Finsbury Park 1964

Very little information can be found about the Beatles November 1, 1964 performance at London's  Astoria Cinema at Finsbury Park.   Perhaps information is hard to find because the Beatles did so many performances at this venue over the years that this one in 1964 just got lost in the mix. 

The theater itself was a sight to be seen.  It had 3,000 seats for fans to enjoy the show along with a huge stage and 12 dressing rooms backstage.    The Beatles had performed 30 shows at the end of 1963 and into 1964 during the Christmas show at the theater.  

Thing we do know about this stop along the tour is that all but one ticket was sold for the show that night.    The Beatles were interviewed backstage before the show and George Harrison, was telling the reporter about some awful scripts the band had gotten recently and how terrible they were.   Paul heard him talking about this and stepped in to stop him from getting the band into trouble.  You know Paul McCartney---always Mr. PR.


The biggest news story of this night would have to have been the story of the 13 year old American runaway, Elizabeth Freeman who met the Beatles backstage on this date.   You can read her entire story here. 

As for the concert itself, there is really nothing exciting to report.   Mary Wells was well-received by the Beatle fans.    When the Beatles hit the stage, the screaming seemed to have been louder than at other points in the tour, but that may  have been because the theater fit about 1000 more fans that other stops along the way.

These two photos of Brian Epstein were also said to have been from this date, although I am not sure where they were taken or if they have anything at all to do with the Beatles performance.  But Brian does not get as much attention as he deserves on this blog, so I am going to include them.