It was the end of an era: The Beatles, who changed the live-music industry by playing at ballparks and stadiums, performed live for the last time, at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.
The August 29, 1966 event wasn't billed as a final concert -- though
the Beatles had decided it was days before -- and it wasn't the biggest
success, with the Beatles attracting only 25,000 paying customers to
Candlestick Park, which held 42,500 (before the outfield seating was
built in). The team's last song played live: "Long Tall Sally."
The band played American ballparks and stadiums
for only a year over two tours: the first Shea Stadium concert was on
August 15, 1965, and was the beginning of a 10-stop tour that also saw
the band play at Chicago's Comiskey Park, Bloomington's Metropolitan
Stadium and Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. (Yes, the four ballparks the
Beatles played in 1965 are all gone.)
The 1966 tour saw the band play at
Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, Washington, D.C.'s D.C. Stadium (now
known at JFK Stadium), St. Louis's Busch Stadium, Shea Stadium, Dodger
Stadium and the aforementioned Candlestick Park. A few other stadiums
were in the mix, but they weren't related to baseball, like a concert at
San Diego's Balboa Stadium.
A concert at Cincinnati's Crosley Field was
scrapped because of rain.
Since the Beatles, ballpark concerts have become an important part of
the music industry. What is commonplace today was considered daring at
the time. Still, ballpark concerts are still major events: it was big
when Paul helped close down Shea Stadium and
opened Citi Field, and it's big when a major artist like Kenny Chesney
brings over 44,000 fans to Target Field.
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