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Post by Fiendish Thingy on Apr 22, 2017 10:48:37 GMT
Hi Everyone.
I'm relatively new here and I'm enjoying my stay so far. I've trawled randomly through the posts of the Forum and there's a lot to get through! I'm sure this question will have been asked before but I can't find anything relevant. Anyway, one of my main regrets in life is not seeing The Beatles live, so I'm asking the fine people who frequent this Forum if they have ever experienced a Beatles concert? Can you let me know where and when please and what was the experience like? I know that their last live official performance was at Candlestick Park in 1966 so I guess if you have seen them, maybe the music itself was inaudible because of the screaming? Were you in your teens at the time or did you take your son and/or daughter along to see what all the hysteria was all about?
I look forward to your replies. Thanks.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Apr 22, 2017 11:31:27 GMT
Give me a minute. I saw the Beatles in Memphis in 1966. Let me find the thread I started about it.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Apr 22, 2017 11:36:11 GMT
I decided to copy and paste rather than post a link. I started a thread about this in 2013. Here is what I posted.
Well, I got to see the Beatles live. Geezer that I am, I saw the Beatles perform in Memphis, TN on August 19, 1966. Mid-South Coliseum. Their part of the show lasted about 30 minutes.
Official set list: Rock and Roll Music She’s a Woman If I Needed Someone Day Tripper Baby’s in Black I Feel Fine Yesterday (performed as a band!) I Wanna Be Your Man Nowhere Man Paperback Writer Long Tall Sally
Opening Acts: Fashion Show Remains The Ronnettes (backed by the Remains. Not exactly a Phil Spector wall of sound.) Bobby Hebb The Cyrcle
I found the fashion show somewhat boring. Though I had heard of the Remains, I had never heard them on the radio nor seen their records in stores, and 1 have not since.
Equipment: John and George had begun playing brown sunburst Epiphone Casinos. John had not yet removed either the finish or the pickguard from his Casino. Paul was still playing his Hofner bass, despite having been photographed with his Rickenbacker. They played through the big Vox Super Beatle amps (the American versions of the AC-100, if I understand correctly). Don’t know about the PA system. George played a Ric 360-12 new style, not the old style such as he had played in A Hard Days’ Night, on his song “If I Needed Someone.”
Before the Beatles came on, an announcer said that anyone seen taking pictures would be removed from the Coliseum and their camera confiscated. We saw a number of girls seen carried off crying by security guards carrying the confiscated cameras.
You could hear the Beatles singing over the girls screaming. Barely. One cool thing about the Beatles’ live performances was the fact that they did not go near a mike unless they were actually singing. When Paul started singing “She’s A Woman,” the mike was dead, and you could not hear him at all, so he calmly strolled over to the mike John was supposed to sing into.
John was wearing rose-tinted steel-rimmed glasses. I had never seen him wearing glasses before.
This was the afternoon show that we saw. Reportedly, at the evening performance, someone threw a firecracker on the stage, making a gunshot-like sound. When John did not hit the floor, the Beatles continued playing. This was not long after John’s “more popular than Jesus” comment. Another 10 days and their touring days would be be over.
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Post by lovelyrita1 on Apr 22, 2017 12:00:05 GMT
I decided to copy and paste rather than post a link. I started a thread about this in 2013. Here is what I posted. Well, I got to see the Beatles live. Geezer that I am, I saw the Beatles perform in Memphis, TN on August 19, 1966. Mid-South Coliseum. Their part of the show lasted about 30 minutes. Official set list: Rock and Roll Music She’s a Woman If I Needed Someone Day Tripper Baby’s in Black I Feel Fine Yesterday (performed as a band!) I Wanna Be Your Man Nowhere Man Paperback Writer Long Tall Sally Opening Acts: Fashion Show Remains The Ronnettes (backed by the Remains. Not exactly a Phil Spector wall of sound.) Bobby Hebb The Cyrcle I found the fashion show somewhat boring. Though I had heard of the Remains, I had never heard them on the radio nor seen their records in stores, and 1 have not since. Equipment: John and George had begun playing brown sunburst Epiphone Casinos. John had not yet removed either the finish or the pickguard from his Casino. Paul was still playing his Hofner bass, despite having been photographed with his Rickenbacker. They played through the big Vox Super Beatle amps (the American versions of the AC-100, if I understand correctly). Don’t know about the PA system. George played a Ric 360-12 new style, not the old style such as he had played in A Hard Days’ Night, on his song “If I Needed Someone.” Before the Beatles came on, an announcer said that anyone seen taking pictures would be removed from the Coliseum and their camera confiscated. We saw a number of girls seen carried off crying by security guards carrying the confiscated cameras. You could hear the Beatles singing over the girls screaming. Barely. One cool thing about the Beatles’ live performances was the fact that they did not go near a mike unless they were actually singing. When Paul started singing “She’s A Woman,” the mike was dead, and you could not hear him at all, so he calmly strolled over to the mike John was supposed to sing into. John was wearing rose-tinted steel-rimmed glasses. I had never seen him wearing glasses before. This was the afternoon show that we saw. Reportedly, at the evening performance, someone threw a firecracker on the stage, making a gunshot-like sound. When John did not hit the floor, the Beatles continued playing. This was not long after John’s “more popular than Jesus” comment. Another 10 days and their touring days would be be over. Wow, i'm so envious you got to see The Beatles live, love your pithy comments about the support acts, especially The Ronnettes , not exactly the wall of sound ha ha , i get your drift. I hope you kept your ticket , it'll be worth quite a lot of money now. Your details on the whole concert and their instruments and equipment is very impressive.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Apr 22, 2017 14:50:29 GMT
There was another thread on this forum where a woman (presumably) was wanting to know about styles in the '60s and some details about the Memphis Beatle concert. She and I were going back and forth with her questions and my answers. I wish I could find that one too. It's harder to find since I did not start the thread.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Apr 22, 2017 15:15:40 GMT
The ticket is long gone. Probably trashed the same day or week.
As far as "did you take your children" goes, actually, it was me and my two younger brothers, and my mother went along to see what the fuss was. So she got a ticket to. (But Mama didn't scream at the Beatles.)
At the last minute, Daddy decided to get a ticket because of HIS curiosity. Got it at the last minute, and got a better seat than the other four of us. Remarkably, he was a Baptist preacher, and this was at the height of the "We're more popular then Jesus" controversy. Be he didn't try to steer us away from it all. He had read the scriptures, how people had clamored over Jesus the same way people clamored over the Beatles.
If you actually read the Bible and then read about the Beatles, you won't find John's statement too controversial. One of the Beatle books mentions press conferences where crippled children would be wheeled in, at which point Paul would turn to Mr. Aspinall and say "Cripples, Neil!" and the Beatles would be whisked away. It was as if people could be healed by touching hem of a Beatle garment.
I'll try to think of some other memories of that trip from north Louisiana to Memphis.
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Post by Fiendish Thingy on Apr 22, 2017 21:08:06 GMT
Wow - just wow henryj! I am so jealous and envious. Around 1966, my whole life revolved around The Beatles but unfortunately, I was too young to go to concerts on my own here in the UK and my parents weren't interested in those "noisy groups". They thought that The Rolling Stones were disgusting and they were shocked that a group could call themselves 'The Animals' although my Mum took a shine to Steve Marriot of The Small Faces!
Anyway, I digress. I note that one of the support acts were Cyrcle and I absolutely adored their song 'Red Rubber Ball'. I do believe that a couple of the members of The Remains went on to form The Flying Burrito Brothers. It's all coming back to me now. Quite evocative to be honest. It's interesting to note that The Beatles opened and closed their set with what I would call 'rockers' and I find it bizarre that 'Yesterday' was performed by the whole group. So, in hindsight and retrospect, were you aware at the time that you were witnessing something exceptional and extraordinary or was it just another concert by a group that you admired at the time?
I suspect that you may be the only member of this Forum (that we know of anyway) that has witnessed a Beatles live performance. Looking at the membership of this Forum, it's testament to just how enduring The Beatles are to this very day. There will, I'm sure be members of all ages who have 'discovered' The Beatles by listening to their parents record collections (maybe some of them can relate to this and tell us about it?) in the same way that myself - and maybe yourself - first heard the likes of Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison and Little Richard to name just a few.
Thanks for sharing your Beatles live experience and I would be intrigued if you could recall your memories of that trip from North Louisiana to Memphis.
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Post by pothos on Apr 22, 2017 21:57:56 GMT
What weird's me out is that was a few months before I was even born. Yet their music still sounds futuristic.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Apr 22, 2017 22:56:25 GMT
Hey FT, I was indeed well aware that I was witnessing something phenomenal and was wishing I could come back to that time the same way you come back to a place. I knew that moment in time would not last forever and that I was in that moment. But then I decided to enjoy the music rather than succumb to mental illness.
I can't remember much about the trip from north Louisiana to Memphis. IIRC, I-20 was not built yet so we had to take 2-lane US 80 to Vicksburg before taking US 61 up to Memphis. (The highway Dylan named a song and album after) Oh yeah, we took the car, although my first passenger flight had been to Memphis a year or so earlier.
Pothos, Happy Belated Big 5-0 Birthday. I hope it's a good year for you.
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Post by Fiendish Thingy on Apr 23, 2017 9:38:37 GMT
Thanks for that hj
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Post by pothos on Apr 23, 2017 16:41:30 GMT
Thank you for the birthday greeting.
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Post by ROCKY on Apr 23, 2017 21:12:59 GMT
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Post by pothos on Apr 24, 2017 9:20:35 GMT
Thank you.
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Post by lovelyrita1 on Apr 24, 2017 12:50:42 GMT
What a great live version. And Happy Birthday Pothos too, i can't top that clip and as usual The Beatles version is not on youtube. Come to think of , wasn't Paul McCartney in the Beatles ha ha
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on May 21, 2017 21:57:51 GMT
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on May 21, 2017 22:04:45 GMT
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