Sunday 26th April 1964
These concerts tended to reflect the current climate of the British Pop Music industry and apart from Cliff Richard and the Shadows it was a completely different line up to the show that I had seen in 1961. Although the Beatles were by now the biggest thing since sliced bread, strictly there was no top of the bill, as all of the artists were listed in alphabetical order, and the line up was amazing:-.
Beatles, Joe Brown, Dave Clark Five, Freddie and the Dreamers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Jet Harris, Hollies, Frank Ifield, Big Dee Irwin, Kathy Kirby, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Joe Loss Orchestra, Manfred Mann, Merseybeats, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Cliff Richard, Rolling Stones, Searchers, the Shadows, Swinging Blue Jeans.
The concert was recorded by ABC Television and shown in two parts and the sound quality and balance in general was awful. There was only about a minute between each act to reset the stage and set up microphones so I wasn't really surprised. The stage was built specially for the show out of planks which wobbled and made the vocal microphones sway. One of the mikes was loose in the stand and about every thirty seconds gradually swivelled until it was at a 90 degree angle to the performer who then had to push it back to face him. At no time in the whole show did one of the white coated stage hands think to just tighten the mike holder.
The Beatles suffered badly with the TV sound. John had a bit of a mental block and sang a wrong verse in “She Loves You”, Paul and George obviously couldn't hear him, and hadn't noticed, as they sang the correct verse over the top so it was a bit of a shambles. Ringo's drums could barely be heard.
I think George Harrison may have forgotten what he played because I heard an interview with Guitarist Gary Moore, who had asked George to show him the chord. It didn't sound quite right and Gary Moore said to him “are you sure” and apparently George gave him a look and said “I was there”.
My own way of playing it is G.D.C.F.C.G. on a twelve string guitar. Is it right? Answers on a postcard.
Between 1963 and 1966 I managed to see the Beatles live on stage ten times (the restraining order has now been lifted) and I can honestly say I never had much problem getting tickets. These days it can be difficult getting tickets for major acts either on the phone or on the internet, but in the sixties all I had to do was find out from the venue when tickets were to go on sale, I would then send a cheque or postal order and a stamped addressed envelope. Only once did I have my cheque returned because they had sold out.
Once again we had to sit through six acts before the Beatles came on. One of the acts was Mary Wells an American singer that the Beatles admired and she was good. The Liverpool band the Remo Four were also good, but the rest of the bill I found a bit hard going.
Finally they were on stage and it was the best I'd seen them and despite the screaming girls I could hear them well. They opened with a shortened version of “Twist and Shout”, followed by:- “Money”, “Can't Buy Me Love”, ”Things We Said Today”, “I'm Happy Just To Dance With You“, “I Should Have Known Better”, “If I Fell”, “I Wanna Be Your Man”, “A Hard Day's Night” and finished with “Long Tall Sally”.
Nigel and I travelled up to London by train, and made our way to Hammersmith. When we reached the theatre we were greeted by an amazing sight. There were crowds of girls outside screaming at anything that moved inside the building. If a person
On the show with the Beatles were Freddie and the Dreamers, Sounds Incorporated, Elkie Brooks, The Yardbirds, Michael Haslem, The Mike Cotton Sound, and Ray Fell. The show was compered by DJ Jimmy Saville. The Beatles appeared in a couple of sketches, but in my diary I wrote that the show, in general, was a bit boring until it was time for the main attraction.
The sound was good with the Beatles performing a great set, even better than at Luton, last November, and they were now including tracks from their latest album “Beatles For Sale” which had been released a month earlier. They opened with a shortened version of “Twist and Shout” followed by, “I'm a Loser”, “Baby's in Black”, “Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby”, “Can't Buy Me Love”, “Honey Don't”, “I Feel Fine”, “She's a Woman”, A Hard Day's Night”, “Rock n' Roll Music”, and finally “Long Tall Sally”.
One thing I found rather annoying was that during the Beatles set; Jimmy Saville found it necessary to watch the show from the side of the stage, not behind the curtains but in full view of the audience. This really pissed me off and I guess he was just trying to show off to everyone that he was close to the Beatles; they were now so big that it gave great kudos if one was seen to be their friend.
Eric Clapton was still playing guitar with the Yardbirds and it was probably at this show that he and George Harrison met for the first time, in a friendship that would last until George died in 2001.
GUITAR FACT.
I noticed that John Lennon was playing a Rickenbacker “Fireglow” 1996 guitar tonight instead of his custom built “Jetglow” 325 model. This was apparently because he had damaged his 325 by dropping it. The 1996 was one of the first series of Rickenbacker Guitars imported into this country by Rose Morri
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Today Ringo Starr married Maureen Cox.
The buying price was 7/3d (36p) and I had sent a cheque for £72 for the minimum amount of 200 shares, and today I found out that I had been successful and my share certificate arrived. I now owned a little piece of the Beatles.
This in a way was the start of a long and bitter struggle over any Beatle's composition assigned to Northern Songs. In a few years time amid much acrimony, Dick James would sell Northern Songs, against the Beatles wishes, to Lew Grade and his ATV Music company and it would eventually be owned by Michael Jackson and Sony. This would effectively mean that Michael Jackson would earn more from each Lennon / McCartney song than either Paul McCartney or John Lennon's estate.
The complete line up for the show was:- the Animals, the Beatles, Cilla Black, Donovan, Dusty Springfield, Freddie and the Dreamers, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Hermans Hermits, the Ivy League, the Kinks, the Moody Blues, the Rolling Stones, the Searchers, the Seekers, Sounds Incorporated, Them (featuring Van Morrison), and Wayne Fontana.
Once again the line up reflected the changing face of Pop music with quite a few new acts in the line up, and quite a few missing from last year. Way ahead of the pack in popularity were the Beatles with the Rolling Stones not that far behind.
This was the first time the Beatles had sung live since they had finished their Christmas shows in January and at present they were in the middle of filming their second film “Help”. Despite the Wembley sound system they sounded good and for the first time were wearing their beige military jackets that would feature in their momentous, Shea Stadium Concert in America in a few months time.
Our seats were on George Harrison's side of the stage which meant I could get a good close up of his playing but the guitarist in me was a bit disappointed that he wasn't using his Rickenbacker 12 string guitar. They performed “I Feel Fine”, “She's a Woman”, “Baby's in Black”, their latest single “Ticket to Ride” and finished with “Long Tall Sally”.
When the TV broadcast of the concert was shown a week later the sound was much better than last year with the screams of the crowd not swamping their music. “The Beatles” did suffer one of the usual problems, as Paul and George's microphone wasn't turned on until about a minute into “I Feel Fine”.
Public transport eventually got us home at around 9.00pm but we were in time to see the Beatles appear live on TV. They were all interviewed, and then sang their latest record “Ticket to Ride”, on the Eamon Andrews Show.
When we arrived it was mayhem, the Beatles were already inside and there was a crowd of several hundred girls going crazy outside trying to climb the gates. We stood for a while by the Victoria and Albert Memorial watching a handful of police trying to cope, and then a black limousine drove through the gates and we caught a glimpse of Ringo waving.
We saw the first show and when we came out we found a ticket tout selling two tickets for the second show at double the list price, which we bought and went back inside and saw them again. The following day they played two shows in Cardiff and that was the end of British tours for the Beatles. In 1966 they would perform only once in this country and in August they would make their last ever live appearance, (apart from the Apple roof top show on January 30th 1969) in America.
We bumped into the Beatles road manager Mal Evans outside the Theatre and I got his autograph. (Mal Evans was shot dead by police in an incident at his Los Angeles home on 4th January 1976).
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(Click on Photo to enlarge, plus more photos)
NME Poll Winners Concert 1964
The Ritz, Luton.4th November 1964
Christmas Show 1964
NME Poll Winners Concert 1965
Finsbury Park Astoria. Sat.11th Dec. 1965
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