The Beatles had played in Dundee, Scotland year prior to this performance and the fans were excited to have them back for another set of concerts. The Beatles arrived in Dundee and went to the Caird Hall where they were interviewed and photographed.
One visitor they had backstage was Margaret, the Countess of Strathmore. The Countess was in the minority of the day because she spoke out about how much she disliked the Beatles concert . She wrote a letter to a newspaper saying how the Beatles fans were "appalling and bad mannered for screaming so hard that she couldn't hear the music."
The concert itself must have been quite a scene. 40 large men, many of them national wrestling champs were standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the stage to block any young Beatlemaniac from trying to get onstage with the boys. There were another 35 on stand-by at various places around the hall just in case things got really out of control.
The fans were warned of all of this and things started out nicely with chants of "We love you Beatles" that turned into all out screaming by the time the boys hit the stage. The newspaper reported that in the first 5 minutes of the Beatles performance 50 (!) fans fainted or were crying hysterically and had to be carried away. Wow!
At the end of Long Tall Sally someone came on stage and tried to get the fans to call the Beatles back onstage for an encore, but us Beatle fans are smart and they already knew the routine of the show. So when the Beatles were trying to leave the venue, at least 1000 people were blocking their way. The police had to use their cars and dogs to try to get the Beatles into the car. And even then, fans were flinging themselves onto the car while screaming uncontrollably. No injuries occurred and it was just another regular night for the Fab 4.
Sara, Once again, your reporting is indispensable! The UK tours have always been overshadowed by all the things that went on around them, and - once again, as you have been doing all year with all things '64 - by going through this day by day, you're really getting the feeling of the tour! Really appreciate it, and also to see where all these photos fit in with each other.....once again: indispensable!!!
ReplyDeleteSara; look forward every night to your site, brings back memories & also enjoy the current - thank you for your time & effort...nyc64
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