Brian at Motown

 

Beatles in Detroit

 

Following the Dark Horse Tour - part 2

The last time we read about the group of friends following George Harrison on the Dark Horse Tour.  In part 1, they saw him in Chicago and were on their way to see him in Cleveland when a snow storm came through and the Cleveland concert was canceled.   That is where the story picks up and they get a wild idea to see George in Detroit.   This part of the story was written by Pat Simmons. 

We went to drown our sorrows at McDonald's and then trudged on home, ending up amusing ourselves by looking thru photo albums and scrapbooks, listening to the Chicago concert tapes we had made, and realizing how fortunate we were to have seen George at all.  Then we were posing for insane pictures, singing obscene spontaneous songs, and just generally getting slap-happy in trying to cheer ourselves up.  Stephanie and the rest of the Cincinnati gang left for home later the next afternoon, Tuesday and Tempy left for Boston and I left for work.  I met Kris for lunch that day to cry over our Cokes – why Cleveland?  We kept moping.  It had finally stopped snowing (after 3 days of blinding blizzards) and the road had been salted and plowed and the airports finally opened the day after the concerts had been scheduled.  If only the concerts had been on December 3^rd instead of the 2^nd.  We got to wondering if Detroit’s road were cleared up like Cleveland’s now and if so, wouldn’t we just be stupid enough o drive up there, despite the show being on a weeknight and both of us having to get up at an ungodly hour for work the next day, to try to get scalper tickets, if the concerts there weren’t canceled.  Kris called the Olympia Stadium in Detroit later that afternoon and found out the shows were on one at 5:30 which we’d never made, and one at 10pm.  10PM???  Would we really be that sick?  I called the Cleveland Auto Club to find out how many miles it was to Detroit and learned it was only 177.  That’s only a 3-hour drive maybe.  Kris obtained directions to the Stadium by calling there for information.  By 6:00, armed with Howard Johnson’s popcorn and potato chips for supper, she and I and Joy and Deb were on our way to Detroit, never having been there before, hoping we had the right directions, realizing we’d only be getting there about an hour or less before the 10:00 show was to start, having no tickets and praying we’d be able to find scalpers, knowing we’d be up the entire night and Kris and I not only having to show up for full-time jobs the next morning but also both of us having to work part-time jobs that night, all with no sleep and only 3 nights ago, I’d had another night with no sleep and not more than 4 or 5 hours each night ever since Thanksgiving!  We only regretted that the Cincinnati girl and Tempy and Brenda had already left and couldn’t be insane along with us.

When we got there, we found the Olympia to be in a VERY bad area and there seemed to be no such thing as a parking space, so I invented one, on a side street practically in the middle of a snowdrift.  We found a scalper with 11^th row seats, learned that the first show had started over an hour late because George had still been stranded in Chicago and figured out show probably wouldn’t’ start until nearly midnight, so heaven only knew when we’d be getting home!  It was about a half hour after we arrived when people started to pour out of the stadium after the first show, and we waited over a half hour more for the doors to open to let us in, and over another half hour before everyone found their seats and sat down.  The crowd was very loud and rowdy and I was wondering how this concert was going to go – I’d heard of Ravi nearly getting booed off stage in some cities, which needless to say really upsets George, and I was praying that after all this, things would go well.  While waiting for everyone to sit down and while choking on that horrible smell of pot and feeling slightly ill as a result we artistically went about drawing up a sign signifying “CLEVELAND” thanks to some artistic talent and a magic marker, for which we were sure George would be most thrilled when and if he would see it.  Some guys in the row ahead of us were just incredulous we’d come all this way and that we’d also been in Chicago.  One of them had coincidentally been in Tulsa on business while George was there and he’d attended that concert and said that Leon Russel had joined George on stage and sang with him!  Anyway, these just were most impressed we’d come so far with no tickets and took such a chance, especially learning we’d have to go to work the next day as well and we received a round of applause from them for a moment.  That was most swift.

Finally the concert began.  George came on stage and said, “Good evening Detroit – take two!” and as usual George seemed a bit reserved at first, as if waiting for the audience’s reaction to him.  Billy Preston has seemed to outshine him in getting the audience enthused and participating in the concert and I think his feelings must be a little bruised that he can’t generate the excitement Billy can.  Once the audience is going, once Billy has gotten in a participating mood and enthusiastic and on their feet, then George is fantastic and seems to love the concert and generates just as much enthusiasm as Billy, but the audience has to respond to him before he seems to want to warm up the audience.  Tonight we was wearing light blue blue jeans and a white shirt.  He and Billy did the can-can again during “Outta Space” which George seems to really love.  George explained that Ravi was sick and back in Chicago, and he seemed at a loss without him.  Ravi’s sister had to direct the Indian musicians in place of Ravi and she was really nervous over how she would be accepted, it seemed, but everyone gave her a resounding burst of applause when George put his arm around her and said how she didn’t want to be doing this, but with Ravi sick, she had to.  The applause seemed to make her feel a little better and each number was patiently listened to by the audience and applauded to.  George was off to the side, beating a tambourine against his thigh, singing along and having himself a great time off in his own little corner as he looked on.  He thanked the audience profusely afterwards, saying he was glad we liked it.  His voice was even more horse tonight even though he hadn’t done a concert for four days, and now he was coughing.  He hadn’t done that in previous concerts.  He really sounded awful.   One time he had problems with the strap on his guitar again and had to put on foot up on a platform and balance the guitar on his knee so he could play it.  During one of Billy’s songs George and Billy continuously pulled faces at each other while George harmonized (or tried to with what was left of his voice) and they kept cracking up – George was changing the lyrics a bit but I don’t’ remember exactly what he was singing.  It sure was funny at the time!  The audience got more and more enthusiastic and were on their feet on top of their chairs clapping and in a permanent standing ovation from after Billy Preston’s songs – who seemed very surprised and pleased at the fantastic reception each of his songs got – and the enthusiasm never died down until the end of the concert.  George was enthused and excited by the audience and put everything he had into the last 5 songs – Maya Love, Give me Love (that one got a fantastic reception), Dark Horse, What is Life (really got the audience going – shouting for more) and of course the encore, My Sweet Lord.  He seemed to happy the way people were so enthused and involved. Well that is until he got them to try to shout the various names of the Lord during My Sweet Lord, which always seems to go over like a lead balloon, though he assures everyone he’s not swearing when he chants “Om Christ” and he said “call he Lord anything.  It doesn’t matter.  I don’t give a shit what you call him.  It’s not important.”  Oh, after In My Life he said “God blues Joh, Paul, Ringo and the ex-ex-exes.”  And during What is Life, the house lights came on and we stood up on our chairs, Joy and I, and held the Cleveland sign up and he looked directly at it, did a double take, a quick grin and said into the microphone “Yeah, sorry about that!”  And just as he went offstage for the last time, pulling Billy and Willie together in a quick hug, the audience was cheering so loud and demanding more and more, that he came on the speakers instead of Indian music as he usually has it and everyone began to pack up and leave, unable to believe it was all over.  It was really about the most exciting of the concerts I saw.

Somehow we stumbled down the street (the sidewalks were still covered with snow), managed to find the car and were on our way back home again, finally arriving at my house at quarter of 7AM, one half hour before I usually get up to go to work.  I just had time to change, take Kris to the rapid transit so she could go to work (she has to be at her job an hour before I do) and go to Joyce’s with Deb to eat breakfast and try to wake up enough to be able to function all day at work.  How I made it through that day until 9:30 that night after going to my part time job in the evening, I’ll never know.  But somehow, George makes it all worth it and you know that if I had to do it all over again, I sure would!

 

The Beatles in Detroit 1966

 The Beatles in Detroit 1966

By Dorothy Suriano

With a Little Help From my Friends

July 1975

It’s been nine years since that fantastic day of August 13, 1966. My next door neighbor was Robin Seymour who was a disc jockey for CKLW radio station.  Now Robin had told me if there was any concert I wanted to see and anybody I wanted to meet, to ask him and he’d see what he could do.  I knew then that this was my chance.  After all, wasn’t it just two years ago that his daughter Jenny had gone backstage and had her picture taken on Paul’s lap?

I asked Robin if it would be possible if he could get me tickets to the concert.  The day Robin got the tickets he explained why he had gotten three (I had asked for two).  He planned on going with us.  I couldn’t believe it.  That would mean that Kim Stevens and I would be going backstage with Robin.  At the age of 13, I thought that I was going to die of a heart attack.  Then it happened two days before the concert.  Robin broke his leg at the Roostertail where he was MCing a show.  That dashed our hopes of going backstage and meeting the Fab Four.   Kim and I hadn’t seen the tickets and didn’t know where we’d be sitting.  And we also had an extra ticket.

 

August 13, 1966.  WE had decided to take my brother Mike along to the concert. Robin had given us the tickets that morning.  Kim’s dad took us to the Olympia stadium and we were on our way.  We got there early and we couldn’t believe the crowds.  It was fantastic!

As soon as we got out of the car a Police Wagon was coming up the street on McGraw with about a dozen girls chasing it.  Kim and I dashed off leaving my brother behind.  WE just knew the Beatles were in it.  Well, we were wrong.  They opened the doors and four cops were sitting there laughing at all of us. 

Next Kim and I proceeded to buy our Beatle pins and banners.  I bought a pin that said “I love Paul” and Kim bought one for John.  We sat on the curb waiting for The Beatles to arrive.  And then suddenly, it happened.  A police escort was coming up McGraw and a black limo was right behind them and also a bus.

The crowd all moved to where they thought they could get a better look.  The noise was deafening.  Kim, Mike and I stayed right where we were.  After all, they had to pass right by us.  I was about to get my first look at a live Beatle.

The limo rolled by us and in it were Brian and George.  I stood there not believing my eyes.  He was so beautiful.  He smiled and waved to us and Kim and I got spastic.  Now, John, Paul, and Ringo were not in the limo so they had to be on the bus.  Kim and I stared at that bus trying to make out who the people were.  We were frantic.  AS the back of the bus went by, Kim and I at the same time spotted the other three.  I then pointed to the back of the bus and started screaming that they were there.  Ringo doubled his fist and me and Paul smiled and waved and John was looking off in the distance.

After all the excitement we then marched up to Olympia’s doors to be let in.  We glanced at the tickets and I saw that they said ground level, so we found the nearest usher and asked him to guide us to our seats.  (We had never been to a concert before and it was truly an experience).

The usher looked at our tickets and smiled.  He then took us to our seats.  My God, they were front row tickets!

We were positioned right in front of Paul’s microphone.  Kim and I climbed all over each other.  Mike was getting embarrassed.  He hadn’t wanted to come anyway.  The concert started.

We sat very still while the other acts were on.  We vowed that we would not scream and carry on when the guys came on.  We then had to wait during an intermission.  Everybody was getting tense.  You could feel it in the air.  Then the lights started to dim and the excitement increased.  Four figures ran up on the stage, grabbed guitars and the lights flashed on.

There they were!! A scout of screams filled the air.  Kim and I were on top of our chairs in an instant screaming our hearts out (so much for our vows).  Their suits were beautiful.  They had on grey bell-bottomed suits with pink pinstripes running through them and pink shirts to match.

Things were being thrown from everywhere:  rings, stuffed animals, everything.  I don’t remember much of the beginning.  I was trying to get my camera to work but after the first song, I gave up and threw the camera down.  Paul noticed and laughed.  Then with sympatric eyes said, “What’s wrong love?”  I died.  I simply died.  Paul had noticed me.  He actually talked to me.

Paul then announced that they were going to attempt a song.  I’ll use his own words.  He said, “The next song we’ll try to do is a song we usually have an orchestra to back us, but today we only have this cheap band, so bear with us.”  The song was “Yesterday.”  It had gotten a little quieter for this particular song, but not me!

In the middle of the song  I started jumping up and down on my chair and at the top of my voice screaming out “Paul!”  I also pointed to my “I love Paul” button as my voice screamed.  He looked down, saw what I was pointing to and smiled the biggest smile I’ve ever seen, and nodded his head.  John looked towards our group and shouted “shurrup!” only to get more screams.  Ringo was then featured singing “I wanna be your man”.  My brother in the meantime was throwing jelly beans at them.  He hit George on the arm with one and one stuck to his guitar.  George brushed them off and gave my little brother dirty looks.

The last song was “Long Tall Sally.”  By this time, I was crying, slumped in my chair exhausted. 

They then put down their instruments and the chase began.  I had always dreamed of something like this- me chasing the Beatles.  The crowd was blocked by the police.  They had formed a line to let The Beatles pass through.  We must have been close to the dressing room.  I was pressed up against a policeman.  The Beatles were coming through.  I felt sorry for the cops for now I knew how they felt.  I remember as the Beatles came through one of them (I thought it was John but Mike said it was Paul) said, “Christ, let’s keep moving.”  

I will never forget as long as I live the terror on their faces as they tried getting to their dressing rooms.  I will also never forget as long as I shall live that day for it is branded into my brain forever. 

Motor City Macca

 

July 24, 2011 

Wings on Ice

 June 8, 1976 - Detroit

Backstage in Detroit

 May 7, 1976 

The Beatles: Four Smiling, Tired Guys Talk About Music

Interesting to note:  The teenager reporter for The Detroit Free press that met the Beatles backstage in Detroit in 1966 and wrote this article is Loraine Alterman.    Yes -- the same Loraine Alterman that married Peter Boyle and had John Lennon as the best man at their wedding.   

The Beatles:  Four Smiling, Tired Guys Talk About Music

Written by Loraine Alterman

Detroit Free Press

August 19, 1966

They're real. The Beatles, that is. I had never seen them in the flesh before, so I expected some kind of supermen to step out of the plane at Metropolitan Airport last Saturday morning.

After all, aren't they the group who changed the whole face of pop music over the past four years? They showed people that pop music can have meaning and its creators can be intelligent, talented artists.

Then there they were, coming down the plane's ramp, four smiling, slightly tired looking guys.

John topped his casual outfit with yellow steel-rimmed sunglasses. Paul wore black slacks and a wild strawberry colored jacket. George, all in black. And Ringo, in blue jeans and a yellow print shirt. (Paul later saw me write down paisley. "It's not paisley," he said. "What would you call it? Flowered? How about art nouveau?")

An hour later I saw them again at Olympia when their press secretary, Tony Barrow, gave the OK to only three reporters to come in for an interview. Paul McCartney, 23, George Harrison, 23, Ringo Starr, 25, and John Lennon, 25, were stashed away in a private office near the stage area at Olympia Stadium.

Right away they were friendly. I was introduced and shook hands with John, Paul and George – each one saying "Hello or Hi, Lorraine."

I didn't see Ringo leaning against a table in the corner until George said, "There's Ringo." Ringo jumped up on the table top so that the shortest Beatle was suddenly the tallest Beatle and we said hello.

Because time ran out, I didn't get a chance to talk to Ringo again, but I did talk to the other three individually for about 15 minutes each.

George, John, and Paul completely charmed me with their intelligence. Though they've all been through hundreds of interviews by now, I didn't have the feeling that they were saying to themselves, "Oh well, here's another one. Let's get it over with fast."

George was first, with his black shirt and black pants reflecting the serious look on his face. But get George talking about Indian music as he's perched on a table top with his legs tucked in front of him, and his eyes light up. He looked straight into my eyes and he spoke with great intensity.

George is interested in the work of Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar player. George used the sitar on cuts for the Beatles' Rubber Soul and new Revolver albums. How did an Englishman get so hung up on Indian music?

"A whole lot of things got me interested," he said. "The more I heard it, the more I liked it. It's very involved music. So involved. That's why the average listener doesn't understand. They listen to Western music all their lives. Eastern music is a different concept.

"The main hang-up for me is Indian classical music. Really groovy, to pardon the expression, as opposed to the hip things in Western music which are opposed to Western classical music... Indian music is hip, yet 8,000 years old.

"I find it hard to get much of a kick out of Western music. Even out of Western music I used to be interested in a year ago. Most music is still only surface, not very subtle compared to Indian music... Music in general, us included, is still on the surface."

That last remark is indicative of the Beatles attitude – they are not big-headed stars, they can tear themselves down on occasion. They really come on as artists aware of their talent, but not wrapped up in themselves.

"You might include this in your article," George went on. "For anyone who likes music a lot and has a good understanding of it, let me suggest they listen to Indian classical music... I'd like to see more people interested in it, honestly interested. Not just to cash in on the sitar boom.

"On 'Norwegian Wood' on the Rubber Soul album I used the sitar like a guitar. On the new album I developed it a little bit. But I'm far from the goal I want to achieve. It will take me 40 years to get there. I'd like to be able to play Indian music as Indian music instead of using Indian music in pop... It takes years of studying, but I'm willing to do that."

George's passion for Indian music is so catching he made me want to hear Shankar play right then and there.

George put his opinion of the Beatles' effect on pop music this way: "We were right for the time when we came out. The pop scene five years ago was definitely looked upon by 'musicians,' put that in brackets, as a dirty word. Pop was just something crumby. Now I think a lot of things in the pop field have more to them.

"We're very influenced by others in pop music and others are influenced by us... That's good. That's the way life is. You've got to be influenced and you try to be influenced by the best."

John Proves A Cool One

Tony Barrow interrupted and brought over John, and George moved away.

John peered through his yellow glasses and I was a little nervous because I had read that if he was bored by the questions, he would cut you down with his wit.

I shouldn't have worried. Not only did he listen to the questions, but he put thought into his answers. While he wasn't as intense as George, he was just as sincere.

He gives the appearance of being a perceptive, intelligent man. On stage he's cool, slightly rocking his head with the beat, concentrating on his guitar. He hardly seems the type girls scream for, but they do.

He's just as cool off stage.

Do the Beatles still thrill to the screams?

"It's just there," John answered. "If it's not there it's noticeable by its absence. You expect to hear it. You expect it to howl like your amps howl. It would be unnerving without it."

John talked about his song writing.

"l usually just make something up," he said. "When you get down to it, it's all based on actual experiences but I never consciously think of any. It varies immensely. Some of it is just whatever comes into my head."

Like George, John is open to influence in music. "Everything I hear influences me if I like it – any music, pop, or classical, or anything else." Beatle music itself, according to John, "has progressed and gotten more like Beatle music. Before it was more of anyone else's music."

I wondered why the Beatles reversed the tape on the last part of their single record 'Rain' so that it came out backwards at the end. "After we recorded it, it wasn't long enough," John explained. "I took it home. It was 4 in the morning – and I played it backwards. I was knocked out."

As you may have read, the recording session for Revolver took a good two weeks of hard work, day and night. John said that it took him and Paul longer to get started once the recording date was set. "Paul and I didn't snap to it like normally... We worked hard because we wanted everything so perfect. On the Rubber Soul album we found out a lot technically. Things have come into focus. From there we could evolve into Revolver."

I asked John if he had been surprised by the adverse reaction to his now famous statement about Christianity. "I was shocked out of me mind. I couldn't believe it," he said. "I'm more religious and more interested in religion now than I ever was."

Paul Has Devilish Grin

It was time to move on to the handsomest Beatle of all, Paul. With a devilish grin he asked me to sit beside him on the table and rub knees. I told him that I could make some extra money by selling my knees to hundreds of girls clustered around Olympia's entrances. He laughed and swore he could sell his for more money than I could get.

Turning to a more serious side, Paul said that his inspiration for songs comes "mainly from imagination." Take 'Eleanor Rigby'. "It just came. When I started doing the melody I developed the lyric. It all came from the first line. I wonder if there are girls called Eleanor Rigby? Originally I called her Miss Daisy Hawkins. Father MacKenzie was Father McCartney originally. But people would have thought it was my father...

"'Yellow Submarine' is very simple but very different. It's a fun song, a children's song. Originally we intended it to be 'Sparky' a children's record. But now it's the idea of a yellow submarine where all the kids went to have fun. I was just going to sleep one night and thinking if we had a children's song, it would be nice to be on a yellow submarine where all your friends are with a band."

In writing a song Paul and John usually work it out on the guitar. "We use a tape recorder if the song is difficult," said Paul, "but normally we can remember them."

Paul can't read or write music although he is taking lessons. "I may learn eventually, but I'm lazy. The only thing that makes me learn is that it's silly I can't read music It's not that difficult. But it's easy to compose without being able to write it down."

What does Paul think the Beatles have done to pop music?" "Given it a bit of common sense... A lot of it was just a bit insincere I think. Five years ago you'd find men of 40 recording things without meaning it just to make a hit. Most recording artists today really like what they're doing and I think you can feel it on the records."

It is evident that John, Paul, George and Ringo are too bright not to know that you can't stay on top forever as teenage idols. With their talent and their intelligence they'll be around making records, writing songs and books and acting in movies long after the screams have faded away.

Wings over (or under) Uniroyal Tires

 May 7, 1976 - Detroit, Michigan

Questions in Detroit

Beatlemania hits Detroit

September 6, 1964

Dark Horse over Detroit

Backstage games

I am not sure, but this could be one of  the Bob Bonis photos 

Bob and Paul

Doing what he does best

Detroit now in color

Another beauty contest

The look on Ringo's face is priceless!

Detroit concert memories from the fans

One thing that people don't realize now is that back then it wasn't so easy to get tickets.  There were no toll-free numbers, no credit cards, and very few interstate highways to zip along to other cities to see more concerts.  Most people had to get tickets through the mail.  I won two tickets from the Cunningham Drug Store Company, twenty-five words or less, why you like their drug store.  We also bought a pair of tickets for $7 each.  We gave the extra two tickets to the children of the parking lot attendant.
 We saw lots of fans with Beatles decorations on their cars; one even had a huge model of a yellow submarine tied to the roof of their car.  Our seats were about halfway back to the right of the stage in the stands.  We were only a couple of seats away from one of the entry ramps.  While the Beatles were on, we happened to look over, and there was Brian Epstein standing in the entry watching the concert!
 It was too bad that the crowd's screaming was so loud that the songs were almost impossible to hear.  The year before we had been on an exchange to England with our university and had seen the lads in concert in New Castle-on Tyne.  The concert was in a small city hall auditorium with about 2,000 people who actually listened to the songs and only screamed in between!
 We decided to wait at the back entry to the arena after the concert to see if we could see The Beatles.  There was a big crowd at first but after half an hour there were only about fifty or sixty people, and we were all standing around talking about The Beatles and how great they were and which ones were the favorites (mine is John).  The garage door finally opened and a huge bus came out.  My friend and I ran back to our car across the street, got in, and followed the bus.  Olympia is not in the best part of Detroit, so we were a bit apprehensive about where the bus was going and if we could find out way back since we lived in Ann Arbor.  Surprisingly we seemed to be the only ones doing this, and after about a mile, the bus pulled over and parked at the curb.  We stopped behind it and wondered what to do now that we had our chance.  One of the windows opened (can you imagine our excitement?!) and a member of The Cyrkle stuck his head out.  We asked him if The Beatles were on the bus, He said they weren’t, but would we like some popsicles?
So we got back in our car, turned around and headed home.
--Sue D.
 

I saw The Beatles in concert at Olympia Stadium, Detroit, 1966.  It was right after the controversy over John stating that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.  While my friends and I were outside the stadium waiting for the second show to begin, a group of teens showed up with anti-Beatle signs.  We chased them, seized the signs and destroyed them!
And yes, once inside, I was one of the many crying, hysterical girls, loving every minute of it!  As difficult as it was to do, we decided to leave the building when we felt the show was nearing an end.  We gathered out back where the Greyhound buses were parked and, sure enough, we got a glimpse of Paul waving to us as the bus drove away!  What a trill!!!
--K.R.W.

I was at that show also.  My friend and I watched from behind the stage and nearly went nuts when John turned around and waved.  After that they alternated throwing a wave and smile to the dedicated fans sitting behind the stage.  I really treasure those memories.
-Ted 

I too saw the Fab Four in Detroit.  I was up in the balcony and they looked like ants. I couldn’t hear a thing because everyone was screaming so loud, especially me.  I was fourteen at the time.  I just loved Paul.  I even wore a black straight skirt and white blouse because I read in Tiger Beat that that was what he loved.
--Lee Ann

They played in Detroit, and then took the Ohio Turnpike to play in Cleveland.  Their bus stopped at the Vermilion (Ohio) Turnpike at 2 A.M., where I met them.  Paul sang a shortened version of “Michelle” to me – a thirteen year old Michele.  Imagine!
--Michele

Both Detroit shows

The Beatles performed two concerts in Detroit in 1966--the afternoon and evening shows.   Right now I am not sure how to distinguish between the two shows, so I am putting all the photos in one post.

The Beatles backstage in Detroit

I am pretty sure all of these are from the Bob Bonis collection   I like them because it gives you a chance to see one of the shirts the guys wore under their stage suit jackets.   The bought the shirts on this tour from a Carnaby Street shop called "Hung on you."