The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
staged their third and final
concert tour
A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...
of North America in August 1966. It consisted of 18 performances, with 16 shows in
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
venues and two in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The tour was plagued with backlash regarding the controversy of
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
'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
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
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-only band and focused exclusively on record production.
Background
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...
,
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
' 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
Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictato ...
. 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
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
's comments that the Beatles had become "
more popular than Jesus".
[Fricke, David. "The Holy War". In: .] Lennon made the remark to
Maureen Cleave
Maureen Diana Cleave (20 October 1934 – 6 November 2021) was a British journalist. She worked for the London ''Evening Standard'' from 1958 conducting interviews with many prominent musicians of the era, including Bob Dylan and John Lennon. O ...
of the London ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' in February, during his interview for the newspaper's "How Does a Beatle Live?" series. Cleave noted Lennon's interest in
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
and religions, to which he replied:
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
WAQY (102.1 FM) is a radio station in Springfield, Massachusetts, broadcasting a classic rock format. Since the late 1980s, the station has been known as "Rock 102".
History
102.1 FM in Springfield signed on December 17, 1966, as WCRX. The call ...
in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, 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 Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. The publication of
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
'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
Neil Stanley Aspinall (13 October 1941 24 March 2008) was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head the Beatles' company Apple Corps.
The Beatles employed Aspinall first as t ...
, 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
Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was an American mass murderer who became known as the "Texas Tower Sniper". On August 1, 1966, Whitman used knives to kill his mother and his wife in their respective homes, then went to ...
, a former US Marine.
Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor (7 May 1932 – 8 September 1997) was an English journalist, writer, publicist and record producer. He is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, with whom he worked in 1964 and then from 1968 to 1970, and was one ...
, the band's former press officer and a music publicist in California, wrote in his column for ''
Disc and Music Echo
''Disc'' was a weekly British popular music magazine, published between 1958 and 1975, when it was incorporated into ''Record Mirror''. It was also known for periods as ''Disc Weekly '' (1964–1966) and ''Disc and Music Echo '' (1966–1972).
...
'' 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
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'',
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 Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. ...
,
the Cyrkle
The Cyrkle was an American rock band active in the early and mid-1960s. The group charted two Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball" and " Turn-Down Day".
Career
The band was formed by guitarists and lead singers Don Dannemann and Tom Dawes (who also p ...
,
Bobby Hebb
Robert Von Hebb (July 26, 1938 – August 3, 2010) was an American R&B and soul singer, musician, songwriter, recording artist, and performer known for his 1966 hit entitled " Sunny".
Biography
Hebb was born in Nashville, Tennessee. His par ...
and
the Remains.
[Eden, Dawn. "Thanks, Goodnight". In: .] 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
"Long Tall Sally", also known as "Long Tall Sally (The Thing)", is a rock and roll song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, and Little Richard. Richard recorded it for Specialty Records, which released it as a single in March ...
" replaced "
I'm Down
"I'm Down" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on a non-album single as the B-side to "Help!" in July 1965. The song originated in McCartney's attempt ...
" 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
"Paperback Writer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single in May 1966. It topped sin ...
" 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
"If I Needed Someone" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist. It was released in December 1965 on their album '' Rubber Soul'', except in North America, where it appeared on the J ...
" were also first issued in 1966, having been part of the December 1965 LP ''
Rubber Soul
''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single " Day Tripper" / " We Can ...
'' 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
Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...
,
Ron O'Quinn
Ron O'Quinn is an American radio disc jockey born March 4, 1943, in McRae, Georgia.
At the age of 16, O'Quinn began his radio career at WMGA, a station in his hometown of Moultrie, Georgia, where he worked at the time of his graduation from Moultr ...
and Jerry Leighton; ''
TeenSet
''TeenSet'' (originally ''The Teen Set'') was an American music and fan magazine published by Capitol Records. Beginning in 1964 as a free album insert for fans of the Beach Boys, the magazine was sold separately in 1965 and it grew in popularity. ...
'' editor
Judith Sims
Judith Sims ( 1939March 25, 1996) was an American journalist, music critic, and magazine editor. She was the first editor of the rock magazine ''TeenSet'' in the 1960s. Later she was the Los Angeles bureau chief for ''Rolling Stone''.
Career
Sim ...
, representatives from ''Teen Life'' magazine and
Hearst Newspapers Hearst may refer to:
Places
* Hearst, former name of Hacienda, California, United States
* Hearst, Ontario, town in Northern Ontario, Canada
* Hearst, California, an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, United States
* Hearst Island, an i ...
, and ''
Datebook
Datebook may refer to:
*Diary (stationery), or appointment book
* ''Datebook'' (magazine), a 1960s American teen magazine
* ''Datebook'', the arts and entertainment insert section of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''
*Datebook, an application on Pal ...
'' editor
Art Unger; and a group of American DJs that included
Jim Stagg
Jimmy Pearson Staggs (October 7, 1935 – November 6, 2007), also known as Jim Stagg, was an American disc jockey and record store owner in Chicago, Illinois.
Early life
Staggs was born October 7, 1935, in Bessemer, Alabama. Staggs was a stell ...
and
George Klein.
Incidents and further controversy
Lennon's apology
When the band arrived in Chicago on 11 August for the start of the tour, Epstein and press officer
Tony Barrow
Anthony F. J. Barrow (11 May 1936 – 14 May 2016) was an English press officer who worked with the Beatles between 1962 and 1968. He coined the phrase "the Fab Four", first using it in an early press release.
Life Early life
In the late 1 ...
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
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
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
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with " Yellow Submarine". The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to L ...
" / "
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.
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
"Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with " We Can Work It Out" in December 1965. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some contributions from Paul McCartney a ...
", 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
Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ( ...
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
![WCFL Sound 10 survey October 1966 Beatles Jim Stagg (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/WCFL_Sound_10_survey_October_1966_Beatles_Jim_Stagg_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The tour's only stopover in the
Bible Belt
The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States in which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society and politics, and church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's a ...
was Memphis, Tennessee, where two shows were scheduled at the
Mid-South Coliseum
Mid-South Coliseum is an indoor arena in Memphis, Tennessee. The facility was opened in 1964, and became known “The Entertainment Capitol of the Mid-South” due its significance in hosting events such as concerts, sports games and professio ...
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
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
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
Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City. 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
Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 un ...
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
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
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
sbeing 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
The Human Be-In was an event held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields on January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol of American counterculture a ...
in January 1967. This and similar events were sponsored by the
Family Dog collective, whose vision was to make San Francisco "America's Liverpool".
Reception
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
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
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
Nicholas Schaffner (January 28, 1953 – August 28, 1991) was an American non-fiction author, journalist, and singer-songwriter.
Biography
Schaffner was born in Manhattan to John V. Schaffner (1913–1983), a literary agent whose clients include ...
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
The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018.
The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
n 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 ...
Set list
Lasting around 30 minutes, the Beatles'
set list
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
for the tour was as follows (lead singers appear in parenthesis):
#"
Rock and Roll Music
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
" (John Lennon)
#"
She's a Woman
"She's a Woman" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on a non-album single in November 1964 as the B-side to "I Feel Fine", except in North Ame ...
" (
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
)
#"
If I Needed Someone
"If I Needed Someone" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist. It was released in December 1965 on their album '' Rubber Soul'', except in North America, where it appeared on the J ...
" (
George Harrison)
#"
Day Tripper
"Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with " We Can Work It Out" in December 1965. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some contributions from Paul McCartney a ...
" (Lennon and McCartney)
#"
Baby's in Black
"Baby's in Black" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, co-written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It appears on the United Kingdom album ''Beatles for Sale'' and on the United States album '' Beatles '65'', both released in 1964.
Co ...
" (Lennon and McCartney)
#"
I Feel Fine
"I Feel Fine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in November 1964 as the A-side of their eighth single. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The recording includes one o ...
" (Lennon)
#"
Yesterday" (McCartney)
#"
I Wanna Be Your Man
"I Wanna Be Your Man" is a Lennon–McCartney-penned song first recorded and released as a single by the Rolling Stones, and then recorded by the Beatles. The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, and finished by Lennon and McCartney in ...
" (
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
)
#"
Nowhere Man" (Lennon with McCartney and Harrison)
#"
Paperback Writer
"Paperback Writer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single in May 1966. It topped sin ...
" (McCartney)
#"
Long Tall Sally
"Long Tall Sally", also known as "Long Tall Sally (The Thing)", is a rock and roll song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, and Little Richard. Richard recorded it for Specialty Records, which released it as a single in March ...
" (McCartney)
Tour dates
See also
*
List of the Beatles' live performances
From 1961 to 1966, the English rock band the Beatles performed all over the Western world. They began performing live in England in 1961 and continued in various clubs during their visit to Hamburg, West Germany, until 1962, with a line-up of ...
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Rare photos by Brian Elbinger of the Beatles' last show in Detroit(from the ''
Lansing State Journal
The ''Lansing State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Lansing, Michigan, owned by Gannett.
Overview
The ''Lansing State Journal'' is the sole daily newspaper published in Greater Lansing. The newspaper had an average Monday through ...
'', August 2016)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatles' 1966 Us Tour
1966 concert tours
1966 USA
1966 in American music
Concert tours of the United States
August 1966 events in the United States