When I saw the Racetrack location on The Beatles schedule in
16 magazine, I asked a friend, who not only had his driving license but had his
own car. My uncle had a beach resort
near the Racetrack.
We asked his parents if we could drive from Connecticut to
Massachusetts for a weekend at this resort and see The Beatles. His mother said okay!
The next step was to ask my relatives to try to get
tickets. After bugging him for a week,
my uncle called them. A few days later I
heard that they had gotten tickets!
Soon, two tickets to see The Beatles arrived in the mail. I couldn’t believe my luck! Two ticket, second row yet!
When we got to the concert and sat in our second row seats,
I looked around in totally anticipation … girls, girls and more girls. It must have been 9 to 1.
The set up was odd, I thought. We were sitting in bleacher-type seats with a
fence in front of us, then the racetrack, and on the other side, maybe 50-75
feet away, was a wooden makeshift stage.
We were really close.
DJs came and introduced groups such as The Remains and The
Ronettes. While they were priming the
crowd for The Beatles, I’ll never forget looking to the left of the stage and
seeing light reflecting off something shiny and moving. It was one of those real moments in
life. I noticed some figures, then John,
then George, Paul and Ringo. And even
though the noise grew to some incredible level, as they came into my full
focus, bouncing up the stairs and onto the stage, I heard nothing—I froze. There they were. Holy shit, it’s The Beatles, holy shit!
When I came back to some sort of consciousness, the crowd
was wild and I picked up my 8mm movie camera and tried to film as the crowd
shoved and screamed.
How cool they looked in to suits. I tried to memorize what I was feeling
forever! And, I did. I think I even wrote down the song list. Then, in such a short time, it was over. A limo pulled up to the stage, they got in
quickly, and the car pulled out on the track and drove right by us. And, for a fleeting second or two, there was
John’s face, looking out the window and waving.
Again, holy shit! Girls were
crying; it was such a weird feeling as they drove away.
I had the film developed, but never having used the camera
before; I didn’t know there was a filter over the lens. I still have these films; they’re not very
good, but I can see something in them no one else can!
--Mike
I was there with four friends and had front row tickets. The
girls were screaming so loud and it was hard to hear the music. A few girls
hyperventilated and passed out behind us. A couple of people jumped the fence
between the track and the seats and got to the stage but not quite to them. At
14 years old it was quite something. I had no idea why it was so crazy but I
loved the Beatles and knew all their songs and words back then. – Ken
I was there too. It was hard to hear them, but I think the
sound system was not appropriate, inasmuch as I don’t believe a concert was
ever played there. Plus, all the screaming did not help at all. I was 15 and
could not believe I was even in the same arena as the Beatles. I lived 2
streets up from the race track. I didn’t have a ticket but knew how and where
to jump the fence. So, I can say, I saw them when. – Mary Jane
I remember 6 things distinctly:
1. It was very hot and very humid, made worse by the crowd surging all around
us, mostly surging towards different limos on the infield that folks thought
the Beatles were in.
2. I remember Barry and the Remains, Bobby Hebb, and Cyrcle did “Red Rubber
Ball” very well.
3.
I remember decoy limos, not 4 limos, until the Beatles all jumped out if the
same car.
4. The sound was very poor due to clipping of overdriven amps, small speakers,
and lack of on-stage monitors. Technology simply had not caught up to the new
paradigm of large venues and increased attendance.
5. Girls were hyperventilating and passing out, and the crowds were passing the
girls to the rails where the cops would lay them down on the track, giving them
some fresh air. Some enterprising young ladies feigned illness, hit the track,
and headed for the stage.6. The most poignant moment: during the Beatles performance,
a fan made it to the stage and was trying to just touch one of the four, I
believe it was Paul. I was on the rail at that time because one of our girls
was laying on the track from the heat, so I was pretty close to the stage. I
remember how petrified they all looked. Great memory, my first concert - Dana
The way I remember it, all the opening acts came out of
limos from the front. When it was time for the Beatles to play, four limos
pulled up in front of the stage and the crowd went crazy and some fans touched
the limos. The Beatles were not really in the limos. The cars were decoys.
While everyone was focused on the cars and the melee, the Beatles were all of a
sudden on the stage. I always suspected the helicopter that had landed on the
field behind the stage. The girls were crazy loud but I heard all the songs.
Great show! - Ted
I was in the lower section and right behind me were the
grandstands," he said. "They were pretty good seats because the
grandstands were a bit further away. So I felt fortunate to be that close, but
we were probably still a couple hundred feet.
I think they played for like 25 minutes and that's seems to be in line
with other people's remembrance of the show," he said. "And I was
like, 'That's it?' So I was a little disappointed because I would've liked to
have seen them for an hour. But the bigger disappointment is just not being
able to hear them. I would've loved to have heard at least half of it and not
away from where they were playing."
--Ron
In August 1966, I was living in Springfield, MA. My birthday
wasn’t until November, but I remember my mother buying me a ticket to
see the Beatles in Boston. She came home
with a special she had seen advertised which included round-trip tickets to
Boston on Peter Pan bus lines and a ticket to the Beatles show all for
$12.75! I had been a Beatle fan from the
first time of exposure, and this was the best thing that could have happened to
me. All of my friends who were going to
meet at the bus station. To our
surprise, there were four buses in the group.
Some were decorated with “Beatles or bust” banners on the sides. Inside, the bus was pure energy. Everyone was signing songs and passing
Beatles magazines. Finally, we got to
Suffolk Downs in Boston at 7:30pm.
People were all over the place selling souvenirs, buttons, banners,
newspapers, Beatles cookies and Lennonaid.
After buying one of everything and getting inside, I bought my program
and found my seat. It was too far back,
so I decided to get closer.
Impossible! The show started at
8pm, but it was past that now and every time a limo pulled into the race track
near where the stage was, the screams became unbearable. The first act was Bobby Hebb singing
“Sunny.” Next were the Cyrkle, then the
Ronettes, one of my favorites at the time.
When they finished, the tension grew.
And when The Beatles were announced, the place went crazy. I couldn’t see too well, but I was standing
right next to one of the P.A. speakers and even could hear them talking to
themselves onstage. I remember Paul
telling George that a girl in the audience looked like him. They were making all kinds of wisecracks but
unfortunately, I can’t remember them.
Their portion of the show as over all too quickly. They did all the
songs that are on the Tokyo video.
George Harrison became my favorite, as I got the closest to the group
while he was singing “If I needed someone.”
I remember saying to everyone that he was “so cool.” We all then headed back to our buses – girls
crying and guys talking about forming groups. -- Harold
No comments:
Post a Comment