60 years ago the British band performed for the first time with its classic line-up: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. To celebrate, we remember some of their unforgettable performances.
Cavern Club in 1962
The Beatles’ first performances were at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The cameras spotted them there: impressed with the band’s talent, Granada Television producers decided to record two of their songs at one of their small concerts, “Some Other Guy” and “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey- hey!”
The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964
73 million people saw the program in the United States, approximately, the largest audience ever recorded on American television. The documentary The Beatles Anthology says that during the transmission, the country was paralyzed, the streets were deserted and crime rates dropped for 60 minutes. Until then, Beatles fever had only spread to Europe and the quartet wondered if they would be lucky in America, but thanks to the show, the virus spread to America and transformed rock. Sullivan’s show had the highest ratings in its history
Shea Stadium in 1965
On August 15, 1965, 55,000 fans gathered at Shea Stadium in New York. Ed Sullivan introduced the band before Twist and Shout started playing. The Beatles performed twelve songs in a concert that went down in history as one of the best of their career. The presentation ended with I’m Down, a song that Lennon played on his Hammond organ with his elbows. The group received $160,000.
Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California on August 29, 1966
The Beatles performed before a crowd of supporters for the final time at Candlestick Park in 1966. The Beatles were already sick of travelling at this point, and John Lennon’s famed statement that he was “more popular than Jesus” had sparked intense resentment among Americans who identified as religious. Therefore, the group decided that Candlestick would be their final tour.
Apple Corps Headquarters. The roof in 1969
It was a cold day and there was a lot of wind. To weather the weather, John Lennon had borrowed a fur coat from Yoko Ono and Ringo Starr donned his wife’s red trench coat. For some time the Beatles had been thinking of giving a live concert, but they didn’t know where to do it. They finally chose the idea that seemed the simplest: “Let’s go to the roof.” People began to lean out of windows and look up from the streets. They played at lunchtime for 42 minutes, until the police managed to stop them.