Last week, on a rainy Friday evening, The American Cinematheque showcased a screening of The Beatles first concert in America: the Washington D.C. Coliseum, 1964 to a sold out audience. The energy of that performance, which has only intensified with age, left every last one of us riveted.
Which is the reason for this blog post. Apologies just might be in order: I’m an unabashed Fangirl.
1.) No Pyrotechnics. No HD Mega Screens. No sound monitors of ANY kind.
Today, the production of a concert is just as memorable as the music itself– and, often, moreso. Laser light shows. Pyrotechnics. Fireworks. All the bells and whistles that can keep the audience keen. On Febraury 11 1964,however, what the audience got was a concert as performed by your local high school band. Only … they kinda happen to be the best rock band on the planet.
You can easily count the number of amps they’re using because… they’re all on the stage. In a stockpile. One, two, three, four … five amplifiers. The boys were using Vox AC-30 amps that night, just as they had used back in Britain for about a year or so. Their sound was sharp, hard and clear– perfect for the clang of an early 60s guitar. But… still… 30 watts! It wasn’t until 1965 that Vox would design a special 100 watt amp specifically for the Beatles, and so they relied on 30 watt amplifiers to feed a crowd of three thousand hysterical, screaming teenage girls. Without sound monitors. Today, it would take four of Vox’s AC-30 amps to equate to one Vox Valvetornic amp. I’d love to see some of our over produced contemporary bands try something like that!
2.) U.F.O.s.
Today, a high-profile band is guarded by 400 pound security gorillas armed with oozies. In 1964? It was every man for himself. The Beatles were shoved onto a plywood 20 x 20 stage guarded by a few white-collar pencil pushers as a hysterical teenage audience pelted them with… jelly beans. The gesture was meant to be affectionate as it was a well known piece of Beatle-lore amongst teenage fans that the Beatles loved jelly babies. But in England, jelly babies are a soft little candy. Their American cousins, jelly beans? Quite another story. Recounts George Harrison:
That night, we were absolutely pelted by the fuckin’ things. They don’t have soft jelly babies there; they have hard jelly beans. To make matters worse, we were on a circular stage, so they hit us from all sides. Imagine waves of rock-hard little bullets raining down on your from the sky. It’s a bit dangerous, you know, ’cause if a jelly bean, travelling about 50 miles an hour through the air, hits you in the eye, you’re finished! … Every now and again, one would hit a string on my guitar and plonk off a bad note as I was trying to play.
3.) Rock and Roll
In the years before albums like Sgt. Pepper, Revolver or Rubber Soul pushed the boundaries of contemporary music, The Beatles were just a straight up Rock and Roll band. They idolized black American R&B, emulated its raw intensity and the result was magic. This rendition of Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally had been a stage staple since the early 60s, when The Beatles were nothing more than cellar regulars at The Cavern Club.
It has rarely been played with more purity and energy than this two minute bit in D.C.:
4.) RINGO
Ringo tends to get a hell of a lot of flack. People dismiss him as just a third wheel, a yes-man, or the luckiest substitute drummer in the history of music. Truth is: Ringo rocks. He was a major name in Liverpool WAY before The Beatles were even a blip on the radar and did the Lads a favor by playing with them over in Hamburg.
And if you insist on demeaning his skill as a musician, I highly suggest first taking in this particular number from the Washington D.C. concert.
Not only does he showcase his worth as a major percussionist… he is the man of the match!
5.) THE FANS
For the few of you out there who may not know… there is an art to being a Beatlefan. The head bump, the seat bounce, the finger scrunch– all are the result of much study and practice. Then again … it’s actually just the spontaneous, knee-jerk reaction of exposure to what was the most head-pounding rock and roll of its time.
The Beatlefan is unmistakable. And the 1963 Washington D.C. concert is especially noteworthy since the Beatlefans are at their unruly best. Beatlemania in the US was a new disease… and the symptoms manifested itself in some particularly entertaining cases…
- best date night ever!!
The Kitty Packard Pictorial 
I love that they got pelted with jelly beans, that is too funny! And I adore your profiles of the Beatlefans — whenever I see footage of the screaming fans at Beatles concerts I always instinctively look for my mom in the crowd! (She only saw them once, at Dodger’s Stadium when she was about twelve, but I can’t help but look for her.)
I wish I could have been your Mother!!! (that sounded more disturbing than intended… you know what I meant…)
Thank you Kitty for this excellent post! Especially for showing the video of I Saw Her Standing There. They sure rocked!
I wish the Girls shown on television should come forward and show themselves. So we can have a happy reunion about their unforgettable concert with the Beatles. Remember. Paul and Ringo are still alive and their now in their prime. We are not getting any younger and I hope we can do this at least one more time. Life is too short .
Good words. You got it just right. Especially this bit: “On Febraury 11 1964, however, what the audience got was a concert as performed by your local high school band. Only … they kinda happen to be the best rock band on the planet.”
Here are a couple of additional thoughts for you…
It was loud in there. We couldn’t hear the director in the truck. At times, we couldn’t hear the band. As low man on the TV crew, I helped haul cables and set up camera stations and set up the mikes and mike cables…such as they were; then as floor guy, my headset was tethered to one of the cameras down on the floor beside the stage/platform. Did I mention it was LOUD?
And WHAT was going on with the fans (girls, mostly)? What was that? Few of us there expected it or knew what to make of it. At least, I didn’t.
Back to the high school band image: looking back, the TV production was like something the nerds at that same high school pulled together at the last minute. We taped wrestling remotes that had better production qualities. Of course, for wrestling we had a script. And I, for one, didn’t have a clue to the history being made. But you can bet I’m going to be in the audience when the Beatles play The Strand in Rockland, Maine, later this month.
Hello, Steve! Apologies for this terribly late response but I’ve been away from the Pictorial the past few months. I’m just now catching up on everything and am delighted– and completely floored– by your comment! I cannot express how fascinating your input is (not to mention jealousy-inducing) as I’ve never met anyone who was behind the scenes on ANY Beatles concert– let alone their first American one! Thank you so very much for sharing-! (And I hope you got to catch the Beatles First Concert showing in Rockland!)
Thank you for your kind reply. Sadly, the videotape showings were cancelled nationwide. Some legal / rights dust up, I presume. In the process of digging into this, however, I actually found three photos that appear to include me in them. Kinda neat for a kid from the sticks in Virginia. It was certainly a time to remember.
Hi. I left what I thought was a quite complementary comment a few days ago, and It’s gone. Why?
Sorry. Not sure why it went away. Thanks for putting it back.