THE BEATLES IN WELLINGTON 60 YEARS LATER: MEMORIES OF A BEATLE FAN

It was 60 years ago that The Beatles played to a roaring crowd in Wellington’s town hall. Alex Casey’s dad was there, straining to hear a single note.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was enough enthusiasm there that his then 50-year-old mother, who had never been to a concert before, sought out tickets to the much-anticipated Wellington show.
“I have no idea how Mum got the tickets, you must have had to buy them in person because it was all cash and cheques back then.” With The Beatles scheduled to play two shows a night in Wellington over two nights, his mum nabbed tickets to the very first show. 

Miraculously, Dad can still remember what he wore that night: “A dark brown Beatle jacket with a black check through it, a shirt, trousers and my pointy winklepicker shoes.” 

Accompanied by his mother, he caught two buses from Petone to the Wellington Town Hall on Monday June 22, 1964. They had seats high up in the organ loft behind the stage, and Dad remembers a line of policemen facing the throng of screaming young women. “It was really, really noisy,” he said. “You couldn’t really hear anything because of all the screaming. If you put your fingers in your ears, it sort of filtered out the screaming and you could hear the singing.”

The stage set up was relatively simple – no fancy lighting or set pieces. But when The Beatles walked out in their matching suits and their bowl hair cuts, Dad recalled complete chaos throughout the town hall. “I later found out that somebody fell off the balcony, right over the edge onto the stage. People were standing on their seats and puncturing them with their heels, the whole town hall was just in uproar,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a technical issue with the sound that saw John Lennon storm off stage. “Probably wouldn’t have mattered with all the noise going on anyway,” said Dad. They played 10 or so songs back to back, and didn’t have time for idle chit chat. “There wasn’t any banter there, I don’t remember them being on stage for very long at all. It was almost quite clinical, in a way, but I still felt very privileged to be there and grateful to my mother for enduring it.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad remained a fan of The Beatles throughout his teens, but also moved on to the likes of The Kinks and The Rolling Stones, embracing the velvet suits and shaggy hair. “I definitely remember the Sgt Peppers era and ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His only souvenir from the Beatles concert was a Parlophone Records postcard promoting Teal Airlines. And, as someone who has never discarded a single margarine container in his entire life, of course he still has it 60 years later. On the front, the lads are all smiling behind their reproduced signatures. “You don’t need a Prominent Musician’s income to beatle off to FARAWAY PLACES”, the back reads. “Ask TEAL about it!”

 

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