St. Louisan Who Shot the Beatles in 1966 Thinks Paul McCartney Was Better Then
Mark Richman was twenty years old when he talked his way into the opportunity of a lifetime — wheedling his way past a policeman and into the corps of photographers shooting the Beatles' August 21, 1966, concert at Busch Stadium.
The photographs he snapped that day, which he says are the only color photos of the Beatles' final tour, have earned him tons of attention from Beatles collectors. (You can see them online here; the one above is reprinted with his permission.) They'll even be featured in the upcoming Eight Days a Week documentary, which also netted him a pretty penny.
So when Richman, now 70, returned to a different iteration of Busch Stadium this weekend for McCartney's solo show, he had high hopes. But they were dashed.
Many of the problems weren't due to Sir Paul himself. Richman was annoyed by the size of the patrons near him, which rendered seating a bit too close for comfort — a problem not helped by the fact that seats on the field, where he was sitting just twenty rows back from the stage, were zip-tied together so people couldn't adjust them. He was also annoyed by the way the crowd took to its feet, and stayed there throughout the show, blocking his view — and the 6'5" drunk dancing wildly in front of him.
But most of all, it was the song selection that got him.
"He said he'd do a bunch of Beatles songs," he says. "That's what I was waiting to hear. But he left out about twenty of my favorites" — among them, "Ticket to Ride," "Eight Days a Week," "All My Lovin'" and "I Saw Her Standing There."
By: Sarah Fenske
Source: Riverfront Times
