# How much would you pay to see The Beatles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053 "2002-09-22T00:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/21 "2002-09-22T21:27:31Z")
maybe a couple thousand bucks… ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/22 "2002-09-23T19:57:34Z")
Is it true that 3 of the Beatles actually agreed to Lorne Michaels’ offer just for the hell of it, but one of them (I think John) either couldn’t be contacted or said no? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/23 "2002-09-23T23:08:08Z")
I saw The Beatles play the Queens Theatre in Blackpool in 1963. I don’t remember the date of the performance but it was either 21 July or 4 August. Either way, I was 14 years old. The theatre was not large. There were maybe 1,000 to 1,500 in the audience. A further 4,000 to 5,000 fans without tickets remained outside in the street. I can’t recall the playlist but the concert took place before the release of _She Loves You_, so by this time the band had enjoyed only 3 chart entries: _Love Me Do_, _Please Please Me_ and _From Me To You_. The rest of the songs would have come from the first album, released in the spring of the same year. The overriding memory is the noise. Noise was all there was. I went with my best friend but the vast majority of the audience were young teenage girls. They screamed from start to finish. It was a madhouse. We were in the circle. Occasionally we could pick out the strains of a guitar or a drumbeat, but by and large we heard nothing but the voices of the girls around us. Those we could see had tears streaming down their faces and some were stuffing handkerchiefs in their mouths. They were hysterical. The Beatles played Blackpool seven times in two months in 1963, four times at the ABC, where subsequently the Rolling Stones would cause a riot, and three times at the Queens. We paid nothing. My mother was working at the theatre and one of her perks was a couple of free tickets from time to time. I saw the Beatles in July or August 1963 but I didn’t hear them. Nobody did. It just wasn’t possible. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/24 "2002-09-24T01:38:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > \*\*Is it true that 3 of the Beatles actually agreed to Lorne Michaels’ offer just for the hell of it, but one of them (I think John) either couldn’t be contacted or said no? \*\* When Michaels made his offer Paul was visiting John and they were watching and they seriously thought about going down to the NBC studios. A few weeks later George Harrison was the musical guest and there wasa very funny scene of him talking with Lorne about the whole money issue and Lorne said something like, “Well, it was supposed to be $3000 for all 4 of you, not $3000 each.” To which George replies, “Well, $750 is pretty chintzy.”😛 😃 😃 😛 ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/25 "2002-09-24T02:39:30Z")
I’d have to see them, so I’d pay a couple hundred if it was necessary, but I’d want to _hear_ the music too. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/26 "2002-09-24T03:05:10Z")
I’ve got this kidney I’m not using… ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/27 "2002-09-24T07:13:41Z")
Kidneys? Amateur. I can think of some more important organs I’d gladly give up to see the Beatles live! Do the words “Rocky Mountain oyster” mean anything to you? I don’t see why it’s _really_ necessary to have two of those… ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/28 "2002-09-24T12:24:19Z")
Mobo beat me to it. $3,000 (and they can split it anyway they want, if they want to give a smaller cut to Ringo, that’s OK with me). ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/29 "2002-09-24T14:32:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by elfkin477_ > Not as much as I’d pay to see Nirvana. What he said. I’d give up free Beatles tickets for the rest of my life for one Nirvana show. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/30 "2002-09-24T14:42:27Z")
Zero. The Beatles have never been a favorite. Now, if you could get **The Police** back together again… ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/31 "2002-09-24T18:16:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\* > > What he said. I’d give up free Beatles tickets for the rest of my life for one Nirvana show. \*\* Feh. The only reason I’d even take Nirvana tickets would be to scalp them to some poor deluded soul. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/32 "2002-09-24T18:20:07Z")
Correction: Some deluded soul with _money_. Then I’d have more for the Beatles tickets. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/33 "2002-09-24T18:33:57Z")
Just curious, is “feh” a Yiddishism? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/34 "2002-09-25T00:26:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max \* > \*\*if you could get **The Police** back together again… \*\* Yeah, fuck them Beatles. What’re the Bay City Rollers doing these days? ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053/35 "2002-09-25T00:58:56Z")
Also, for those who don’t think the Beatles show would be good because they’d be old—I saw Paul in May, and let me say that it was the most amazing, terrific, astounding, wonderful things I have ever seen in my entire life. The show was absolutely flawless and he rocked…and verily, he rocked _hard_. I think I saw God that night…it was like a religious experience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-to-see-the-beatles/129053.md?page=1)