Vegas Teen Describes the Scene

Vegas Teen Describes the Scene at the Center
By Cornelia DeBruin

The Beatles' chartered plane touched down at the old McCarran field Wednesday at approximately 1 a.m.  There were --unexpectedly-- no fans.

They were promptly driven to the Sahara hotel where --even after curfew hours, 2,000 loyal fans screamed a welcome to Las Vegas.  Since Wednesday the Sahara has been a constant melee of teenagers who have been trying to get a glimpse of their idols.

The Beatles have spent most of the day in their hotel rooms and, at close to 2:30 or 3:00 pm they were taken to the Convention Center where they spent the time practicing their songs.

At 4pm, the afternoon show began.  All 3,500 seats were filled and roughly 200 policemen, some from Phoenix tried to keep law and order.

About 15 minutes before the Beatles came on someone began turning the Convention Center lights on and off which caused much confusion and screams.

At 5:30 The Beatles came on stage to be greeted by uncontrollable screams and applause.  the first song they sang was "Twist and Shout" which drove the audience into mass hysteria.  It was followed by "Can't buy me love,"  "close your eyes,"  "She Loves you,"  "'till there was you" (a solo number by Paul McCartney), "Roll Over Beethoven,"  "You can't do that"  "If I Fell,"  "I wanna hold your hand,"  "Boys (Ringo's solo), "Hard Day's Night" and "Long Tall Sally."

The whole center was reverberating with screams and shrieks and a rumor was circling that at least one girl tried to climb on stage and was carried out in hysterics.  May girls in the audience were unashamedly crying while others were at the point of mass hysteria.  More than once, the Beatles were pelted with jelly beans.  Ringo was hit in the head once to which he shook his head causing many shrieks.

Between 8 and 10 girls fainted and a few adults were driven out by the screams.  After the concert, several fans rushed to the back of the Convention Center to get a glimpse of their idols.  The police, who treated the people like criminals, forced the crowd back causing many casualties.  One girl was jabbed in the ribs with a nightstick and nearly fainted and one other fan had her foot (your truly) run over by a policeman's motorcycle.

All in all, the Beatles' stay and concert here was a smashing success and the teenagers, as a group, behaved in a surprisingly orderly fashion with the exception of a few emotional outbursts.  This performance has touched the hearts and lives of nearly 8,500 teenagers.

And in respect to the Beatles, they had a tremendous success which paid off $30,000, nearly $1,000 a minute (Editor's Note:  We think somebody as pulling Cornelia's leg).