# It was 50 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408 "2016-08-29T16:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/1 "2016-08-29T16:24:08Z")
… at Candlestick Park. The Beatles’ last public concert was 50 years ago today. Hard to believe it’s been fifty years - okay, I was in kindergarten in Upstate New York, so I clearly wasn’t there. Were you there? What memories can you share? The Beatles were an important part of my youth. We played the red and blue albums over and over. And over. We memorized all the lyrics. Classic rock music. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/2 "2016-08-29T16:30:58Z")
My brother might have been - he attended concerts all over the central west coast, although we’ve talked mostly about his Stones concerts. I’ve been to Candlestick and I like the Beatles… but I guess that doesn’t count. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/3 "2016-08-29T16:35:45Z")
[Amazingly enough, that final concert was over a third empty.](https://www.beatlesbible.com/1966/08/29/candlestick-park-san-francisco-final-concert/) Can anybody venture a guess why so few people showed up for easily the most popular band in the world? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/4 "2016-08-29T16:40:45Z")
Probably because people in the Bay Area knew that Candlestick Park on an August night was about as hospitable as eastern Siberia in the middle of winter, so they figured “we’ll wait and see them the next time they come through town, when we won’t freeze our butts off”. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/5 "2016-08-29T16:46:33Z")
And probably for the same reason the band itself quit touring: shows were nothing but tens of thousands of teenaged girls screaming nonstop. A lot of fans who might have braved a Candlestick winter probably rubbed their ears and thought, “why bother… I SAID, WHY BOTHER?” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/6 "2016-08-29T16:51:55Z")
The song starts “It was twenty years ago today Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play”. So it’s actually been 70 years. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/7 "2016-08-29T16:54:01Z")
Odd that the Beatles never released a live album during their time, or for quite some time afterwards. I’ve never even heard of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, let alone heard it. Wonder how I missed it. I see it has not been released on CD. Whoever manages the Beatles material must be happy with the already truckloads of money they are making, that they don’t re-release this album. is it just not any good? ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/8 "2016-08-29T17:17:06Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Odd that the Beatles never released a live album during their time, or for quite some time afterwards. > > I’ve never even heard of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, let alone heard it. Wonder how I missed it. I see it has not been released on CD. Whoever manages the Beatles material must be happy with the already truckloads of money they are making, that they don’t re-release this album. > > is it just not any good? [Actually it’s being released again in a few weeks.](http://www.thebeatles.com/news/now-available-pre-order-%E2%80%98-beatles-live-hollywood-bowl%E2%80%99-album-be-released-worldwide-september) From what I’ve seen and heard, the major problem with the album is that the screaming fans blot out a lot of the music. Whether technology has reduced the screaming to acceptable levels, we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/9 "2016-08-29T17:25:23Z")
Probably it’s a recording of tens of thousand screaming girls. You couldn’t isolate the stage microphones easily in those days. The monitors weren’t powerful enough to let the band hear each other. Arenas were the worst. A few pretty decent live films made in smaller auditoriums can be found on youtube [Empire Pool - 1965](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc8wtwASPhY) [Melbourne 1964](https://youtu.be/fj5tKYgz9Zc) This one’s screaming girls and not so good. [Liverpool , Dec. 1963](https://youtu.be/ziJdtSphfew) The advances in sound and recording technology over a few years of the 60s were as remarkable as the advances in the music. The Beatles quit touring a few years too early. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-50-years-ago-today-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/764408/10 "2016-08-30T06:39:11Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > [Amazingly enough, that final concert was over a third empty.](https://www.beatlesbible.com/1966/08/29/candlestick-park-san-francisco-final-concert/) Can anybody venture a guess why so few people showed up for easily the most popular band in the world? **Suburban Plankton** nailed it. At Candlestick, the 49ers had better weather there in the falls and early winters than the Giants did in the summers. I grew up in the northeast, childhood in Upstate New York, and some of the coldest I’ve ever been was at Giants games at the Stick.