Fab Four Blog

Odeon Cinema, Leeds

A few minutes of one of the Beatles two "Houses" this evening was recorded for use in a court case involving the Performing Right Society. The tape no longer exists. After this night, the tour resumed on the 5th.

The Beatles at City Hall, Sheffield

Odeon Cinema, Winchcombe St. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

The opening night of "The Beatles Autumn Tour", their 4th trek around Britain inside nine months, earning them £300 a night. Identical for every performance, the Beatles repertoire for this one comprised "I saw her standing there", "From me to you", "All my loving", "You really got a hold on me", "Roll over Beethoven", "Boys", "Till there was you", "She loves you", "Money (That's all I want)", and "Twist and Shout".

But the screaming was so loud that no one, not even the Beatles could hear more than a few notes of it.

Today, the Beatles were "Off".

Narren-teatern, Grona Lund, Stockholm, Sweden

Abbey Road activity this day saw the production of another stereo mix for "Money (That's what I want), overseen by George Martin in a 2:30-5:30 pm session. To avoid any further generational loss caused by more tape-to-tape copying, two separate two-track mono mixes were used for the stereo album, one for each channel.

This was the final item of preparation for "With the Beatles", and the album was issued on Friday, November 22, 1963, eight months before "Please Please Me", to astonishing British advance orders of 300,000. Domestic sales swiftly passed the half-million mark and in 1965 topped one million. The album even earned a brief placing in the singles actively few in number in the early 1960's - was calculated at that time on sales of any record, irrespective of diameter.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, the evening before flying home to England and their first "airport reception", the Beatles returned to Stockholm to tape an appearance on the Sveriges Television pop show "Drop In", broadcast from 7:00 to 7:30 pm on Sunday, November 3rd.

The recording was made before a live audience at Narrenteatern, a small theatre within the Stockholm amusement park Grona Lund, and it began at 7:00 pm, following afternoon rehearsals. Although intending to perform only two songs, "She loves you", and "Twist and Shout", presenter Klas Burling persuaded the Beatles to extend their repertoire to four, these two in the same order plus "I saw her standing there", and "Long tall Sally". Very clearly enjoying themselves, although they had not eaten all day, the Beatles also joined in with handclapping during the program's closing theme tune, named appropriately enough "Drop In".

On October 31, the group took the morning flight back to London Airport.

Sporthallen, Hamngatan, Eskilstuna, Sweden

A few hours before the Beatles concluded their concert tour of Sweden, with one final performance, George Martin - back at EMI Abbey Road was overseeing the entire set of stereo mixes, edits and banding for their second album, all done in a single three hour session, 10:00am to 1:00pm. The tracks were worked on in the order that George had devised for the finished disc: "It won't be long", "All I've got to do", "All my loving", "Don't bother me", "Little Child", "Till there was you", "Please Mister Postman", "Roll over Beethoven", "Hold me tight", "You really got a hold on me", "I wanna be your man", "(There's a) Devil in her heart", "Not a second time", and "Money (That's what I want)". Only this 14th and final track would require more, later attention.

Borashallen, Bockasjogatan, Boras, Sweden

The Beatles had one performance at 7:30 pm, preceded by a half-hour spot during the mid-afternoon signing records at the Waidele record shop in Boras.

Cirkus, Lorensbergsparken, Goteborg, Sweden

The Beatles gave three shows at 3:00, 5:00 and 8:00 pm, here in the city known to the English as Gothenburg.

Kungliga Tennishallen, Lidingovagen, Stockholm, Sweden

Two shows, at 5:00 and 8:00 pm, in which - theoretically at least, because the audience clearly demanded otherwise - the Beatles were second on the bill to Joey Dee and the Starliters.

Nya Aulan, Sundsta Laroverk, Sundstavagen, Karlstad, Sweden

Not seven months after their concert at Stowe, it was very much "back to school" for the Beatles as they kicked-off their £140-a-night Swedish concert tour in the unlikely setting of the new hall of a secondary school in the tiny town of Karlstad.

The Beatles repertoire for the two "houses" here, at 7:00 and 9:00 pm, and for the remainder of the short tour, comprised "Long Tall Sally", "Please Please Me", "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me To You", "A Taste Of Honey", "Chains", "Boys", "She Loves You" and "Twist And Shout".

Despite a wildly enthusiastic reception from screaming Swedish Beatlemanics, one man not so impressed was "Johnny", the pop reviewer from local Karlstad newspaper "Nya Wermlands Tidning". He thought the Beatles terrible, their music corny and their playing out of rhythm, adding that the group should have been grateful the fan's screams helped drown out their awful performance, and then he concluded by stating that the Beatles were of no musical importance whatsover and that their local support group, the Phantoms, decidedly outshone them.

Karlaplansstudion, Karlaplan, Stockholm, Sweden

The Beatles first stint in Sweden was to record a radio appearance at the Karlaplansstudion, situated in the center of Stockholm. The title of the program was "The Beatles pupgrupp fran Liverpool pa besok i Stockholm", which transalated means, "The Beatles pop group from Liverpool visiting Stockholm", a neatly descriptive title.

Clearly exuberated at playing before the Swedish audience, perhaps pleased at having to work harder to win them over (The British teenage public having long lapsed into adoration), the Beatles put in a terrific performance, playing live an exciting set of seven songs, "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me To You", "Money (That's what I Want)", "Roll Over Beethoven", "You Really Got A Hold On Me", "She Loves You", and "Twist And Shout". Between "Money" and "Roll OVer Beethoven", the Beatles took a break while local group Hasse Rosen and the Norsmen played three numbers.

Produced by Klas Burling, who had called Brian Epstein and booked the Beatles by phone for this appearance, the session was recorded from 5:00 pm (without prior rehearsal) and broadcast on channel one of Sveriges Radio (Swedish National Radio) on Monday, November 11th, 10:05 to 10:30 pm.

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

The Beatles' final input to their second album, recording the 16th take of "I Wanna Be Your Man" and then watching as George Martin and Norman Smith mixed this, "Little Child" and "Hold Me Tight" into mono, all done between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm.

After lunch, the group flew to Sweden for their first foreign tour.

The Beatles had a day off.

Studio One, EMI Studios, London

Mono mixing and editing of "This Boy" and mono and stero mixing of "I Want To Hold Your Hand", effected by George Martin from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. The Beatles may well have attended.

Alpha Television Studios, Aston, Birmingham

Another bill-topping appearance on ABC Television's "Thank Your Lucky Stars", taped during the afternoon and transmitted 5:50-6:35 pm on Saturday, October 26th.

In this edition they mimed to an unprecedented three numbers, one more than usual, two more than most other acts, - "All My Loving", "Money (That's What I Want)" and "She Loves You". The first two formed an exclusive  glimpse of "With The Beatles", not issued until November 22nd. TYLS producer Philip Jones had acquired advanced acetate pressings of some of the album tracks and persuaded Brian Epstein to allow him first opportunity to plug them.

The Beatles - Pavilion Gardens Ballroom, Buxton

Studio Four, Granada TV Centre, Manchester

Another appearance on Scene At 6:30, taped during the early afternoon at Granada Television and transmitted in this evening's programme, 6:30-7:00 pm. The Beatles mimed to "She Loves You".

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

Two sessions, 2:30-5:30 and 7:00-10:00 pm, saw the Beatles cater for three different projects, they attempted to improve a recording for the new album, they taped the A-and B-sides of their fifth single, and also recorded some wacky horseplay for "The Beatles' Christmas Record", to be distributed free-of-charge exclusively to members of their Official Fan Club on December 9th. This was the first of seven such discs they would make.

These sessions also marked the dawn of a new era for the Beatles at EMI: four-track recording, ushering in entirely new recording processes and allowing the group to use the facility more experimentally. No longer would they need to record all instruments live in the studio, although, on occasions, they did continue to do just this.

The two sides of the next single, "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and the exquisite three-part harmony song "This Boy", both of them progressive Lennon-McCartney numbers, were the first to benefit from four-track and each was perfected in 17 takes. Later, though, despite the better facilities, they gave up trying to perfect "You Really Got A Hold On Me" after attempting to one final take, it's 12th.

The new single was issued in Britain on Friday, November 29th, crashing into the chart while "She Loves You" was enjoying its second spell at the top. Within a week it had replaced its predecessor, and the Beatles were holding numbers one and two, in  addition to numbers one and two in the LP Chart. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was also critically important in another direction: it broke the group into the US market, paving the way for a 1964 that would eclipse even 1963 in terms of record sales and all-encompassing Beatlemania.

Playhouse Theatre, London

The Beatles 4th and last session for the Sunday morning BBC Radio Light Programme pop show, "Easy Beat". Owing to the incredible demands on their time, and fearing for their safety, Brian Epstein told the BBC that he would no longer permit the group to appear in audience radio shows - jus as he had decided that, for British concerts, they would play only theatres or venues with fixed seating, no more ballrooms. An instant casualty of this decision was a 5th booking for "Easy Beat", which would have taken place on Wednesday, December 4th, for transmission on the 8th.

This show was recorded at the Playhouse Theatre from 9:00 to 10:00 pm, with a prior rehearsal from 4:00 pm. The Beatles performed "I Saw Her Standing There", "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "From Me To You", "and "She Loves You", the last four songs being the group's singles to date, in the correct order. It was broadcast on Sunday, October 20th, from 10:31 to 11:30 am.

While at the Playhouse, the Beatles were also interviewed by reporter Peter Woods about the announcement, made the previous day, that they had been invited to perform in the Royal Variety Show on November 4th. The interview, in which the group cleverly parried Woods' clearly condescending tones, was broadcast on the Light Programme's main evening news bulletin (7:00 to 7:31 pm) Radio Nesreel.

The Beatles - Floral Hall, Southport

The Beatles did not perform on this date.

London Palladium, Argyll St. London

The Beatles first booking with one of the leading ITV companies, Associated TeleVision, headed by Lew Grade, for so long a powerful figure in British show business. And without a debut - on the top-rated entertainment program of them all, Val Parnell's Sunday Night at The London Palladium, fully networked live from the prestigious theatre in the heart of London and seen by 15 million viewers at peak time, 8:25 to 9:25 pm. An appearance on SNALP-especially as bill-toppers, as were the the Beatles - this night was a major event, and for so many artists , the pinnacle of a career, even if today, one almost wonders what the fuss was about.

At the same time, it was certainly a remarkable appearance. The London Palladium, so-called "home of the stars", had never before witnessed the screaming fans who made themselves very audible not only inside but outside the theatre too, blocking Argyll Street and delighting photographers with ready-made front-page picture stories for the next morning. The word, Beatlemania was coined by Fleet Street writers to describe the scenes, and it remains in use today, and probably will forever.

The youth element in the theatre was teased right from the start when, against tradition, the Beatles appeared at the beginning of the show - albeit only for a few seconds. Compere Bruce Forsyth then announced, "If you want to see them again, they'll be back in 42 minutes"......

When they came back, to close the hour-long show, Forsyth rose above the screams to count down "5-4-3-2-1" before the Beatles struck up "From Me To You". They then went into their well oiled stage routine (even still, they had a private rehearsal the previous evening). Paul tried to introduce the next number (I'll Get You"). Then John, Paul and George all spoke the next announcement together, stopping together and re-starting together, until George carried it off alone, introducing "She Loves You". Then Paul tried to announce the closing number, John shouted at the screamers to "Shut up!", the adults among the audience applauded, Paul asked people to clap their hands and stamp their feet, John went into his spastic imitations, and the group finally launched into "Twist And Shout".

The show ended, as ever, with the bill-toppers joining the other acts (Brook Benton, Des O'Connor, host Bruce Forsyth) on the revolving stage, waving at the audience and cameras while the resident Jack Parnell Orchestra played the theme tune "Startime".

The Beatles were clearly becoming a phenomenon - this TV appearance was actually covered by the late-evening ITN news, which had camera's in the group's Palladium dressing room.

The Beatles took today off

The Beatles at the Ballroom, Trentham Gardens, Stone Rd. Trentham, Staffordshire

Today, the Beatles had a day off

BBC Paris Studio, London

The BBC radio session was not for a pop programme but for "The Ken Dodd Show", a 30 minute collection of comedy sketches and sound effects starring Liverpulian comedian Ken Dodd - on whose charity bill at the Albany Cinema in Maghull the scarcely known Beatles had inappropriately belted out rock and roll numbers only two years previously.

The Beatles did not participate in any of Dodd's comedy sketches: their sole contribution was to perform the show's one musical interlude, "She Loves You". It was taped in the middle of the programme, before a studio audience at the Paris, between 10:00 and 11:00 pm. (The Beatles had also participated in the rehearsal, from 6:30 pm)

The show was broadcast in the "Light Programme" on Sunday, November 3rd between 2:30 and 3:00 pm (any listener staying tuned to this waveband would have heard the Beatles in the following progamme too, "The Public Ear" and was repeated on Wednesday, November 6th (8:00-8:30 pm) and again on Saturday, February 1, 1964 (1:10-1:40 pm).

Today, the Beatles rested.......

The Beatles at Caird Hall, City Square, Dundee, Angus

Carlton Theatre, Arcade Halls, Sinclairtown, Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire

A concert presented by the managment of Kirkcaldy's Raith Ballroom, unable to use their own premises because of Brian Epstein's new ruling that, where possible, the Beatles would perform only in proper theatres. Fifteen hundred people attended each of the two "houses".

Concert Hall, Argyle St. Glasgow, Lanarkshire

The first of a three-night mini tour of Scotland, promoted by Alvert Bonici under his exclusive north-of-the-border agreement with Brian Epstein.