When The Beatles arrived in San Francisco in August of 1964 they were already the most popular band on Earth.
The band played the Cow Palace in 1964 and 1965, and to say it was pandemonium might be an understatement.
“The screaming got louder as you know they're coming. (And when they finally got there?) And then you really heard it,” Cindy Gross told KTVU.
Gross was a teenager at the time, living down the street from the Cow Palace.
She saw both of The Beatles shows there, but says they didn't sound as good as their records.
“No, because with the screaming and all of that you couldn't hear everything,” said Gross.
Some of the few young men who were there can be seen on black and white film of the concert plugging their ears.
Many female fans rushed the stage with a few actually making it onto the platform, only to be tackled by security and police.
The Beatles never missed a beat, playing on and almost oblivious to the chaos around them.
“I think they were pretty used to it,” said Gross.
“From what I could see they didn't look too petrified. I think it was commonplace,” said Gross. “They probably would have been upset if no one ran on the stage.”
When the show was over after only about a half hour, the band made a polite if not hasty retreat, leaving behind several teenage girls and young women who had collapsed or passed out. Security and police simply picked them up off the stage area and carried them away, presumably to recover or to several ambulances parked outside.
By the time The Beatles returned for their third visit to play Candlestick Park in 1966, San Francisco was leading its own musical revolution. Janis Joplin, The Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead put the Bay Area at the epicenter of a rapidly evolving music scene.
While The Beatles were still the most popular band in the world at that time, they didn't even sell out Candlestick.
“I'm not sure why there were 5,000 empty seats at Candlestick but it was a damn large park,” Ben Fong-Torres tells KTVU.
The former editor at Rolling Stone magazine was working as a reporter in Oakland and used his press pass to watch the band from the press box at Candlestick.
“George Harrison was wearing white socks. That kind of stood out for me,” said Fong-Torres.
Little did Fong-Torres, or anyone else including The Beatles, realize how significant the performance would become.
“Nobody knew it was the last concert. So you didn't assign any particular importance to it except that it was a Beatles concert,” said Fong-Torres.
Security was even more elaborate than the Cow Palace shows, with the band brought to the stage in an armored car and kept behind chain link fencing.
“They jumped on stage and just blitzed through their 9 or 10 songs and they were done,” said Fong-Torres. “And I don't think McCartney and Lennon and Starr, Harrison really heard really anything other than the screaming.”
And just as it was at the Cow Palace shows, the sound quality was poor.
Beatles fans again took their best shots at getting as close as possible to the band but never really came close. Police quickly intercepted them as they raced across the infield to try to reach the stage set up at second base.
“When you're in the press you're not supposed to have any feelings,” Fong-Torres told KTVU. “So you're supposed to be unemotional. I think I screamed only a couple of times, looking at my reporter's notebook 'Yay Paul!'
And just like that it was over.
The Beatles were whisked away, never realizing their concert era had come to an end at Candlestick Point.
Paul McCartney reflected on the occasion during a 1976 interview with Fong-Torres.
“No. When we did it we didn't think it was going to be the last place. So we didn't kind of do it and think, ah ha,” said McCartney.
Still, he said he did have some strong memories of his 3 concerts here.
“I remember the Cow Palace. I remember Candlestick Park. I remember playing here and enjoying it and seeing one of the police motorcycle escorts coming off his motorbike as he went around the corner. I got a lot of recollections of San Francisco. It's a very nice city,” said McCartney.
McCartney apparently thinks it's nice enough that he's proposed doing another concert at Candlestick, which would be the last show before the stadium is torn down.
This time it's a safe bet that the show will sell out.
The band played the Cow Palace in 1964 and 1965, and to say it was pandemonium might be an understatement.
“The screaming got louder as you know they're coming. (And when they finally got there?) And then you really heard it,” Cindy Gross told KTVU.
Gross was a teenager at the time, living down the street from the Cow Palace.
She saw both of The Beatles shows there, but says they didn't sound as good as their records.
“No, because with the screaming and all of that you couldn't hear everything,” said Gross.
Some of the few young men who were there can be seen on black and white film of the concert plugging their ears.
Many female fans rushed the stage with a few actually making it onto the platform, only to be tackled by security and police.
The Beatles never missed a beat, playing on and almost oblivious to the chaos around them.
“I think they were pretty used to it,” said Gross.
“From what I could see they didn't look too petrified. I think it was commonplace,” said Gross. “They probably would have been upset if no one ran on the stage.”
When the show was over after only about a half hour, the band made a polite if not hasty retreat, leaving behind several teenage girls and young women who had collapsed or passed out. Security and police simply picked them up off the stage area and carried them away, presumably to recover or to several ambulances parked outside.
By the time The Beatles returned for their third visit to play Candlestick Park in 1966, San Francisco was leading its own musical revolution. Janis Joplin, The Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead put the Bay Area at the epicenter of a rapidly evolving music scene.
While The Beatles were still the most popular band in the world at that time, they didn't even sell out Candlestick.
“I'm not sure why there were 5,000 empty seats at Candlestick but it was a damn large park,” Ben Fong-Torres tells KTVU.
The former editor at Rolling Stone magazine was working as a reporter in Oakland and used his press pass to watch the band from the press box at Candlestick.
“George Harrison was wearing white socks. That kind of stood out for me,” said Fong-Torres.
Little did Fong-Torres, or anyone else including The Beatles, realize how significant the performance would become.
“Nobody knew it was the last concert. So you didn't assign any particular importance to it except that it was a Beatles concert,” said Fong-Torres.
Security was even more elaborate than the Cow Palace shows, with the band brought to the stage in an armored car and kept behind chain link fencing.
“They jumped on stage and just blitzed through their 9 or 10 songs and they were done,” said Fong-Torres. “And I don't think McCartney and Lennon and Starr, Harrison really heard really anything other than the screaming.”
And just as it was at the Cow Palace shows, the sound quality was poor.
Beatles fans again took their best shots at getting as close as possible to the band but never really came close. Police quickly intercepted them as they raced across the infield to try to reach the stage set up at second base.
“When you're in the press you're not supposed to have any feelings,” Fong-Torres told KTVU. “So you're supposed to be unemotional. I think I screamed only a couple of times, looking at my reporter's notebook 'Yay Paul!'
And just like that it was over.
The Beatles were whisked away, never realizing their concert era had come to an end at Candlestick Point.
Paul McCartney reflected on the occasion during a 1976 interview with Fong-Torres.
“No. When we did it we didn't think it was going to be the last place. So we didn't kind of do it and think, ah ha,” said McCartney.
Still, he said he did have some strong memories of his 3 concerts here.
“I remember the Cow Palace. I remember Candlestick Park. I remember playing here and enjoying it and seeing one of the police motorcycle escorts coming off his motorbike as he went around the corner. I got a lot of recollections of San Francisco. It's a very nice city,” said McCartney.
McCartney apparently thinks it's nice enough that he's proposed doing another concert at Candlestick, which would be the last show before the stadium is torn down.
This time it's a safe bet that the show will sell out.
No comments:
Post a Comment