Strictly a curiosity thing. I’m watching the Anthology films and it made me wonder if any Dopers were part of the screaming, fainting masses. Was anyone here lucky enough to be there in person? Care to share some stories about it?
I did not, but my mom did, somewhere in England, and she was very annoyed because she ‘couldn’t hear a damn thing thanks to all those screaming girls!!’
This doesn’t quite fit but my older sister went to see the “Hard Day’s Night” film when it was released. Several years later it was on TV and she remarked that she didn’t know the beginning had music. I reminded her that she saw it while I was left behind. She said there were so many kids screaming when the Beatles appeared on screen, that she couldn’t hear the sound.
So I imagine any concerts had the same problem.Especially when the Beatles first started outdoor concerts at places like Shea Stadium, NY they didn’t have first rate sound amplifying equipment. They tried using the public address system which was inadequate.
When the Beatles came to Chicago, I so wanted to go but was probably about 12 or so and nobody would take me and tickets sold out in a mega-second.
Then, I recall there were some small riots or something going on a few days before the concert and on the day of the concert, my older brother casually mentioned a girl in his high school had tickets, but her father refused to take her for fear of further rioting in Chicago. The girl was offering the tickets free - but no takers.
I begged, pleaded, promised to mow the lawn until I was 35 and do my homework a year in advance - but to no avail.
I cannot express how pissed off I was as a huge Beatles fan, not to be able to go see the concert that was only about a 45-60 minute drive from our house.
So no - I did not get to see them in concert - but thanks for bringing up the memories and old wounds.
I think I will call my older brother today and bitch again.
(A mega-second is one million seconds or about 11.5 days.)
My girlfriend’s good friend went to two of the Hollywood Bowl shows. She told me that they were great and that not only could she hear them over all of the screaming but that she could individually hear each one of them. Of course the Bowl has always been renowned for its wonderful sound.
My mom saw them in Atlantic City (where she grew up) in 1964; she couldn’t hear a thing.
She saw Paul perform again 45 years later, in Tel Aviv. The sound, she says, was much better… although her hearing wasn’t.
(My dad, incidentally, had missed them the first time around; at the performance last year he was his usual snarky self for the first few numbers, but then this glazed grin appeared on his face, and he looked at me and said, “That’s a Beatle over there. A god-damn Beatle.”)
It wasn’t just the Beatles that girls screamed for. My first concert was the Beach Boys in 1967 and the girls were screaming so loud for them I could barely hear the music.
You do have to remember that the amplifiers used for an arena then wouldn’t be considered fit for a small nightclub today. The same level of screaming couldn’t compete with today’s equipment.
Yes. Comiskey Park and the International Amphitheater. I screamed a lot at the first, but listened more at the second. Perhaps being inside and being able to see better quieted us all down.
No. However, I did see the Concert for Bangladesh with George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
My dad went to their very last one. Candlestick Park, 1966.
August, 1966 in Philadelphia. Bobby Hebb and The Cyrkle were the opening acts, the sound sucked and competed with the approaching thunderstorm, the crowd was insane and the stage was miles away from our seats. It was fabulous!
Here’s my ticket stub. 
And about two years later, I saw the Beach Boys in a free concert and they didn’t draw 200 people. No one screamed.
My wife attended the NYC concert at Shea Stadium. I wish she’d kept the ticket stubs.
D did (before we met). Saw them getting out of a limo and swore Paul winked at her. Years later we had 5th row center Wings tickets in Atlanta and before they even came onstage she got a migraine so bad we had to leave. (This was during our 1st marriage).
Q
Would you mind sharing any recollections?
Thanks!
Super cool.
Jim’s Son and Exapno Mapcase are correct; the sound system used at all Beatles concerts was tiny compared to what is used today, or even what was used in the 70s. Here’s a picture from Shea. Those thin, white pillars? Those are column speakers, and they were usually hung on the walls on either side of the stage in a school or small church. The Shea concert had a lot of them, and, if everyone in the stadium was nice and quiet, everyone could have heard the Beatles reasonably well. That didn’t happen.
Here’s my post from an earlier thread.
It is a crying shame, because a few years later the first real concert sound systems appeared.
Interesting. Five bucks to see the biggest band in popular music history.
Too fucking cool!
In constant dollars, that was $33.75. Still a pretty good deal.