THE BEATLES AT HOLLYWOOD BOWL: 50 YEARS AGO

On August 23, 1964, the Beatles played before more than 17,000 screaming fans at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. All 17,256 available tickets for the event held at the prestigious outdoor concert venue sold out in less than three hours when they had gone on sale four months earlier on April 25, 1964. Capitol recorded the performance with the intent of issuing a live album. The concert recording was produced by Capitol vice president Voyle Gilmore, with George Martin's assistance and Hugh Davis serving as engineer. Prior to the show, Billboard reported that Gilmore was hoping the open-air venue would allow the anticipated screaming to dissipate and not overshadow the band's sound. Yeah, right.

SETLIST:

01.  "Introduction / Twist and Shout"
02.  "You Can't Do That"
03.  "All My Loving"
04.  "She Loves You"
05.  "Things We Said Today"
06.  "Roll Over Beethoven"
07.  "Can't Buy Me Love"
08. "If I Fell"
09. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
10. "Boys"
11. "A Hard Day's Night"
12. "Long Tall Sally"

neither George Martin nor EMI was enthusiastic about recording a live Beatles album. Martin stated that he "knew the quality of recording could not equal what we could do in the studio." Further complicating the recording of their outdoor performances was what Martin described as "arduous in the extreme" conditions for engineers and the chaos and panic that reigned at Beatles concerts. In addition, "the Beatles had no 'fold-back' speakers (monitors), so they could not hear what they were singing, and the eternal shriek from 17,000 healthy young lungs made even a jet plane sound inaudible." EMI was uninterested in releasing a live album as the company believed that sophisticated British consumers would not be interested in purchasing a collection of songs already available in better quality on studio albums and singles.