Olympia Stadium, Grand River Ave/McGraw Ave. Detroit, Michigan, USA
The Motor City was the place of origin for the music the Beatles had professed to love in almost every interview and press conference -- The Detroit Sound, and the recording artists of the Tamla-Motown label.
The Beatles would perform two shows at Olympia Stadium. A press conference was held backstage at the Olympia between the two performances.
From the Press Conference:
DEREK TAYLOR:(to the press) "If anyone would like to raise their hand."
Q: "How do you like Detroit so far?"
JOHN: "Great."
PAUL: "What we've seen of it."
(laughter)
JOHN: "We see very little. The show, we enjoyed."
Q: "Is it a disappointment not to see it?"
JOHN: "No. We come here to play, not to see, you know."
PAUL: "We saw a bit of it though."
Q: "Does that noise out there go away with a little bit of cotton packed way deep in your ear so that the noise..."
JOHN & PAUL: "No."
JOHN: "We're used to it."
GEORGE: "We're immune to it."
Q: "It doesn't upset your musical balance?"
PAUL: "It sounds nice."
Q: "Which artist or musical group do you think has most influenced your music?"
JOHN: (jokingly) "Nicki Cuff."
PAUL: "Nicki Cuff, I'd say. No, uhh... American colored groups, mainly. And early Elvis Presley."
GEORGE: "In fact, The Detroit Sound."
JOHN: "In fact, yes."
GEORGE: "In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miricles."
JOHN: "We like Marvin Gaye."
GEORGE: "The Impressions, Marvin Gaye."
PAUL & GEORGE: "Mary Wells."
GEORGE: "The Exciters."
JOHN: "To name but eighty."
RINGO: "Chuck Jackson."
Q: "How many records have the Beatles sold?"
RINGO: "No idea."
JOHN & GEORGE: "We don't know."
JOHN: "It's a lot, somebody said."
Q: "What part of the film (A Hard Day's Night) did you enjoy making the most?"
JOHN & RINGO: "The bit in the field."
GEORGE: "And the bit in the bathroom. We had a laugh, didn't we. A laugh. We had a laugh, anyway."
Q: "Do the jellybeans bother the Beatles onstage?"
BEATLES: YES!"
JOHN: "It's awful."
PAUL: "It's worse when it's not really jellybeans. When it's... Once there was about 'that long' silver pin that they use for sticking on kilts in Scotland."
(giggles)
PAUL: "And it came flying through about two-hundred-mile-an-hour. Just missed me."
RINGO: "Very dodgey."
Q: "Is that an affirmation? Are they throwing it for you or against you?"
PAUL: "I think so."
JOHN: "And when they don't have the sweets they throw whatever they've got on them, which hurts."
Q: "Do you ever throw anything back?"
RINGO & JOHN: "No."
JOHN: "I think we did once."
Q: "Have you written the new screenplay yet?"
JOHN: "No. I'm not writing it. I'm having hard enough time trying to get to sleep."
Q: "With the exception of being onstage, after the performances are over do you socialize with each other or do you go your own separate ways?"
GEORGE: "Well, we can't go our own..."
Q: "Or is it like in the movie?"
JOHN: "It's like in the movie."
RINGO: "Yeah."
GEORGE: "We all go the same way, don't we."
PAUL: "Especially on tour, you know."
(laughter)
PAUL: "It wasn't a joke."
