INTERVIEWER: DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT YOU CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU SING DURING A CONCERT?
JOHN LENNON: NO, WE DON'T MIND. WE'VE GOT THE RECORDS AT HOME.
THE BEATLES ACTUALLY PLAYED SHEA STADIUM TWICE. WHEN HE WAS LATER ASKED ABOUT THE "SECOND SHEA STADIUM CONCERT", GEORGE HARRISON ASKED - DID WE PLAY SHEA TWICE?
RINGO STARR WAS ASKED THE SAME QUESTION AND GAVE THE EXACT SAME REPLY - DID WE PLAY SHEA TWICE?
THIS IS RATHER UNDERSTANDABLE, WITH THE BEATLES' EXTRAORDINARILY EVENTFUL CAREER, THE EXCESSIVE DRUGS TAKEN, AND THE BOY'S NATURAL "HUMAN" (i.e. FLAWED) MEMORIES.
ANOTHER WORD WOULD PROBABLY APPLY HERE TOO: ANTI-CLIMACTIC.
THE FIRST BEATLES CONCERT IS OFTEN CONSIDERED AN APOGEE, AN ACME, SOME KIND OF A VERY TANGABLE PEAK IN THE UNFORGETTABLE PHENOMENA WE KNOW AS "BEATLEMANIA".
THE FIRST BEATLES SHEA STADIUM CONCERT WAS ON AUGUST 15, 1965. ANY BEATLES FAN WORTH HIS SALT KNOWS THIS ONE AS "THE SHEA STADIUM CONCERT". HARD AS IT IS FOR US TO BELEIVE IN THIS ERA, WHERE EVEN THE MOST HALF-BAKED, SECOND-RATE ACTS CAN SELL-OUT STADIUMS, THE SHEA STADIUM CONCERT WAS A FIRST.
ALTHOUGH THE BEATLES HAD SOLD OUT COUNTLESS THEATERS, LOCAL AUDITORIUMS AND DANCE HALLS, NO ROCK GROUP HAD EVER PLAYED A CONCERT AT AN ACTUAL SPORTS STADIUM BEFORE. THE CROWD WAS CAPACITY, AN EYE-POPPING 55,600 FANS (MOSTLY SCREAMING, CRYING, AND EVEN FAINTING, WOMEN AND TEENAGE GIRLS).
INTERESTINGLY, AMONG THE SCREAMING, FAINTING, WORSHIPPING FANS WERE TWO FUTURE BEATLE WIVES. BOTH LINDA EASTMAN AND BARBARA BACH (THE FUTURE WIVES AND GREATEST LOVES IN THE LIVES OF PAUL AND RINGO) WERE SITTING GOOGLE-EYED AMONGST THE OTHER ADORING FANS. (ONE HAS TO WONDER WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH THESE GIRL'S MINDS AT THE TIME).
THE BOYS WERE DRAMATICALLY ESCORTED TO THE ROOF OF THE WORLD'S FAIR IN A WHIRLING HELICOPTER. ACCORDING TO GEORGE, ON THE ROUTE TO THE ROOFTOP, THE PILOT WAS ZIPPING AND WHIZZING THEM WILDLY OVER THE BIG APPLE, POINTING OUT THE VARIOUS SIGHTS, AS THE BEATLES SAT IN SLIGHT TERROR AT HIS AERIAL ACROBATICS.
THE BOYS WERE THEN DRIVEN TO THE CONCERT IN A WELLS-FARGO BANK VAN. AFTER THEY WERE DEPOSITED AT THE THE STADIUM, EACH WAS GIVEN HIS OWN LITTLE WELLS-FARGO BADGE (ONE CAN SEE THE FILM OF THE CONCERT AND NOTICE EACH BEATLE PROUDLY WEARING HIS WELLS-FARGO BADGE PINNED TO HIS JACKET).
THE PREVIOUS ACTS FINISHED THEIR OBLIGATORY, THANKLESS PERFORMANCES AND LIKE FOUR DIETIES, THE BEATLES WALKED OUT ONTO THE FIELD. THE NOISE WAS DEAFENING (ONE CAN CLEARLY SEE THE SOME OF THE SECURITY PEOPLE PUTTING THEIR HANDS OVER THEIR EARS OR STICKING IN THEIR FINGERS TO BLOCK OUT THE WHIRLWIND OF NOISE).
A SEA OF THOUSANDS OF BRIGHT CAMERA FLASHBULBS GREETED THE BEATLES AS THEY ENTERED AND MADE THE FIELD LOOK LIKE A WILD ELECTRONICS LABORATORY OR A GIANT BATTLEFIELD WITH SPACEMEN SHOOTING OFF RAY GUNS.
THE BOYS NERVOUSLY PICKED UP THEIR GUITARS AND RINGO CLIMBED ABOARD HIS DRUM KIT. THEY STOOD (AND SAT) IN THE MIDDLE OF SHEA STADIUM, SMALL AND DISTANT FIGURES, BUT THIS PROBABLY ADDED TO THE ADORATION AND SURREALISM OF THE MOMENT.
IT WAS A TYPICALLY BRIEF BEATLES CONCERT, JUST 12 SONGS- PLAYED IN AROUND 30 MINUTES. THE BEATLES USED THEIR "NEW" 100-VOLT AMPS, (RATHER LIKE USING A PORTABLE HAND MIKE TO GET AN INTERVIEW WITH KING KONG), AND THROUGHOUT THE DEAFENING ROAR, THEY COULDN'T HEAR A NOTE ANY OF THEM PLAYED (OR SANG). JOHN OPENED WITH HIS VERSION OF "TWIST AND SHOUT", A USUAL ROUTINE, BUT PAUL, GEORGE AND RINGO ALL NOTICED SOMETHING SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ABOUT JOHN THAT NIGHT.
ACCORDING TO GEORGE, JOHN LENNON LITERALLY "CRACKED UP" THAT NIGHT. THE SURREALISM OF THE EVENT CAUGHT LENNON'S FANCY, AND, ALWAYS THE CRAZIEST OF THE FAB FOUR, JOHN JUST "LOST IT".
ONE CAN SEE JOHN CACKLING AND BREAKING UP WITH MAD GLEE SEVERAL TIMES, AS THE BOYS LOOK OVER THE CROWD, AND EACH OTHER, WITH SLIGHT DISBELIEF. AT ONE POINT, JOHN HOLDS HIS ARMS OUT-STRETCHED, AND STARTS CHANTING IN A PETER SELLERS-LIKE VOICE, UP AT SOME IMAGINARY HEAVENLY PRESENCE ABOVE HIM. AT ANOTHER POINT, AS PAUL TALKS TO THE CROWD, JOHN DOES HIS USUAL SPASTIC-CLAWED HANDS IMPRESSION AND STOMPS HIS FEET.
DURING THE CLOSING NUMBER, AS PAUL SINGS "I'M DOWN", JOHN GOES OVER TO PLAY THE ELECTRIC ORGAN. LENNON STARTS PLAYING THE ORGAN WITH HIS ELBOW AND LAUGHING DEVILISHLY. THE NORMALLY STAID, CONVENTIONAL, PAUL IS SEEN DOING A FULL 360-DEGREE SPIN OF HIS BODY, IN PURE EXHILARATION, IT WOULD SEEM.
EVEN THE USUALLY STONE-FACED GEORGE IS SEEN LAUGHING OUT LOUD AT JOHN'S ANTICS. IN BETWEEN THE "TWIST AND SHOUT" AND "I'M DOWN" BOOKENDS, GEORGE AND RINGO EACH PERFORMED THEIR OBLIGATORY SOLO TURNS.
JOHN AND PAUL ROTATED AND SANG LEAD IN THE OTHER TEN SONGS. BECAUSE OF THE EXCESSIVE NOISE, AND HAVING TO SOMEHOW KEEP SOME KIND OF A BEAT, RINGO LATER WOULD CONFESS TO WATCHING THE SWINGING REAR ENDS OF HIS THREE BANDMATES TO GIVE HIM SOME SLIGHT SEMBLANCE OF RHYTHM.
THUS, THE BAND PLAYED ON.
AND THEN, THIS MOST AMAZING 30-MINUTES OF CONDENSED "MUSIC" ENDED IN A FLASH AND THE FAB FOUR TROMPED OFF THE FIELD, EXHAUSTED, RATHER LIKE SATIATED EMPERORS LEAVING A ROMAN ORGY. THE CONCERT PULLED IN A THEN-RECORD GROSS OF $304,000.00, OF WHICH THE BEATLES WOULD RECEIVE HALF.
IT WAS NOTED, AT THE TIME, AS THE BIGGEST GROSSING EVENT "IN THE HISTORY OF SHOW BUSINESS". (TICKETS SOLD FOR THE RIDICULOUS PRICES OF $4.50, $5.00 AND $5.75)
MANY YEARS LATER, JOHN LENNON RAN INTO SID BERNSTEIN, THE PRODUCER OF THE SHEA STADIUM CONCERT. AS THEY HAPPILY REMINISCED ABOUT THE SHEA CONCERT, JOHN LOOKED AT SID WITH A TWINKLE IN HIS EYE AND SAID,
WE REACHED THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, SID.
