Posted on 08/16/2017 10:08:08 AM PDT by Enchante
The Beatles were always breaking new ground, and on August 15, 1965, they did so again by essentially creating the stadium tour, as detailed in Ron Howard’s new doc on the band’s years on the road, “Eight Days a Week.”
On that date, the group played before a record crowd of 55,600 at the then-brand new William A Shea Municipal Stadium in Queens, NY. The event was filmed for posterity by their manager, Brian Epstein, and Ed Sullivan’s Sullivan Productions for a television special, a 30 minute edit of which, representing most of the concert, can be seen exclusively in theatrical showings of Howard’s film.
“We felt it was a great way – both Ron’s film and Shea – for both new and veteran fans to see what a great live performing band they were, on a big screen, as it should be,” says Jeff Jones, chief executive of The Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd. “And Shea was zenith of live performance, even according to them.”
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
I don't much like going to stadium concerts, but I would have liked to experience that one!
I have heard some of the recordings of that and other Beatles stadium concerts..... it is difficult to hear and enjoy the music over all of the adolescent screaming and shrieking, unless the tracks have been re-dubbed with different audio.
If Ron Howard is doing the doc, I will give it a miss!
Outfits looked miserably hot.
I was in HS at the time and I recall reading that John called it an awful concert in that he couldn’t hear a thing above the noise, including the music of George, Paul & Ringo right next to him!
I was too young to know about it at the time, but in the ‘70s i bought a “live” album “Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl” and it was almost non-stop shrieking and screaming..... not really good for enjoying the music!! I never really understood the impulse to scream constantly during a musical concert, but I guess it’s about adolescent hormones....
They didn’t have a real PA system beyond the Shea PA, which wasn’t anywhere near adequate for concerts. Seems like I remember commentary that between the size of the stadium, and the screaming, that nobody could hear them. The new 4K concert film will no doubt be the definitive record of the event.
They toured with a pathetic sound kit that might have been suitable for a gymnasium and used stadium horn tweeters as reinforcement. Then complained they couldn’t hear themselves play. Duh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2t9DIh4kMA
Ron Howard did some work trying to clean up the Hollywood Bowl performance, but it still sounds like them singing in front of the Concorde.
Just before this scene you’ve posted, The Beatles were announced over the PA system, and emerged from the dugout.
The instantaneous screaming, which must have been louder than an SST taking off, caused a cop standing by the dugout to really wince and cover his ears.
That might be the one lasting image I have of that concert.
Oh, yeah - there was a song, too, which had John playing the piano/organ, and he was apparently so freaked out he began playing the keyboard with his elbow!
It didn’t matter - nobody could hear the music anyway.
So, it’s those 2 images.
Man, them’s was the days! :^)
CA....
Hard to believe the transformation that would take place in just two years.
That was the main reason they decided to quit touring.
cool, thanks!!
Yeah, it still sounds like jet engines in the background, but at least they tried....
We did the Beatle taxi tour of Liverpool last month.It was a wonderful experience. July 6th,2017 was the 60th anniversary of John meeting Paul and July,7th was Ringo’s 77th birthday.
I had just gotten out of the US Navy and living in an apartment overlooking Lee Circle in New Orleans...I could view the Robert E Lee statue out my aptartment window. That's the big statute that was just taken down.
My, how things have changed, eh?
The noise and the sheer insanity of the crowds.... I remember reading an account of a band meeting they had in 1966, they were genuinely frightened at the ferocity of the fan phenomenon, and George Harrison said “I think we must not do anything to encourage it” or words to that effect.
They became solely a studio band their last few years.
Of course by 1967, their fans were no longer the innocent screaming girls. They were all turning on and dropping out.
It didn’t matter - nobody could hear the music anyway.
...
When I saw the title the first thought that popped into my head was they made history by playing music nobody could hear.
bfl
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