle – in fact, it was he who coined the “Fab Four” moniker – but this was something he’d never felt before. “There was a sort of end-of-term spirit thing going on,” he said decades later. “And there was also this kind of feeling amongst all of us around the Beatles, that this might just be the last concert that they will ever do.”

His suspicions were confirmed when McCartney sidled up to him just before show time. “I remember Paul, casually, at the very last minute saying, ‘Have you got your cassette recorder with you?’ I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ Paul then said, ‘Tape it, will you? Tape the show.'” That had certainly never happened before.

At 9:27, after the Ronettes had finished, four tiny figures bounded out of the Giants dugout and across the baseball diamond. They ushered in a wave of screams that an attending Joan Baez later described as “like clouds bursting.” The Beatles were surrounded by a 200-member police guard, as well as a Loomis armored car, which was kept running behind the stage in case they had to make a quick get-away. They clutched cameras as well as guitars and drumsticks, snapping pictures of the grandstand for posterity.

The elevated stage had been constructed at the edge of the infield over second base. As an added security measure, a chain-link fence surrounded the perimeter of the stage. Fittingly, the Beatles would quite literally play their 11-song, 33-minute set in a cage.

As they plugged in their guitars and did a quick tune-up, Barrow got in position by the stage and held his tape recorder aloft. “Although I didn’t fancy my chances of making a brilliant recording of the concert, one thing in my favor was the great distance between the stage and the stands at this particular venue,” he explained. “Because of this, I guessed I might be able to capture sound from the stage without picking up too much of the nonstop screams and shouts of the fans coming from the stands.”

A quick shouted hello and the band were off into an abbreviated version of Chuck Berry’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music,” a mainstay of their set since their days (or rather, nights) as a club band playing the red-light Reeperbahn district of Hamburg, Germany, at the beginning of their career. Though lacking the energy they had then – they couldn’t possibly be that hungry again – the Beatles attacked the old favorite with a bite that had largely been absent on the tour. Just this last time, they resolved to make an effort.

Without stopping they launched into their funky B side, “She’s a Woman,” allowing McCartney to go into his finest soul-shouter routine before pausing to deliver one of his charmingly halting stage greetings. “Hello, good evening. We’d like to carry on with a song, not surprisingly, by, er, written by George. And this song was on our Rubber Soul LP. And the song is called ‘If I Needed, er, Someone!'”

Beyond contending with the wind, the band fought to be heard above their familiar nemesis: screams. It was like standing on a crowded runway with jets taking off on all sides. Along with guns, security guards had been issued cotton balls to stick in their ears in an attempt to ward off headaches. One concert attendee, Ellie Segal, watched a pair of clearly annoyed adults ask a shrieking teen if she’d like to be quiet and actually listen to the music. “She looked at them disdainfully and said, ‘If I wanted to hear them I would buy their album.'” Another fan recalled seeing reporters ask a young girl why she was sobbing. “Because I love Paul and I can’t tell him.”

The mania swelled as the show progressed. Five boys rushed the stage in the middle of “Baby’s in Black,” and more fans followed during “Nowhere Man.” Still more invaded the stadium by climbing the enormously high centerfield fence. Clearly annoyed, the band eyed the armored truck. Just in case.

For one introduction, McCartney took a playful, and un-PC, jab at Brian Epstein. “We’d like to do the next number now, which is a special request from all the backroom boys on this tour … ‘I Wanna Be Your Man!'” (“Backroom boy” was slang for “gay man,” which Epstein was.) The band was likely unaware that their manager was still in Los Angeles at that very moment dealing with a major personal crisis: An ex-lover had stolen his briefcase filled with legally questionable pills, explicit homosexual love letters, steamy Polaroid photos of his young male friends and more than $20,000 in cash skimmed from concert proceeds to be handed out as a bonus to the band. If news of any one of these items leaked to the press, it would be more than enough to torpedo his reputation. So, to his lasting regret, the man who discovered the Beatles in a dank Liverpool cellar five years earlier missed what he knew would be their final show.

The Beatles knew it too, and they decided to memorialize the occasion with a kind of graduation photo. “We placed our cameras on the amplifiers and put them on a timer,” says Harrison. “We stopped between tunes, Ringo got down off the drums, and we stood facing the amplifiers with our back to the audience and took photographs. We knew: ‘This is it – we’re not going to do this again. This is the last concert.’ It was a unanimous decision.”

As the final notes from “Paperback Writer” drifted past the crowd and into the bay, McCartney blurted out his final stage announcement with the mechanical mumble of a man who just turned in his notice. He doesn’t even bother with the title. “We’d like to ask you to join in and, er, clap, sing, talk, do anything. Anyway, the song is … good night.”

No one was listening, so they played the last number for themselves. It was a song that had made the journey with them from teenage social clubs to stadiums: Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.” It was their showpiece, remaining in their set list almost constantly throughout their career. It had been their opening song when they played the Litherland Town Hall in December 1960, later enshrined as ground zero for Beatlemania. Nearly six years later, it would bookend their touring life.

They held nothing back. They had no reason to. McCartney begins the song with an otherworldly shriek in an upper register usually reserved for later verses. This night he started in high gear, and there was nowhere to go but up. In his voice you could hear traces of a teenage boy bewitched by the sound of flamboyant pianist from Macon, Georgia. You could hear traces of the long nights in Hamburg. You could hear the weariness of years on the road. It was probably a performance for the ages.

But we’ll never be sure, because Barrow’s tape cut out. Cassettes contained 30 minutes per side in 1966, and he was unable to flip it over to catch the end. Though devastating for Beatle fans not to have the final live song preserved in entirety, it’s oddly poetic – like a cinematic cutaway that spares us the hero’s final fall. It’s best to remember them still playing.

The song eventually ended and they were free. It was over. But the end of their touring career didn’t offer the unbridled ecstasy they had anticipated. In fact, it was undeniably sad. Playing music for people was something the Beatles loved. It was what had brought them together all those years ago. Long before they became studio pioneers, performance was the band’s ultimate joy. And now it was gone, taken from them by their fame.

Lennon, the most vocal about quitting all this touring nonsense, paused on the stage for a moment, taking it all in. Those who were there that night insist they heard him play the delicate guitar riff from “In My Life,” the introspective ballad about all he’d experienced and loved in his incredibly young life. The moment passed, and he ducked into the armored car bound for the airport, where the band was to fly back to Los Angeles. They had been in San Francisco for a grand total of five hours that day.

“Right – that’s it, I’m not a Beatle anymore!” George Harrison was heard to gleefully exclaim as he sank into his airplane seat and tossed back a well-deserved drink. “I didn’t really project into the future,” he recalled of his mindset three decades later. “I was just thinking, ‘This is going to be such a relief – not to have to go through this madness anymore.'”

McCartney was a little sunnier in his outlook. While speaking to Teen Set reporter Judy Sims, he outlined what he saw as the band’s future. “We’re not very good performers, actually. We’re better in a recording studio where we can control things and work on it until it’s right. With performing there’s so much that can go wrong, and you can’t go back over it and do it right.” Their next release, 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band , took five months to record. It was the longest they had ever spent on a project – but they got it right.

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As the Beatles’ plane soared into the night sky, McCartney popped his head over the back of Tony Barrow’s seat. “Did you get anything on tape?” he asked. Barrow handed him the cassette. “I got the lot, except that the tape ran out in the middle of ‘Long Tall Sally.'” The Cute One was unconcerned. “Paul was clearly chuffed to have such a unique souvenir of what would prove to be an historic evening,” said Barrow.

“Back in London I kept the concert cassette under lock and key in a drawer of my office desk, making a single copy for my personal collection and passing the original to Paul for him to keep. Years later my Candlestick Park recording re-appeared in public as a bootleg album. If you hear a bootleg version of the final concert that finishes during ‘Long Tall Sally’ it must have come either from Paul’s copy or mine, but we never did identify the music thief!”

Barrow died in May 2016, just a few months before the 50th anniversary of the Candlestick Park concert. Thanks to his efforts, everyone can enjoy this historic show. It’s guaranteed to raise a smile, and well worth the price of admission.

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From Wikipedia :

The Beatles staged their third and final concert tour of the United States in August 1966. It consisted of 19 performances, with 17 shows in US venues and two in Canada. The tour was plagued with backlash regarding the controversy of John Lennon’s remark about the Beatles being “more popular than Jesus”, death threats, and the band’s own dissatisfaction with the noise levels and their ability to perform live. Their speaking out against the Vietnam War added further controversy to the visit. The band played to large audiences in open-air stadiums throughout the tour, but ticket sales were hindered by the “Jesus” controversy. The US press reported a less frenzied response from the group’s fans and speculated on the end of Beatlemania. Having already decided to retire from live performances at the end of the year, the 1966 US tour was the last series of commercial concerts undertaken by the Beatles. Thereafter, they continued as a studio band and focused exclusively on record production. Background Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, announced the band’s intention to tour the United States in early March 1966 while in New York. Taking place in August, it was the band’s third annual summer tour of the US. The shows formed the second leg of a world tour, following concerts in June and July in West Germany, Japan and the Philippines. When in Tokyo, the Beatles received death threats and, aside from their professional engagements, were confined to their hotel suite. In Manila, they were manhandled by citizens and military personnel for a perceived slight to Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos. Believing that their tours had grown too large and complex for Epstein to manage, the band decided to abandon touring following the upcoming US concerts. When asked what the group planned to do after their ordeal in Manila, George Harrison said: “We’re going to have a couple of weeks to recuperate before we go and get beaten up by the Americans.” Escalation of the “Jesus” controversy Plans for the tour were jeopardised in late July by the reaction to John Lennon’s comments that the Beatles had become “more popular than Jesus”. Lennon made the remark to Maureen Cleave of the London Evening Standard in February, during his interview for the newspaper’s “How Does a Beatle Live?” series. Cleave noted Lennon’s interest in Christianity and religions, to which he replied: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first – rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.

His comments caused little concern in the UK nor in the US, initially. On 29 July, however, the US teen magazine Datebook reproduced Cleave’s article, with the “I don’t know which will go first – rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity!” remark placed prominently on the cover, provoking outrage among Christian fundamentalists, particularly in the US South. Led by WAQY in Birmingham, Alabama, several radio stations there organised bonfires where listeners were invited to burn their Beatles records and merchandise, and programmers initiated a ban on the band’s music.

In an attempt to quell the furore, Epstein flew to New York and gave a press conference on 5 August. The controversy followed that surrounding the butcher cover originally used in June for the Beatles’ North American LP Yesterday and Today . Soon withdrawn by Capitol Records, the cover was said to convey the band’s opposition to the Vietnam War. The publication of Paul McCartney’s comment, from a 1 August radio interview, that Americans were obsessed with money furthered the mood of disquiet surrounding the Beatles. In his press conference, Epstein said that he was prepared to cancel shows if any American promoter wished to back out, but that all the individuals were keen for the tour to go ahead. According to Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall, none of the promoters chose to cancel their events.

Early August was also marked by race riots in Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha and Philadelphia, and by news of a killing spree in Texas carried out by Charles Whitman, a former US Marine. Derek Taylor, the band’s former press officer and a music publicist in California, wrote in his column for Disc and Music Echo that “America is not too settled at the moment and I don’t think it is any time for the Beatles to be here.” Reporting in London for The Village Voice , Richard Goldstein stated that Revolver , the Beatles’ new album, was ubiquitous around the city, as if Londoners were uniting behind the band in response to the bad press emanating from the US. He said there was a “genuine anxiety” among fans for the group’s safety and quoted one, a New Yorker, as saying, “If anything happens to them, man, it’s World War III.”

Repertoire and tour personnel

The US shows were in the package-tour format typical of the 1960s. The support acts throughout the tour were the Ronettes, the Cyrkle, Bobby Hebb and the Remains. The latter also served as the backing group for the Ronettes and Hebb.

The Beatles’ set lasted around 30 minutes and was almost identical to that performed in their June–July concerts. The sole difference was that “ Long Tall Sally ” replaced “ I’m Down ” as the closing number. None of the tracks from Revolver were included due to the difficulty in reproducing their sophisticated studio sounds and arrangements in a concert setting. “ Paperback Writer ” was therefore the only 1966 recording represented in the set. In the altered release schedules imposed by Capitol for North America, however, “ Nowhere Man ” and the Yesterday and Today track “ If I Needed Someone ” were also first issued in 1966, having been part of the December 1965 LP Rubber Soul in other markets.

A handpicked press corps accompanied the Beatles, travelling with the band members and filing reports for their organisations. Among these were British disc jockeys Kenny Everett, Ron O’Quinn and Jerry Leighton; TeenSet editor Judith Sims, representatives from Teen Life magazine and Hearst Newspapers, and Datebook editor Art Unger; and a group of American DJs that included Jim Stagg and George Klein.

Lennon’s apology

When the band arrived in Chicago on 11 August for the start of the tour, Epstein and press officer Tony Barrow arranged a press conference at the Astor Tower Hotel to address the controversy and for Lennon to explain himself. Lennon stated that he was only commenting on the decline among churchgoers, that he made a mistake in using the Beatles’ following in comparison with that of organised religion, and that he “never meant it as a lousy anti-religious thing”. Parts of the press conference were broadcast on all the major US television networks and by ITV in the UK.

In a private meeting with Art Unger, Epstein asked him to surrender his press pass for the tour, to avoid accusations that Datebook and the Beatles’ management had orchestrated the controversy as a publicity stunt. Unger refused and, in his account, received Lennon’s full support when he later discussed the meeting with him.

The apology placated many of those offended by the Datebook article; WAQY called off its Beatle bonfire, planned for 19 August, and some stations lifted their radio bans. The controversy nevertheless hung over the entire tour and overshadowed the US release of Revolver and its accompanying single, “ Eleanor Rigby ” / “ Yellow Submarine “. Lennon continued to be asked about the topic in subsequent press conferences, often visibly exasperating not only him, but his bandmates as well.[ citation needed ]

Crowd control

The first serious crowd disturbance occurred at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, where the Beatles performed to nearly 30,000 on 14 August. As they started to play “ Day Tripper “, over 2,000 fans broke through the security barriers separating the audience from the area housing the elevated stage, causing the Beatles to stop the performance and shelter backstage. Thirty minutes passed before security was restored and the show resumed. Commentators likened the episode to the race riots that had taken place in the east of Cleveland shortly beforehand, and substantial damage was done to the stadium.

Following their concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on 28 August, the Beatles were unable to leave the venue for about two hours. Around 100 private security personnel had been assigned to control the crowd of 45,000 fans, 7,000 of whom broke through the fencing and thwarted the band’s exit in an armoured van. The Beatles remained trapped in a dressing room until, after two unsuccessful attempts to fool the crowd using decoy vehicles, they were able to escape with assistance from the local police. Some fans were injured and others arrested in clashes with the police.

Memphis stopover

The tour’s only stopover in the Bible Belt was Memphis, Tennessee, where two shows were scheduled at the Mid-South Coliseum for 19 August. The city council there voted to cancel the afternoon and evening concerts rather than have “municipal facilities be used as a forum to ridicule anyone’s religion”. The Ku Klux Klan nailed a Beatles LP to a wooden cross, vowing “vengeance”, and conservative groups staged further public burnings of Beatles records. Epstein nevertheless went ahead with the shows, which were preceded by further threats to the group. Members of the Ku Klux Klan demonstrated outside the venue on 19 August, and around 8,000 locals took part in an anti-Beatles rally elsewhere in the city.

Although no problems took place during the afternoon show, an audience member threw a lit firecracker onstage that did not hit any of the members, but the band believed that somebody had tried to shoot them. When the firecracker went off, Barrow recalled that “everybody, all of us at the side of the stage, including the three Beatles on stage, all looked immediately at John Lennon. We would not at that moment have been surprised to see that guy go down. John had half-heartedly joked about the Memphis concert in an earlier press conference, and when we got there everything seemed to be controlled and calm, but underneath somehow, there was this nasty atmosphere. It was a very tense and pressured kind of day.”

Opposition to Vietnam War

Lennon and Harrison had warned Epstein that they were no longer prepared to stay silent about pressing political issues such as the Vietnam War. The controversy surrounding Lennon’s “Jesus” remarks reinforced their determination to speak out and furthered the Beatles’ standing in the emerging counterculture. At the time, 90 per cent of Americans still supported their country’s involvement in the conflict.

Having first voiced the group’s opposition to the Vietnam War during their stay in Tokyo, Lennon caused further controversy during the band’s press conference in Toronto on 17 August when he stated his support for American draft-dodgers escaping to Canada. When the band arrived in New York on 22 August, Lennon again criticised US participation in the war. All four Beatles publicly denounced the war as “wrong”. At Shea Stadium the following day, the pre-show press conference descended into an argument between members of the media over the Beatles’ opposition to the war.

Final concert

The Beatles’ final paid concert of their career took place on 29 August at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. The band played to an audience of 25,000, leaving 7,000 tickets unsold. A local company called Tempo Productions was in charge of the arrangements. Due to the reduced ticket sales and the expense of paying the Beatles their prearranged $50,000 performance fee, in addition to having to hire an orchestra to satisfy the local musicians union, the concert resulted in a loss for the company. At 9:27 pm, the Beatles took the stage and proceeded to play their eleven-song set.

McCune Sound Services of San Francisco provided the sound system for the concert. The company’s log-book entry for the job includes the note: “Bring everything you can find!” Mort Field, who mixed the sound from a dugout at the venue, recalled that the Beatles were so unconcerned about sound quality that Ringo Starr chose to sing into the counterweight of the heavy boom stand microphone set up at his drum kit, rather than the microphone itself.

Knowing that this would be their last concert, members of the band took measures of their own to capture their last moments on stage. Each brought a camera and McCartney asked Barrow to make a rough audio tape recording from the field. The recording of this final concert is now widely circulated on bootlegs. “Long Tall Sally” on the bootlegs is not complete, due to Barrow not flipping the tape over during the show. Barrow gave the original tape of the Candlestick Park concert to McCartney. He also made a single copy, which was kept in a locked drawer in Barrow’s office desk.

After the show, the Beatles were quickly taken to the airport in an armoured car. They flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles, arriving at 12:50 am. During the flight, Harrison was heard to say: “That’s it, then. I’m not a Beatle anymore.” The first band member to tire of Beatlemania, Harrison later said of the group’s decision to quit touring: “We’d been through every race riot, and every city we went to there was some kind of a jam going on, and police control, and people threatening to do this and that … and [us] being confined to a little room or a plane or a car. We all had each other to dilute the stress, and the sense of humour was very important … But there was a point where enough was enough.”

Author Jonathan Gould comments on the significance of the Beatles ending their careers as live performers in San Francisco, since the city was the location for the first Human Be-in in January 1967. This and similar events were sponsored by the Family Dog collective, whose vision was to make San Francisco “America’s Liverpool”.

Typically of the era, newspaper coverage of the concerts focused on the size of the audiences, the volume of the fans’ screams, and box office takings, rather than attempting to review each event or discuss the music. Throughout the tour, the US press seized on the opportunity to predict the end of Beatlemania and remarked on the absence of the usual crowds of screaming fans at the airports on their itinerary. The high-pitched screaming synonymous with Beatlemania was reduced, but most of the shows were still marked by wild crowd behaviour. In their comments during the tour, Lennon and Harrison each said that their American audiences included more young males than before, a development that Harrison welcomed as a reason for the reduced screaming and attributed to the band’s musical growth on Rubber Soul and Revolver . The Beatles’ ability to appeal to both sexes in this way helped codify a new youth movement in the US, which sought expression in student demonstrations at Berkeley from late 1966 onwards.

The tour was affected by the prevailing mood of controversy and there were rows of empty seats at some venues. The Beatles held a second successful concert at New York’s Shea Stadium, following the world-record attendance they set there in August 1965, although ticket sales were down to 45,000, around 10,000 below the previous year. Author Nicholas Schaffner later wrote that although the numbers at Shea fell short of the 1965 total, the Beatles’ ability to sell as many tickets as they did in 1966 was still “a feat nobody else at the time could have come near to duplicating”.

On 28 August, the day of the band’s penultimate concert, Epstein issued a press release in response to claims that some of the shows had been poorly attended:

This tour compares phenomenally well with last year’s. It’s much better all round this year, from the point of view of increased interest and we are actually playing to bigger audiences. Here in Los Angeles, for example, 36,000 people saw the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl [in August 1965]. Today’s concert at Dodger Stadium is attracting 10,000 more. People have been saying things about diminishing popularity, but all one can go by is attendances, which are absolutely huge. By the time we leave, 400,000 people will have seen this series of shows … […]

At the beginning, we felt that we had to do something about the remark John made or get got! People in America took what he had said as an arrogant remark. It wasn’t. The first few days were peculiar because it just wasn’t a Beatles tour. We would have been more worried if we hadn’t been working and so preoccupied. But after we’d been to Memphis — which we were most worried about — it was fine. We were in America as usual and that was that. Before we went was the worst time. People kept saying ‘Are you sure you’re going to be safe?’. And I suppose we could have been in danger. The Americans were roused. And if anyone had wanted to shoot us it would have been easy for them — at one of those concerts with thousands of people milling around. In fact, as it turned out the whole thing had been blown up terrifically by the time it had reached the British papers. We found out that the guy who started it did it purely as an unashamed publicity stunt. If we’d known that before we went we wouldn’t have been so anxious. Paul McCartney – From Disc And Music Echo , September 10, 1966

We had a rough tour. After John’s bigger than Jesus quote, we suddenly had all the Ku Klux Klansmen burning our records on crosses and people marching around protesting about us. As a tour, it wasn’t particularly worse than any of the others, but we’d had enough. Our concerts sold out, and the individual shows were great. But some people were continually trying to knock us. I remember John and George getting really pissed off at the whole thing. So we simply decided to give up all the hassle and work in the studio. Paul McCartney – from “ John Lennon, My Brother ” by Julia Baird, 1988

Then John just happened to mention that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus. Well, that’s when the laughing stopped. That’s when it got serious. Of course, John never meant to say that The Beatles were literally bigger than Christ. He was only referring to the lack of attendance in church. He was actually taking a sympathetic point of view. Was he wrong to publicly apologise for it? Yeah, that’s easy to say. But you weren’t there, mate. We were in the American South just after the story had broken. I still remember this young blond boy, no more than 12 years old, banging on the window, raging, like we were devils. When you come up against that, oh dear me, you think, “Who needs this?” We had religious fanatics burning our records, the KKK were making death threats. There was a whole climate of hate and fear and we were bang in the middle of it. Of course, you look back and feel glad that those people were against you, because we were certainly against them. Paul McCartney – From interview with UNCUT , July 2004

When we played one place it rained quite heavily, and they put bits of corrugated iron over the stage, so it felt like the worst little gig we’d ever played at even before wed started as a band. We were having to worry about the rain getting in the amps and this took us right back to the Cavern days — it was worse than those early days. And I don’t even think the house was full. After the gig I remember us getting in a big, empty steel-lined wagon, like a removal van. There was no furniture in there — nothing. We were sliding around trying to hold on to something, and at that moment everyone said, ‘Oh, this bloody touring lark – I’ve had it up to here, man.’ I finally agreed. I’d been trying to say, ‘Ah, touring’s good and it keeps us sharp. We need touring, and musicians need to play. Keep music live.’ I had held on to that attitude when there were doubts, but finally I agreed with them. George and John were the ones most against touring; they got particularly fed up. So we agreed to say nothing, but never to tour again. We thought we’d get into recording, and say nothing until some journalist asked, ‘Are you going out on tour?’ — Not yet.’ We wouldn’t make The Big Announcement that we’d finished touring forever, but it would gradually dawn on people: They don’t appear to be going on tour, do they? How long was that? Ten years? Maybe they’ve given it up.’ That was the main point: we’d always tried to keep some fun in it for ourselves. In anything you do you have to do that, and we’d been pretty good at it. But now even America was beginning to pall because of the conditions of touring and because we’d done it so many times. Paul McCartney – From “ The Beatles Anthology ” book, 2000

Describe the mood of The Beatles during their 19 day tour of America. Well, I’d say the mood was fairly different at different times on the tour. In the beginning there was a big uproar about the statement that John had made. Also, he had to face the American press in Chicago. At first, it was very tense in that regard. After that had kind of smoothed out, we were having a good time with them on tour. They seemed calm and seemed to be enjoying themselves, but working hard. I mean, it was a fast traveling tour. It was the biggest tour in the world at the time. We were in a different city every day. So it was a hardworking tour and there were a lot of logistical problems like getting in and out of cities and in and out of hotels and in and out of stadiums without The Beatles having any security problems. Then in Memphis, with the big cherry bomb incident, when that was over and we got out of Memphis, there was a visible relief. Earlier that day coming from Boston on the plane, there was kind of a heavy mood. But after that Memphis concert, things lightened. Barry Tashian – From the support act The Remains – From Gary James’ Interview With Barry Tashian Of The Remains (classicbands.com)

There were only two American writers along for the entire tour, two British disc jockeys (one of them Kenny Everett, since a TV star) and Bess Coleman, a Scottish woman who edited Teen Life. Some writers and disc jockeys joined the tour in their respective cities. Everyone– everyone– had a chance at the Fab Four, but those of us with the red tour passes had more chances. We rode the same buses (yes, buses–the Beatles hated to fly, especially George, so we bused from Chicago to Detroit and from New York to Philadelphia) and airplanes, hung around backstage and stood smack up against every stage for every performance. After each concert, the press people dutifully climbed into a limo and acted as decoys, luring rabid fans to pound on our windows while the Beatles escaped via another route. Sometimes this was fun; occasionally it was terrifying. We didn’t get to eat with the Beatles (nor, alas, sleep with them), but we were with them a good 12 hours of every day. When we flew, it was usually in small chartered airplanes; every landing was applauded with relief. Paul, George and Ringo wandered about the planes like good hosts, chatting with everyone. John didn’t socialize much. Judith Sims – Editor of TeenSet magazine in 1966 – From  Los Angeles Times , 1986

THEY HAVE SINGLE AND LP HIT IN BRITAIN, BUT THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR IS… WILL BEATLES BE SAFE IN AMERICA? THE Beatles were leaving yesterday (Thursday) for their third American tour — and a hotbed of trouble. The question was: Will the Beatles be safe in America? Reports from NME correspondents on both sides of the United States indicate that people there are seething over the religious remarks made by John Lennon in an interview with the London “Evening Standard,” printed last March, which has since been syndicated throughout the world writes Chris Hutchins. From New York June Harris cables: “ Demonstrations and protests are expected all along the tour — enough for the organisers to be seriously concerned for the Beatles’ security. Even at this late stage there are rumours that they will cancel the tour but this could only have a disastrous effect on their career. ” Undoubtedly the Beatle concerts will be their usual tremendous success. Few genuine Beatle fans will have been swayed by John’s alleged opinions on religion. But his remarks have supplied fuel to people who have never liked the Beatles; those who are jealous of their success. Remember the trouble in Manila a few weeks ago? Few of those people who angrily jostled John, Paul, George and Ringo really cared about the lady they were supposed to have offended. The incident had provided an excuse for non-Beatle fans to “have a go.” In short, it has become almost fashionable to be a Beatle hater. So how much danger do they face in America? Certainly far more than they ever could at home. There has been no major British reaction to the issue. Nobody tried to ban their records when the article was published here some months ago. But Americans are demonstrative; their protests can be fanatical. Violence which is unheard of here is going on in some part of the U.S. every day. The Ku-Klux-Klan is already trying to organise fires burning Beatle records and hair from Beatle haircuts — the sort of ritual our own ancestors indulged in centuries ago. WE USED TO BURN HERETICS — LET’S HOPE THE KLANSMEN DON’T HAVE THE SAME FATE IN MIND FOR THE BEATLES! Ignore the action being taken by American radio stations of banning Beatle records — in most cases, it’s typical of the stunts staged by these publicity seekers. It won’t harm their record sales and the stations will be quick to “reinstate” the records when audience figures start to drop away. But don’t ignore the threats of demonstrations — these could be dangerous. In New York at the weekend Brian Epstein told the Press it was a storm in a tea cup. … but he left a sick bed in Wales, where he had been ordered by his doctor for complete rest, and flew 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to tell them that! WITHOUT DOUBT THIS WILL BE THE BEATLES’ MOST CONTROVERSIAL TOUR. THE NME HAS ARRANGED EOR A NETWORK OF ON-THE-SPOT REPORTERS TO COVER IT CITY BY CITY. YOU CAN FOLLOW THE TOUR BY THEIR REPORTS STARTING NEXT WEEK IN THE NME. From New Musical Express – August 12, 1966

BEATLES USA ’66 New York, Tuesday. — Time for the reckoning. Now that the Beatles’ American tour is over the half-way hurdle. I can give a firm answer to the $64,000-question: Are the Beatles still as popular with Stateside audiences? There has been a lot of talk in the Press that their popularity is on the wane… But the box-office provides the answer. Brian Epstein tells me that more people have come to see them this year than last. This means, of course, that the gross takings are far greater. So that’s cleared up the Big Question of ’66. And knocked the knockers for six! Cincinatti was rained out. But it didn’t dampen the spirit of the kids; they just stood there getting soaking wet for four hours. There was no canopy over the stage and the equipment was spoiled by condensation which made it dangerous for the Beatles to use, so the show was postponed until 12 noon the next day, when the kids turned up by the thousand to see the world’s greatest group. Another thing that had us a bit worried: the concert at Memphis. Tennessee. There was threatened trouble from the so-called “Bible-Belt.” But when we arrived we were greeted so warmly and with such genuine enthusiasm, we really wanted to stay forever. The police, the fans and the people in the street just went out to make us feel at home. Even at the religious meeting, held at (he same time as the Beatles’ concert, the people prayed for the forgiveness of our audience and all of us! As I am writing, we have just arrived in New York for Tuesday’s concert at the Shea Stadium. Everywhere we have been, hundreds of kids have been hanging around our hotel hoping for a glimpse of the Beatles. But the security arrangements have been very tight and not many of the fans have been lucky. “We come out here to do shows and if we show our faces outside our room, we would be torn apart, so it has to be this way.” George told me. “After all, the main thing we want to do is stay alive.” Sounds fair enough. Paul tells me the decision to release “Yellow Submarine” and “Eleanor Rigby” was Brian Epstein’s alone, although it is usually up to the boys. The reason is that it wasn’t really scheduled for release, but Brian thought the two best tracks should be made a single before anyone else could cover them. He seems to know what he’s up to, judging by the success of the record. Brian adds he expects the boys to bring back over $1,000,000 to Britain, which should help the financial scene quite a bit. The trouble is we can’t give them M.B.E.s all over again, perhaps a knighthood this time? Now for the other acts in the show. It’s quite a line-up: The Cyrkle, whose “Red Rubber Ball” reached No. 2 out here; Bobby Hebb, No. 1 at the moment with “Sunny,” and the Ronettes, who, of course, have had so many hits and are expecting to release a new one soon. Incidentally, Veronica of the Ronettes is getting married to Phil Spector in the near future. They’re all great to be with and it’s a really happy show. There is quite a thing here with those “granny” sunglasses — the ones with the small lenses and gold rims. Nearly all of us wear them. I think I’ve got the weirdest selection so far, with triangular ones, big squares, oblongs, ovals, etc. I always get John laughing when he sees me wearing any of them. But maybe it’s not just the glasses. On the plane from St. Louis to New York, John said he’d heard that Radio Caroline is now the No. 1 station in Britain. He thought it is right to be this way. We spent about half an hour discussing the difficulties confronting the marine radio stations, and between us have got the whole problem solved! While we were talking George was working on a wild flowery sort of doodle, believe me it was really wild. The fellows are looking forward to reaching Los Angeles where they will have a rest before returning home to Britain. If you want to see them arriving at London Airport you will have to get up early. Our plane is due in at 6.30 a m. on August 31. We all hope to see you there. Until then from John, Paul George and Ringo and me, goodbye now. From Disc And Music Echo – August 27, 1966

Beatles Go Home $1 Million Richer – But Popularity Waning LOS ANGELES (UPI) – The Beatles winged their way back to Britain yesterday with a bundle of about $1 million Yankee and Canadian dollars earned in 14 appearances that totaled only 7 hours of work. The moptop lads from Liverpool were sitting on top of the world last night — financially and literally — for their flight put them over the North Pole on their way to a sunrise landing today at London Airport. However, despite the pile of shekels the Beatles collected during their latest three-week visit to North America, there were signs that the popularity of Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison appeared to be waning slightly. Audiences in New York, San Francisco, Cincinnati and St. Louis proved disappointingly small. The lowly New York Mets baseball team has drawn more fans to Shea Stadium than the 40,000 who paid $292,000 to see and hear the Beatles. Only half of the expected 22.000 fans attended their concert in Cincinnati, although in fairness it should be noted that the performance was delayed a day by rain. Busch Stadium’s 50,000 seats were only half-filled by Missourians. And in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the seaside, wind-whipped home of the Giants baseball team, only slightly more than half the park’s 32.000 seats were filled for the Beatles’ final performance Monday night. For their finale, the Beatles earned about $90,000 or $3,000 per minute. Sunday’s appearance at Dodger Stadium attracted more than 40,000 fans. For singing 10 songs in 30 minutes, the famed quartet earned about $5,000 per minute. From The San Bernardino County Sun – August 31, 1966

U.S. NOTES – “WE LOVE PAUL’S TOOTH”… “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, JOHN AND CYN”… “THE BEATLES BEAT ALL”… “HAPPINESS IS GEORGE”… “RINGO IS THE SEXY BEATLE”… “HELP! WE NEED YOU BEATLES” … “PAUL IS ALL”. Above I show just a few of the hundred or more colourfully painted banners which dangled from railings and balconies at New York’s impressive Shea Stadium when The Beatles played to over 50,000 fans on Tuesday, August 23. Twenty-four hours earlier promoter Sid Bernstein had delivered his formal invitation for the group to appear again at Shea next summer. All through the August tour there was every indication that The Beatles are more popular than ever in America and Canada. Although concert ticket prices stayed as for the ’65 shows, this year’s tour grossed substantially more dollars – in other words many more Beatle People bought seats. In Los Angeles, for instance, two 1965 performances at Hollywood Bowl attracted a total audience of around 36,000. This time a crowd in excess of 44,000 Los Angeles fans saw The Beatles at Dodger Stadium. The opening of the tour was cloaked in uncertainty— it was impossible to predict in advance just how severely John’s statement about Christianity had been misunderstood. Nervously but deliberately John faced the world’s most influential news media at the opening conference at Chicago’s ultra-plushy Astor Tower Hotel. Gradually, as the tour progressed, more and more people appreciated the real point of John’s original words—his feeling of regret that Christianity should be so obviously in decline. As The Beatles moved from city to city we looked for signs of damage to The Beatles’ strength and found none. In Cleveland, at a kerbside stall outside the Municipal Stadium, I watched a man selling “I Love Paul”, “I Love Ringo” and “I Love George” buttons. But he hadn’t any “I Love John” badges. For a split second the thought flashed through my mind that John’s buttons had been banned. I asked the man. “Sold out,” he replied. “For every one of the others I’ve sold six John buttons. I’m all out of’em!” Neither “Eleanor Rigby” nor “Yellow Submarine” lend themselves to stage presentation in “live” concert. So both sides of their latest single were missing from The Beatles’ tour programme. Instead they included a number of much older items which have become strong request favourites in their repertoire. For the boys themselves, one of the tour’s highlights was an experimental Junior Press Conference in New York when 160 fans selected at random from the member lists of Beatles (U.S.A.) Ltd., the official fan club branch for America, fired questions at their fave foursome for nearly forty minutes. Indeed many of the questions were of greater interest than those posed by adult journalists at other conferences. Otherwise Beatle People were as resourceful and ingenious as ever in their attempts to meet up with John, Paul, George and Ringo. In Philadelphia three girls—Barbara, Connie and Christine—penetrated umpteen security barriers and reached The Beatles’ dressing-room armed with a very official-looking letter which had an imposingly printed heading that read “Brian Epstein, 24 Coventry Square, London, S.E.18, England”. The letter, apparently typed by Anne Collingham, certainly convinced the Philly concert promoter who scrawled across it “O.K. to admit (signed) George Hamid”. Of course the whole thing was a clever forgery—what the girls had overlooked was the fact that Brian Epstein and others who were fully aware of his actual London address would be in the dressing-room. However, the boys were so impressed by the girls’ efforts that they invited Barbara, Connie and Christine to come in for a chat. From The Beatles Monthly Book – October 1966

Last updated on September 21, 2023

19 concerts • 2 countries

USA • San Francisco • Candlestick Park

Aug 29, 1966 • There is 1 album covering this show

USA • Los Angeles • Dodger Stadium

Aug 28, 1966

USA • Seattle • Seattle Center Coliseum • 3pm show

USA • Seattle • Seattle Center Coliseum • 8pm show

Aug 25, 1966 • There is 1 album covering this show

USA • New York City • Shea Stadium

Aug 23, 1966

USA • St. Louis • Busch Stadium

Aug 21, 1966

USA • Cincinnati • Crosley Field

USA • Memphis • Mid-South Coliseum • 4pm show

Aug 19, 1966 • There is 1 album covering this show

USA • Memphis • Mid-South Coliseum • 8:30pm show

USA • Boston • Suffolk Downs Racetrack

Aug 18, 1966 • There is 1 album covering this show

Canada • Toronto • Maple Leaf Gardens • 4pm show

Aug 17, 1966 • There is 1 album covering this show

Canada • Toronto • Maple Leaf Gardens • 8pm show

USA • Philadelphia • John F. Kennedy Stadium

USA • Washington DC • D.C. Stadium

USA • Cleveland • Municipal Stadium

Aug 14, 1966 • There is 1 album covering this show

USA • Detroit • Olympia Stadium • 7pm show

Aug 13, 1966 • There is 1 album covering this show

USA • Detroit • Olympia Stadium • 2pm show

Aug 13, 1966

USA • Chicago • International Amphitheatre • 7:30pm show

USA • Chicago • International Amphitheatre • 3pm show

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"The idea of making promotional films for ‘Paperback Writer’ and ‘Rain’ was that we didn’t have to go out. We felt it was a great idea to send the film out there. I don’t think we even thought of calling them ‘videos’. There were just going to be on TV." Ringo

"Rubber Soul, as it was building up it was getting more experimental. The songs were getting better. More interesting... So that's where we were going." Ringo

Timeline article

"I really think the Queen believes in it all. She must. I do't believe in John Lennon, Beatle, being any different from anyone else, because I know he's not. I'm just a fella." John

"BEATLES' GREATEST U.S. SHOW TO BE FILMED "British fans may see the Beatles' most important concert ever - on television. The group will appear before nearly 60,000 fans at the Shea Stadium in New York on August 15 at the start of their second American tour." NME Friday, March 12, 1965

"It was good to make Help! and it's a nice film. It's funny. It's a very period film now. We just took it all very lightly, we'd had a laugh - and in the snow, all the snow scenes were cos the lads wanted a holiday, they were fed up working." - Paul

The Story Behind “For No One” by The Beatles and Paul McCartney’s Not-So-“Perfect Beatle Wife”

When Paul McCartney wrote “For No One” in the spring of 1966, he was 23 years old and undergoing many changes.

Unknown to him then, The Beatles were on the eve of creating their masterpiece Revolver , an album considered one of the greatest recordings of all time. However, romantic relationships are indifferent to songwriting genius, and McCartney’s ego at the time had met its match with his then-girlfriend, Jane Asher.

“For No One” is less than two minutes long, but the song marks a pivotal period in McCartney’s life and career. The following year, he’d meet his future wife.

“ Why Did It Die? “

McCartney wrote “For No One” at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps where he was vacationing with English actress and author Jane Asher. According to Barry Miles’ biography Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now (1998), McCartney said the song resulted from an argument with Asher.

And in her eyes, you see nothing

No sign of love behind the tears

Cried for no one

A love that should have lasted years

He hoped Asher would follow The Beatles’ busy schedule and tour with him. Many speculated McCartney wanted the “perfect Beatle wife.” However, Asher had a successful career of her own, and she wasn’t interested in following a Beatle around. Though their relationship lasted beyond 1966, the song’s working title, “Why Did It Die?” suggests things were already rocky between the two.

You want her, you need her

And yet you don’t believe her

When she says her love is dead

You think she needs you

In an appearance on BBC, Asher told TV host Simon Dee her engagement to McCartney had ended. She said, “I haven’t broken it off, but it is broken off, finished. I know it sounds corny, but we still see each other and love each other, but it hasn’t worked out. Perhaps we’ll be childhood sweethearts and meet again and get married when we’re about 70.”

Dating a Beatle Is Complicated

Asher skipped the world premiere of Yellow Submarine in 1968. Writing in The Beatles Anthology , McCartney said, “I always feel very wary including Jane in The Beatles’ history. She’s never gone into print about our relationship, whilst everyone on earth has sold their story. So I’d feel weird being the one to kiss and tell.”

He explained the difficulty of keeping relationships amidst the group’s success: “We had a good relationship. Even with touring there were enough occasions to keep a reasonable relationship going. To tell the truth, the women at that time got sidelined.

“Now it would be seen as very chauvinist of us. Then it was like: ‘We are four miners who go down the pit. You don’t need women down the pit, do you? We won’t have women down the pit.’ A lot of what we, The Beatles, did was very much in an enclosed scene. Other people found it difficult—even John’s wife, Cynthia, found it very difficult—to penetrate the screen that we had around us. As a kind of safety barrier we had a lot of ‘in’ jokes, little signs, references to music; we had a common bond in that and it was very difficult for any ‘outsider’ to penetrate. That possibly wasn’t good for relationships back then.”

No Sign of Love Behind the Tears

The couple met at the Royal Albert Hall in 1963, and their relationship lasted for five years. Meanwhile, there were other girls, and one day, Asher found McCartney with another woman at his home in London.

She left McCartney, and her mother arrived later to collect her things. McCartney said of the relationship, “I realized that she and I weren’t really going to be the thing we’d always thought we might be. Once or twice we talked about getting married, and plans were afoot but I don’t know, something really made me nervous about the whole thing.” 

For Someone

“For No One” has only two Beatles on the recording: Paul McCartney on vocals, bass, piano, and clavichord, with Ringo Star on drums and percussion.

By 1966, The Beatles were changing, and Revolver marked the beginning of the Fab Four’s experimental period. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band arrived the following year.

Meanwhile, McCartney met Linda Eastman, an American photographer, at a Georgie Fame concert in London in 1967. He invited Eastman out to another club that night, and they were married in 1969.

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Photo by George Stroud/Daily Express/Getty Images

The post The Story Behind “For No One” by The Beatles and Paul McCartney’s Not-So-“Perfect Beatle Wife” appeared first on American Songwriter .

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Breaking news, inside the dysfunctional last days of the beatles, as they called each other ‘nasty’.

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It was the fall of 1980, and the ex-members of the Beatles were engaged in a cold war — largely with John Lennon.

A decade after the legendary band’s toxic implosion, George Harrison described his notoriously temperamental band mate as a “piece of s–t.”

“He’s so negative about everything,” Harrison, typically known as the quiet one, said of Lennon. “He’s become so nasty.”

The usually diplomatic Paul McCartney aired out his own bitter grievances at Lennon — his beloved boyhood friend and longtime writing partner — and wife Yoko Ono.

“The way to get their friendship is to do everything the way they require it,” McCartney bristled about the couple. “To do anything else is how to not get their friendship. I know that if I absolutely lie down on the ground and just do everything like they say and laugh at all their jokes and don’t expect my jokes to ever get laughed at … if I’m willing to do all that, then we can be friends.”

Even affable Ringo Starr admitted that he was actually “pleased” when the Beatles officially announced their April 10, 1970, split, following weeks of hostile infighting in and out of the recording studio.

“It was time,” Starr said. “Things only last so long.” 

Those are just a few of the revelations found in the new book “ All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words” (St. Martin’s Press), an illuminating page turner from former band aide Peter Brown and best-selling author Steven Gaines.

The extensive oral history is made up of candid interviews with Gaines, captured in 1980-1981; a scheduled sit-down with Lennon never happened before his Dec. 8, 1980, assassination . Besides the surviving Beatles, the author spoke with the band’s wives, lovers, friends, business associates and hangers-on.

“All You Need Is Love” is a sequel to the 1983 biography “ The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles ,” which gave an unprecedented look behind the curtain of their meteoric rise, groundbreaking run and toxic breakup — including drug use (amphetamines, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, heroin) and dalliances with prostitutes and groupies.

This time around, the subjects paint a troubled portrait of how fame itself came to ruin the biggest band in the world.

Starr offers a harrowing account of the Beatles’ 1966 tour in Manila where the band was “spat on” and nearly held hostage after turning down an invite by Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos.

“So we get to the plane, and there’s an announcement that our press man, Tony Barrow, and [road manager] Mal Evans had to get off the plane,” said Starr, adding a more disturbing layer to the often-told story. “We thought, now they’re taking us off two by two to shoot us.”

By the time the Beatles were done with the US leg of their ’66 tour they were cracking up.

“We kept realizing we were getting bigger and bigger until we all realized we couldn’t go anywhere – you couldn’t pick up a paper or turn on a radio or TV without seeing yourself,” said Harrison. “It became too much.”

The celebrated partnership of Lennon and McCartney is also examined, chronicling how the two close lads from Liverpool went from collaboratively penning such classics as “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “Eleanor Rigby” and “A Day In the Life” to waging an ugly battle over control of the group’s Apple company.

“I suddenly had more Northern Songs shares than anybody,” admitted McCartney, referencing the duo’s song publishing company, “and it was like oops, sorry. John was like, ‘You bastard, you’ve been buying behind my back.’”

Former Apple Records president Ron Kass insisted that the bad blood that eventually drowned the band could have been avoided if he “would have presented [Lennon] with a bag of money every once in a while.

“Money invested was too abstract for him,” Kass said of Lennon.

Things came to a head when Lennon installed Allen Klein as the Beatles new manager in early ’69. McCartney wanted nothing to do with the infamous figure he called a “devil,” who he later accused of stealing millions from the band, saying of his bandmates: “the three of them wanted to do stuff, and I was always the fly in the ointment.”

But the majority ruled in the Beatles — and McCartney was incensed when Starr voted to hire Klein. “Then I said, ‘Well, this is like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back.'”

He accused Klein of winning over Lennon by cozying up to his controversial wife, Yoko Ono.

“Klein saw the Yoko connection and told Yoko that he would do a lot for her,” McCartney recalled. “And that was basically what John and Yoko wanted: recognition for Yoko.

Bad feelings intensified after the bassist was pushed to delay his solo album “McCartney” to make room for the band’s final release, “Let It Be.”

When Starr made a visit to his home in an effort to make peace on behalf of the group, McCartney kicked out the drummer.

“I remember he was the only person I’ve ever told to get out of my house,” said a regretful McCartney. “That was the worst moment with Ringo, and I felt sorry for him because it really brought him down, you know.”

A year later, on Dec. 31, 1970, McCartney sued his bandmates for dissolution of their partnership.

The Beatles’ entangled personal lives were just as dysfunctional.

Over the years, much has been made of how Eric Clapton wooed and eventually stole George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, even writing the song “Layla” about his (then) unrequited love for her.

But Harrison was just as guilty of falling for a friend’s spouse.

Starr’s first wife, Maureen Starkey, recalled Harrison’s scandalous pursuit of her in the ‘70s.

She and Starr had just hosted Harrison and Boyd for dinner at their home. “I was cleaning the table,” Starkey said. “[Harrison] picked up a guitar and started to sing a song … and then he just turned to [Starr] and said, ‘I’m in love with your wife.’ I was totally stunned.”

Asked if Harrison was out of his mind with such a pronouncement, she replied: “Jesus Christ, yeah.”

As for the proverbial elephant in the room, Ono, she doesn’t hide from her critics or long-standing accusations that she was the root cause of the band’s break-up.

“Everything we did in those days, anything that was wrong, was my responsibility,” Ono said, with Harrison even blaming her for putting Lennon on to heroin.

Not that she didn’t provoke it.

Ono joked about the time she attended a Beatles meeting with a roomful of Jewish businessmen — and she dressed in Arab garb.

“They hated me anyway,” Ono mused. “But yeah, that made it worse. Funny.”

In the end, it was hard to blame the band’s break-up on any one thing. Ono cites Lennon’s use of heroin; Gaines notes that Lennon “weaponized” his wife, making her his bad cop. It’s obvious in the book that, as Gaines writes, “John and Paul had already had enough of each other.”

Siad McCartney: “I think it was just that we were growing apart.”

Still, he details a telephone call he had with Lennon on Christmas day of 1979 as “pleasant.”

“I’ve read cracks about, ‘Oh the Beatles sang, “All you need is love” but it didn’t work out for them,’” Lennon said in a 1972 quote used as an epigraph for the book. “But nothing will ever break the love we have for each other.”

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Looking Back: The Beatles 'invaded' Oregon in 1965. Here is how it looked

The headline read “Portland Overcome by Noise, Hair as the Beatles Invade.”

Reporter Ron Abell and photographer Wayne Eastburn covered the excitement in Portland for The Register-Guard on Aug. 22, 1965.

The Beatles played two shows at Memorial Coliseum to less-than-full houses for each performance, according to the article. 

But, “Beatlemania conquered everything Sunday,” Abell wrote.

“Screams, unmeasurable in decibels and unheard in the Northwest at least since the Whitman massacre, filled the Coliseum,” he wrote.

The Fab Four hosted a press conference with media and a handful of young fans who managed to get into the room while enduring questions from the media like, “Are you Communists?” 

Answer? “You’re joking. We’re capitalists, boy. We want to keep it coming in.”

Contact photographer Chris Pietsch at [email protected] , or follow him on Twitter @ChrisPietsch and Instagram @chrispietsch

Beach Boys' Mike Love on giving the Beatles songwriting tips and life with Brian Wilson

Mike Love was obviously pleased to see the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” holding strong at No. 2 in the latest update of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in Rolling Stone , with only Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” above it on the 2023 edition of the list.

“When I first saw that, I said, ‘Well, I demand a recount,” he says with a laugh. “Being the bratty sort of guy that I am, you know? But anyway, no, that’s pretty good company, don’t you think?”

Love is speaking by phone from the Caribbean, about to catch a flight to Phoenix to visit his son, Brian, who lives in Scottsdale, before a string of tour dates with his latest version of the Beach Boys that includes performances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California, and Talking Stick Resort in metro Phoenix (on Friday, April 26).

Here’s what he had to say.

Mike Love on the Beach Boys at Stagecoach Festival: 'We do what we do'

It's interesting to see the Beach Boys at a country music festival. Have you done Stagecoach before?

No, although we did appear with our friends LoCash on that stage a couple years ago . They did a song called 'Beach Boys.' It's, like, some country guys going to the beach. And they asked us to sing with them, so we did.

So you're just doing your normal Beach Boys set at Stagecoach?

Well, yeah, we do what we do, you know? We'll do all our hit songs that we're known for, everything from “Surfin' Safari” and Surfin’ U.S.A.” to “I Get Around” and “Fun, Fun, Fun” to “California Girls” and “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Good Vibrations” and “Kokomo.” And John Stamos is gonna be with us. He loves to come out and play drums with us.

Beach Boys flashback: How the Beach Boys took 'small town' Phoenix by storm in 1964: 'It was a big thing'

Paul McCartney's Beach Boys moment on 'Back in the U.S.S.R'

It’s great to see “Pet Sounds” hanging strong at No. 2 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

It's amazing. Bruce Johnston, who joined our group in 1965 to take Brian Wilson's place after Glen Campbell filled in for six months or so, actually took the album as an acetate, before it was printed up. Keith Moon of the Who introduced Bruce to John Lennon and Paul McCartney. So he played the album for them a couple of times in his suite.

We have a connection that goes back many years with the Beatles. And, of course, I spent a couple of months in Rishikesh at the Maharishi's place. I didn't know before I got there but when I did get there the Beatles were all there. That was a fascinating time. Meditation and music. In fact, I was the first person to hear “Back in the U.S.S.R.” from Paul McCartney's acoustic guitar at the breakfast table one morning.

What did you think of them doing their Beach Boys thing on “Back in the U.S.S.R.”?

I thought it was amazing. I was staying in the same sort of area. It was like a motel kind of thing. Paul was down at the other end. And Prudence Farrow was in a similar area. You know, John Lennon came up with that song “Dear Prudence.” But yeah, when Paul came down, he said, “Listen to this, Mike. Flew in from Miami Beach, BOAC” and all that.

I said, “Well, Paul, what you've got to do is talk about all the girls around Russia in the middle part,” which he did. So it turns out Sir Paul is pretty capable of crafting a tune.

There was a lot of music that came out of that course. They actually did a song called “The Spiritual Rejuvenation Foundation” and played it for me on my birthday. It was styled after “Fun, Fun, Fun.” I had my birthday on the 15th of March and George Harrison had his on the 25th of February. So we're both Pisces, as it turns out, and we're both very much into our meditation.

Do you find that meditation help with creativity?

Yeah, just life in general. And I'm in a creative field. So it's absolutely helped me a lot. On a practical level, Transcendental Meditation, which is taught by Maharishi, your metabolism slows down to a level of rest twice as deep as sleep. So you get this profoundly restful relaxation, which is great for everything, your emotions and your physical well-being. I've been doing it since December of '67 when I first learned meditation from Maharishi.

Mike Love on the Beach Boys throwing a curve with 'Pet Sounds'

Getting back to "Pet Sounds," does it feel as through that album has been getting more and more appreciated as it ages?

You know, Capitol Records really didn't know when we first made it what to do with it . So it never got the push that it probably deserved, because we really put a lot into that album. But it was regarded very highly by all the people in the music business. Paul McCartney once said that “God Only Knows” was his favorite song. I mean, that's a pretty fantastic statement coming from a guy who's written some of the most famous and best songs ever.

But Capitol Records really didn't know what to do with it because it was such a departure. When we played the record for the A&R guy, the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet, he wanted something more like “California Girls,” “I Get Around” and “Fun, Fun, Fun” because they'd had so much success with that type of thing.

But here's an album with symphonic orchestrations and stuff, dealing more with emotional themes than, you know, the beach or girls or cars, which there's nothing wrong with that stuff. I love it. But they just didn't know how to handle it. Then “Good Vibrations” came along a few months after that and went to No 1. and we were voted the No. 1 group in Great Britain, No. 2 being the Beatles, on the strength of “Good Vibrations.”

“Barbara Ann” came out in the first part of the year, then “Pet Sounds” and “Good Vibrations.” That was quite a year for us, 1966.

That was quite a year for you. Could you address the stories we've all heard that you were not a fan of what Brian had come up with for “Pet Sounds” when you first heard it?

That's really not true. I don't know. There's always been detractors. But no, I worked on every song on that album and even wrote some of the words. So that's absolutely inaccurate. In fact, I named the album “Pet Sounds.” Brian didn't know what to call it. I said, “Well, how about 'Pet Sounds?'” And that led to our going to the San Diego Zoo, the petting zoo, and taking the album cover photo, which is pretty trippy.

Anyway, so yeah, I came up with the title of the album. And I'm the one that presented it to Capitol Records along with Brian. He and I were the ones that took that album and played it for them.

And Capitol was like, “Well, we don’t hear a single?”

Well, they were used to getting these two-, three-minute singles that were so successful. And it was kind of a departure. But hey, that was how many years ago now? It’s all worked out. We do “God Only Knows,” “Sloop John B” and “Wouldn't It Be Nice” at virtually every concert we do. So it's well represented in our shows along with the other singles we've managed to have been blessed enough to have.

I mean, we're one of the top groups ever in terms of number of Top 40 singles.

Mike Love on thought of another reunion with Brian Wilson

You guys reunited with Brian and Al Jardine for a 50th anniversary tour and album. Do you think we'll ever see all the guys come together like that again?

I think maybe it would be interesting if we could get in the studio, but Brian's not doing very well lately. I hope the best for him. And I think it'd be great if we could, but we'll have to see if it actually can happen. Brian hasn't been touring for the last year or so. And I'm not anticipating him going out anymore. In fact, they're putting him in a conservatorship or something. (Multiple news outlets have reported that Wilson's family has asked a court in Los Angeles to set up a conservatorship for Wilson.)

But there is a documentary coming out on the Beach Boys and we ended up getting together at Paradise Cove, the beach where we took our first album cover shots. So it was really nice. Brian and I were reminiscing together, along with the other guys, about stuff that happened when we used to go to high school games together. He remembers things that I'd forgotten. So that was pretty neat, to get together and reminisce with my cousin.

It sounds like you guys are in a better place these days?

Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Especially with Brian. We go back to childhood together. The first time I remember hearing him sing, I was on my grandmother Wilson's lap singing “Danny Boy.” And we grew up singing all the Everly Brothers songs, Chuck Berry songs and all the doo-wop songs of the day. So we have a lifetime of experiences and love and respect for each other's abilities.

That's sweet. You said you could see getting together in the studio. What did you think of the way “That's Why God Made the Radio” turned out?

Well, I don't know what to say about that in a positive way, because I was told that I was gonna be able to get together with Brian and write. But that was disallowed at the time by I'm not sure who. But anyway, that didn't happen. That was kind of an inducement to me for all of us to get together, actually, but it didn't turn out the way I would've liked it, so.... That's too bad, though. Missed opportunity, I think.

Mike Love on the latest round of Beach Boys reissues

There's been some interesting reissue projects lately. Box sets combining “Sunflower” and “Surf's Up” and then “Carl and the Passions” and “Holland.” What did you think of those projects?

Great. I mean, “Holland” was a fantastic experience. I lived in Holland for six months. We wanted to get away from L.A. to record it and live in a completely different country. It was pretty fascinating. I thought it was great. In the meantime, we're in Holland doing “California Saga,” a trilogy about Big Sur and stuff. “Holland” was great.

Every album has something special about it. A couple of those albums are where individuals came out with their creativity, whether it be Carl or Brian, Alan or Dennis, Bruce Johnston. Everybody got a chance to be a little bit creative, whereas up through “Pet Sounds” and “Good Vibrations,” primarily Brian was the writer and producer.

I mean, I co-wrote with him tons of words and hooks on all the hit singles, although it wasn't originally credited, because my uncle (Murry Wilson, who managed the Beach Boys until they fired him and controlled their publishing until 1969), frankly, cheated me on that part of things, which, you know.... But that was rectified . Anyway, all the albums had their own personality.

I've been listening to “Friends” a lot lately. Such an underrated album.

That's precisely what I mean. There are many great tunes on some of those lesser-known albums. Every group has its heyday. But we've been blessed enough to hang on to millions of fans who still love to hear our song. So we're very fortunate to be able to do a lifetime of music and still have some of our albums regarded very highly.

Do you have a personal favorite Beach Boys album?

You know what? I don't know. It's like, “Do you have a personal favorite kid?”

The Beach Boys

When: 8 p.m. Friday, April 26.

Where: Talking Stick Resort, Loop 101 and Pima Road, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

Admission: $35 and up. 

Details: 480-850-7734,  talkingstickresort.com .

Reach the reporter at  [email protected] . Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter,  @EdMasley .

Support local journalism.   Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

The Beatles live: Busch Stadium, St Louis

After performing their postponed concert in Cincinnati at midday, The Beatles flew 341 miles to St Louis, Missouri, where they performed one show at 8.30pm.

The concert took place at the Busch Stadium, and was seen by 23,000 people. The support acts were The Del-Rays, The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes.

The show took place in heavy rain, with a makeshift shelter over the stage to protect the musicians, although water still dripped onto the amplifiers. It was this incident which finally convinced Paul McCartney that The Beatles should cease touring.

It rained quite heavily, and they put bits of corrugated iron over the stage, so it felt like the worst little gig we’d ever played at even before we’d started as a band. We were having to worry about the rain getting in the amps and this took us right back to the Cavern days – it was worse than those early days. And I don’t even think the house was full. After the gig I remember us getting in a big, empty steel-lined wagon, like a removal van. There was no furniture in there – nothing. We were sliding around trying to hold on to something, and at that moment everyone said, ‘Oh, this bloody touring lark – I’ve had it up to here, man.’ I finally agreed. I’d been trying to say, ‘Ah, touring’s good and it keeps us sharp. We need touring, and musicians need to play. Keep music live.’ I had held on that attitude when there were doubts, but finally I agreed with them. George and John were the ones most against touring; they got particularly fed up. So we agreed to say nothing, but never to tour again. We thought we’d get into recording, and say nothing until some journalist asked, ‘Are you going out on tour?’ – ‘Not yet.’ We wouldn’t make The Big Announcement that we’d finished touring forever, but it would gradually dawn on people: ‘They don’t appear to be going on tour, do they? How long was that? Ten years? Maybe they’ve given it up.’ That was the main point: we’d always tried to keep some fun in it for ourselves. In anything you do you have to do that, and we’d been pretty good at it. But now even America was beginning to pall because of the conditions of touring and because we’d done it so many times.

Due to the torrential rain the running order for the show was changed. The Beatles appeared after The Del-Rays, The Remains, and Bobby Hebb, and the show closed with The Cyrkle and The Ronettes.

The Beatles’ standard set during their final tour consisted of 11 songs: ‘Rock And Roll Music’ , ‘She’s A Woman’ , ‘If I Needed Someone’ , ‘Day Tripper’ , ‘Baby’s In Black’ , ‘I Feel Fine’ , ‘Yesterday’ , ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ , ‘Nowhere Man’ , ‘Paperback Writer’ , and ‘I’m Down’ . During the tour they occasionally substituted the final song with ‘Long Tall Sally’ .

Following the St Louis concert The Beatles flew to New York, where they arrived at 3.50am the following morning.

Paul McCartney performed solo shows at Busch Stadium on 29 April 1993 and 13 August 2016 .

Also on this day...

• 2003: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Horseshoe Casino Tunica, Robinsonville
• 2001: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Fox Theatre, St Louis
• 2000: Album release: Liverpool Sound Collage by Paul McCartney
• 1998: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
• 1992: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Freedom Hall, Louisville
• 1972: Wings live: Congresgebouw, The Hague
• 1969: Mixing, editing: The End, You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard
• 1968: Recording, mixing: Sexy Sadie
• 1968: George and Pattie Harrison return to England from Greece
• 1966: The Beatles live: Crosley Field, Cincinnati
• 1965: The Beatles live: Metropolitan Stadium, Minneapolis
• 1964: The Beatles live: Coliseum, Seattle
• 1963: The Beatles live: Gaumont Cinema, Bournemouth
• 1963: Editing, mixing: With The Beatles
• 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
• 1960: The Beatles live: Indra Club, Hamburg

Want more? Visit the Beatles history section .

Latest Comments

I attended the aug.21,1966 concert and remembered seeing five limos drive into the stadium as the beatles were finishing their show, I then walked around the stadium to the other side where I witnessed the beatles run out a door by the ticket stand a jump into a waiting lincoln continental. I jumped out in front of them trying to get a picture. the car almost hit me and swerved around meand as it did, I plainly saw Paul McCartney riding in the front passenger seat and he waived at me. I hope this is true as I read differing accounts of their escape

I was there. I remember it raining but I don’t remember it being a LOT of rain, but enough that some of the opening acts got bumped and all of a sudden The Beatles came out. Lots of flashbulbs. If you went in the Mens room all you could hear was the vocals …as the stadium sound system included speakers in the bathrooms! So you could hear them singing LOUDLY in the bathroom. But we wanted to SEE them so we went back to our seats. Quite a night!

I was there! It is my memory they did the song “Rain”

I was there that night with my brother, and radio friend Marty Markowitz. Marty and I had worked so hard using every angle in the book to get in. I remember there was a black promoter with whom we’d spoken the week before. Marty had a ligitimate radio station, albeit 100 watts. Marty knew all the record and radio people in town,and getting in seemed like a shoe-in. But come Sunday night, no go. I got my brother, along with Marty on the elevator and made it down, to the field level and got off… There was the promoter, and when we asked if we could go in, he shook his head “no”…Everyone from KXOK went in. We three stood there, terribly disappointed… Oh, yea, the other person there that night was a young girl by the name of Susan Busch. 9 years later on November 29th I would marry her. Tomorrow night, we are going to the Paul McCartney concert, and all three of us will be together again.

I was there too! My dad surprised my sister and I with tickets. I remember a lot of rain!

My dad took me and my siblings, along with a friend, to this show. We were among the unlucky few sitting in the upper deck. There were so few people at the show up there, that we were able to move to center section seats. Although I was 11 at the time, we knew all of their material and I was taken by how many older hits they played, give what they were doing in the studio then. I don’t remember it raining all that hard. The sound was horrible, though.

I saw the Beatles at Busch Stadium. I was sixteen when my My mom, a cousin and three freinds made the trip from Madisonville, Kentucky. We had a sign in the back of the car that read: “BEATLES OR BUST” as we drove, and people in passing cars would honk and wave. It was on that trip that we first heard Ringo sing ‘YELLOW SUBMARINE’. from a St. Louis radio station. Ringo was my favorite. There was a misting rain and we couldn’t hear them very well, but we were glad to be there to see a live concert…we knew they were making music history! Now 50 years later I still listen to Beatle music… She love you …Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

I am writing a book about the Beatles in St. Louis and I would LOVE to include any of your memories. Thank you Beatles Bible for all of the information you provide!

I was there 50 years ago and yes it rained for awhile then stopped. I remember hearing The Beatles singing and saying it didn’t sound like them, my brother said it was because they were live and I was use to hearing them on records. I still have my ticket and my brothers. I remember seeing a bunch of ticket stubs on the ground, I should have picked them up but didn’t. I remember Paul singing Yesterday and you could of heard a pin drop at that point. I screamed so much I was hoarse for a week. What a great time to be had by all and great memories. I have been to all Ringo and Paul’s concert here in St. Louis since. When Paul came Oct 9, 2002 I got a front row seat and he autographed a collage picture I drew I couldn’t believe it when he did that felt like I was in slow motion dream. Can’t wait for August 13th will be seeing him again!!!!

Don’t forget to mention that the Del Ray’s which later became the Guild played prior to the Beatles

I was so excited the night before And the night after I couldn’t sleep! I was 14 and my mom and 13 year old cousin and I rode downtown on the bus from Northland Shopping Center in St.Louis County. I remember the sleeveless hip hugger shift I wore.. I remember the drenching downpour and the crackle of the speakers as we sat perched in the nosebleed seats.. on the edge; electrified with adrenaline and screaming til we were hoarse! I wrote down the playlist in my diary which I had religiously saved until my dog ate the diary…51 years, 4 children and 4 grandchildren later… now 72 and Still playing the Beatles… the St.Louis concert remains a defining Memory of my life!

I was there as well. I was 14 years old and my 24 year old sister in law took me….she was 6 months pregnant!!!!! No one was hurt, and it has been the memory of a lifetim!!

I was there! It rained like crazy, and was hard to hear them clearly, but it was an experience I’ll never forget.

I was there with my best friend Joan. I was 15. I can remember all the screaming and feeling so incredibly happy just to be in their presence and part of the screaming crowd. After the concert, my friend and I actually got down onto the field and I grabbed a handful of grass, which I later kept in a piece of plastic in my Beatles scrapbook. My friend and I were certain this handful of grass had been walked on by our Beatles!! Still to this very day I am a huge Beatles fan – have had the privilege of seeing Paul in concert many times in the past years. Looking forward to seeing him again in St. Louis on August 13 this year !! I am originally from St. Louis, but now happily reside in Liverpool, England !

I had lived and breathed Beatles for over 2 years and my Dad wouldn’t let me go due to Lennon’s comments. Then I won tickets from KXOK contest (won at least 10 of the 100) and we all took a bus to the stadium! We had good seats and even touched Paul’s guitar that a rodie was carrying. Can’t say I heard them because I was screaming and crying so much. Don’t remember rain, except that they played earlier due to weather. We left right after they played to try and see them drive away. We could hear The Cyrcle playing Red Rubber Ball and didn’t care. We saw the decoy limos only. The Beatles set my life from the first song on Sullivan. I got in an all-girl band (Sweet Young Things) and now 50 years later am playing in a classic rock band in WI, called Radio Flyer. I retired on Feb. 7, 2014 with a huge Beatles 50th party. Will party again this Aug. 21 to celebrate the St. Louis anniversary. Still have the ticket and huge trunk of original Beatle memorabilia.

I was there. I heard the contest on KXOK where you had to identify 10 Beatles songs played in about 10 seconds. I sent in answers for me and nine of my friends and won 10 of the 100 tickets that they gave away. Couldn’t hear much with all the screaming girls. I still have the ticket.

I was there too. I was almost seven but a huge fan. I remember the rain and all the rligious nuts that were passing out pamphlets denouncing the Beatles. They only played about 20 minutes but I will treasure that night forever.

I was 15 and hitchhiked from Louisville Ky with my friend Ray Steilberg to St. Louis . I remember being handed a pamphlet that said “ we are more popular than Jesus “ from an adult protester. Tom Raymer

I’ll never forget that night! I was 12 years and my step sister and I went. She had gotten tickets through her job with 7-Up, who was a sponsor for the concert in STL. I was crazy about the Beatles, and my mom got every 45 for me at Walgreens where she worked at the time. My mom was a great seamstress and made a dress for me to wear. It was a very emotional night with the rain mixed in with tears of happiness. The concert seemed to be over before it began with only 11 songs played. It was my first concert and my first time at Busch Stadium, August 21, 1966.

BEATLES/PERSONAL REFLECTION

Beatles7th grade Tulsa Ok…new girlfriend at beginning of Jr high Sept 1964. My friend won tkts to the Dallas, Tx BEATLES concert after last minute switching with her older sister. The BEATLEMANIA Began for us both. Then my younger sister & I had a friend of my moms buy us tkts for BUSCH STADIUM STL 1966 CONCERT. American Airlines went on strike the wk we were to fly & stay with her friend. My dad & Mthr were kind enough to drive us 5 hrs to STL. THE BEST GIFT FROM MY PARENTS THAT I EVER RECD!! And the love affair has continued now thru my 3 grndkids. The BEATLES & Paul have been the SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE ???????

Color photos of this gig, the only color shots from the entire tour, have surfaced: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7256365/Only-known-color-photos-Beatles-1966-tour-hammer-time.html

Some friends of mine said that they were offered the opportunity to PLAY in front if The Beatles but they declined because they wanted to WATCH them! Another friend of mine said that he had worked at Busch Stadium and ran across them underneath and got Paul’s autograph and ended up selling it to some girl for a lousy $10!!! I am not sure if either of these occasions concerning my friends happened this night. A neighbor years later worked at the Rodeway Inn hotel by Union Station around 1972 and John and Yoko strolled in walked up to the desk and put his finger to his lips to say, “Please don’t tell anyone” and slipped a $20 bill which in 1972 was a whole days pay back then! One last item- the previous friend mentioned above that had a chance to play in front of The Beatles in the mid-80’s had a small marketing firm in St. Louis and I was working with him. A guy who had just opened a small art gallery downstairs had found out that a crate full of Linda McCartney photos was laying over in St.Louis and somehow had the chance to get those photos and show them – all good but he didn’t have a car so we used my little 82 Ford Escort that was a five-speed and we went up thee and got them although he had to straddle the stick shift to do it since the crate took up all of the space in back! We got a nice thank you card from Linda! That’s all i’ve got

I was at Busch also, with my sister, friend, and my Dad, who was Sales Manager at KMOX-TV at that time. He had some sort of press pass or tickets, my vivid memory is of being just a few feet from the band, as they were waiting to be announced to run out onto the wet field to the stage. Sadly, there was a fence between us, and even sadder I have no photos! I do have #400 of a KXOK Beatles book which documents the tour nicely. As another stated; they’ve been the soundtrack to my life. I cannot put into words the importance they brought to my life, especially as we acknowledge the anniversary of John’s assassination.

I have 6 Unused tickets and photos of all Beatles from 1966 in St. Louis Mo. to sell.

I was there but I do NOT recall any rain. It certainly wasn’t a deluge by any means as described in this story. Fun times! I received 2 tix for my HS graduation from my aunt / Godmother. She had the presidential suite booked at the BelAir Hotel in ST. Louis. It was so CRAZY! My BFF and I could barely contain ourselves. We met kids from Chicago and invited them up to our room. No shenanigans, just pure adrenaline and excitement!

I was there with my older brother Edward Ellis, my name is Kenny Ellis, I was 13 years old and a student at Niper in Kirkwood, I remember everything about the concert like it was yesterday. I’m still a Beatles fan and always will be. I do remember losing my binoculars and camera in all the madness, but so glad to be a part of music history. I want to thank my parents in heaven for buying us tickets and taking us there and picking us up, I love you forever, see you in heaven.

Seems that a lot of the info in this story is incorrect. My husband (who has read probably everything ever printed about the Beatles) said that the “empty steel-lined wagon” exit happened in San Francisco. That is corroborated by the earlier comment on this thread that says he remembers seeing the band get into limos after the concert.

The remains did not play St. Louis. A local band, the Delrays, were an opening act. Also, Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes was not on this tour. Phil Spector was jealous of John Lennon and refused to let her go on the tour. Her cousin, filled in for her.

I was at that concert that night. I am from St. Paul Mn. and had won a trip through our local radio station, WDGY. I was 14 years old then. I had seen them the year before on then same date in Minneapolis at Met Stadium. This was a trip of a lifetime and we flew there and went straight to Busch Stadium and after the show went straight back to Minnesota, quick trip. Wonderful memory!!!

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