I know we had an interesting Beatles thread just the other day, and a side discussion was if the boys were a good live band. I was always convinced that they were, especially in their Cavern and Hamburg days, but what was always missing was a definite live recording to prove it. Now I saw that “Live At the Hollywood Bowl” was released today, and I’m listening to it right now.
These are recordings in the usual settings from those days, large venues with screaming hysterical girls all around (but that’s better toned down than on all other live recordings I’ve heard from those times before). But given the circumstances, the shitty PA’s and non-existent monitor tech of those days, they sound REALLY tight and thrilling on these recordings. Ringo is always as spot on as on all the studio recordings (well, the other boys too). I understand that this is a kind of official re-release of an obscure 70’s LP, but I suspect that in this case, remastering really did the job of giving a genuine impression of their stage chops. I don’t think that many people here had the opportunity to listen to it yet, but I just wanted to share.
My best friend had that LP back around 1978, so it’s not a new release. Plus, you can hear at least a dozen live Beatles performances on YouTube (true, not with such high quality sound, due more to recording and transmission limitations than to the Beatles themselves – the Hollywood Bowl recordings come closer to a real concert experience.)
Thanks for pointing out the digital release of this material!
Cool. And worth mentioning that it’s part of Ron Howard’s media burst related to his documentary Eight Days a Week. I suspect his mission is to put to rest any concerns that the Beatles weren’t a rockin’ band ;).
Bumping this as a public service to fans–Ron Howard’s documentary “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years” will be showing in selected theaters tomorrow (9/15). The Shea Stadium concert is supposed to be part of the screenings too. Should be a fun evening. If you can’t make it to the theater, the documentary will be airing on Hulu starting on the 17th.
It was fun. Nothing very groundbreaking for any knowledgable fan, but fun to see some parts of lesser-known '64 shows on a big screen. A few funny quips from John I hadn’t heard before. As with many a documentary, some liberties are taken to match up sounds (dialogue or music) and still images that don’t really belong together, but that’s okay.
My almost-six-year-old enjoyed it (even jumped up and down in his seat at one point), but got tired before it ended (understandable). He wondered with some real alarm why the Beatles had to run away constantly from screaming girls who wanted to rip the to shreds. He thought those girls were quite rude, and should leave his heroes in peace!
I really enjoyed seeing the Fabs again on the big screen with a nice loud sound system. My theater was packed, probably almost 300 people in attendance. Howard’s film is good, not great, but with some fine moments. I had never seen the Manchester show before…really amazing how good they were as a live band. Some really good laughs sprinkled in–great quotes from each of them. There’s a very very brief shot of teen-aged Sigourney Weaver the Hollywood Bowl gig, and Whoopi Goldbery’s Beatles tale is quite touching, really. You really get a sense of the electricity that surrounded them, nobody had seen anything like it before.
The Shea Stadium gig picture quality was really excellent. Really cool to hear the crowd in the theater applaud when they took their final bow.
