1 MAY, 1966: NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS POLL WINNERS CONCERT, EMPIRE POOL, WEMBLEY
This fifteen minute set was the Beatles’ final concert in the UK. It was not broadcast.
24 JUNE, 1966: BRIEF TOUR OF GERMANY AND THE FAR EAST, CIRCUS-KRONE-BAU, MUNICH
A recording of this concert exists in bootleg form.
25 JUNE, 1966: GRUGAHALLE, ESSEN
26 JUNE, 1966: ERNST MERCK HALLE, HAMBURG
The Beatles’ first return to Hamburg since their rise to fame.
30 JUNE – 2 JULY, 1966: NIPPON BUDOKAN HALL, TOKYO
Upon their arrival in Tokyo, the Beatles were informed that a militant Japanese student organisation considered the use of Budokan Hall for a rock concert to be sacrilege against the dead war heroes to whom it was dedicated and had vowed not to allow the Fab Four to leave the country alive.
The Beatles were driven in their limousine through the city’s streets, lined with thousands of fans, to their hotel room, where they were confined by order of police. They were allowed out only to perform, before an audience studded with army sharpshooters and then hustled back to their sanctuary.
Happily, the band escaped the country without incident. It was the first of a series of events that would crystalise the Beatles’ decision to stop touring permanently after their upcoming American tour.
A number of Tokyo shows are available as unauthorised video productions.
4 JULY, 1966: RIZAL MEMORIAL FOOTBALL STADIUM, MANILA
The Fabs arrived in Manila to one of their warmest welcomes ever, but shortly after leaving the airport, their luggage was confiscated and they were driven under armed guard to a pier, escorted onto a boat and taken out to sea for about an hour. Then they were returned to their hotel and were not told why they had been treated this way.
According to Peter Brown’s account in The Love You Make, the following morning Brian Epstein was awakened by military police who demanded that the Beatles accompany them to a party at the home of Imelda Marcos. Epstein refused. He insisted that this was the first he had heard of it, that the Beatles were exhausted and needed to rest. Later, watching the news, Epstein saw a report that declared that the Beatles had snubbed the president’s wife.
After the concerts, the Fab Four and their entourage were denied all services, from hotel food to taxis. Loading their equipment without any help, the band drove unescorted to the airport, which was swarming with armed guards. Epstein managed to get the plane to wait on the runway as John, Paul, George, Ringo, Tony Barrow, Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans carted their luggage and equipment through a throng of angry Filipinos. The entourage was kicked, spat upon and poked with clubs by uniformed men as the mob jeered. Punches were thrown as Mal Evans was jumped by six officers.
Finally aboard the plane, there were several delays before Epstein could negotiate their escape. In the process, he gave up the Beatles’ cash earnings for the concert.
THIRD AMERICAN TOUR
The Ronettes and the Cyrkle accompanied the Beatles on this tour.
The third American tour was the last straw for the Beatles as a touring band. An interview published in Britain without incident five months earlier, was picked up by a US teen magazine called Datebook. In it, John was quoted quite accurately: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink… we’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first – rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity.”
The furor in America, particularly in the south, was dramatic. Radio stations banned Beatles music, churches sponsored record burnings, record stores stopped reordering and newspapers went out of their way to condemn John, Paul, George and Ringo as individuals. At press conferences John was inundated with demands for an apology. When he tried to explain, he was shouted down. (The government of South Africa even went so far as to ban the broadcast of Beatle records in response to John’s comments. His solo records are banned there to this day.)
The Beatles were also physically threatened, most notably by the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. When a firecracker exploded onstage during the Memphis concert, each Beatle looked around to see who had been shot. It was clearly time for the madness to end.
For some time thereafter, John seemed to take pleasure in rubbing salt in the wounds, proclaiming “they’re gonna crucify me” in the “The Ballad Of John And Yoko”. Years later, however, he expressed gratitude for some of the more thoughtful reactions he received. “Lots of people sent me books about Jesus,” he relates in Hunter Davies’ biography, The Beatles. “I read a lot of them and found out things… I don’t know. All I know is that I am being made more aware by it all. I just want to be told more.”
12 AUGUST, 1966: INTERNATIONAL AMPHITHEATRE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
13 AUGUST, 1966: OLYMPIC STADIUM, CLEVELAND, OHIO
15 AUGUST, 1966: DC STADIUM, WASHINGTON DC
16 AUGUST, 1966: PHILADELPHIA STADIUM, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
17 AUGUST, 1966: MAPLE LEAF GARDENS, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
18 AUGUST, 1966: SUFFOLK DOWNS RACETRACK, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
19 AUGUST, 1966: MID-SOUTH COLISEUM, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
21 AUGUST, 1966: CROSLEY FIELD CINCINNATI, OHIO (AFTERNOON), BUSCH STADIUM, ST LOUIS, MISSOURI (EVENING)
23 AUGUST, 1966: SHEA STADIUM, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
25 AUGUST, 1966: SEATTLE COLISEUM, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
28 AUGUST, 1966: DODGER STADIUM, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
29 AUGUST, 1966: CANDLESTICK PARK, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Although it wasn’t announced at the time, the Beatles’ inner circle knew that this would be the final Beatle concert. Recordings of this show that have surfaced as bootlegs are said to have originated from a cassette made by Tony Barrow at Paul’s request.