A pop music milestone: The Beatles at Shea Stadium
On a hot and muggy evening 50 years ago this month, four mop-haired young men walked across the top of New York City's Pan Am Building and boarded a waiting helicopter. A few minutes later, the aircraft carrying the Beatles_John, Paul, George and Ringo_approached Shea Stadium at Flushing Meadows, Queens. There, 55,600 screaming fans, the largest crowd in show business history, waited in frenzied anticipation of their arrival.
The undisputed leaders of the British Invasion were about to launch their second sortie onto American soil, one year after their initial 1964 tour. The Shea Stadium concert was the first stop in an 18-day, 11-city tour that showcased the Beatles in front of a total of 300,000 adoring fans. The Shea concert generated the biggest crowd and biggest hype during the trip, and the event helped cement The Beatles as music's most influential rock & roll band. Moreover, the tour itself became important in other ways. First, it reflected The Beatles at the apex of their career together. In his 2005 memoir, "John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me," Beatles press agent Tony Barrow wrote of the significance of the 1965 concerts. "This was the group's brightly-shining summer solstice, after which all the Beatles' days would insidiously grow a little darker."
By: Michael K. Bohn
Source: Sun Herald
