Sightseeing in Hong Kong

 

June 1977 -  John and Sean enjoy seeing the sights in Hong Kong.   I think some people may have recognized him.  

Performing in Hong Kong

 June 8, 1964 

The Beatles live in Hong Kong

 

Good luck in the Philippines guys....

 July 3, 1966 -- Hong Kong 

Performing in Hong Kong

John Lemon

This is just funny.  Julian Lennon stopped by the John Lemon juice bar in Hong Kong over the weekend for a lemonade. 

A Hong Kong Welcome

Stop over in Hong Kong

The Beatles landed for a little over an hour in Hong Kong to refuel.   They got out of the plane and conducted some interviews while they were there.

Hello Hong Kong!

PC in HK

Meet the Mori High- Five

The guys with one of the opening acts, The Mori High-Five for the Hong Kong performance.

Cozying up with the fan club

Performing in Hong Kong

 

To commemorate a concert that very little is ever said about that occurred 50 years ago today, I thought I would reproduce  part of  an article about when the Beatles played in Hong Kong that I found online from the South China Morning Post. 

When the Beatles came to Hong Kong

By Charley Lanyon

June 9, 1964, has been called the most important day in Hong Kong’s pop history. In the collective memory of the city, The Beatles’ appearance at the Princess Theatre in Kowloon – today the site of the Mira Hotel – marked the beginning of an era: the era of Hong Kong English-language rock 'n' roll, and ultimately of the Cantonese-language pop that it gave birth to.

However, when speaking to the people who were there – audience members and the movers and shakers of Hong Kong’s 1960s pop scene – a more complicated picture emerges. Have we been giving the Fab Four too much credit?

First of all, Fab Three would be more accurate: The Beatles who appeared in Hong Kong were short one Ringo Starr, who was recovering from tonsillitis in a London hospital; he was temporarily replaced by drummer Jimmy Nicol.

Also, the commonly heard story that the Princess Theatre was packed with thousands of screaming, music-starved Hong Kong youngsters doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. The screams were real, but according to Hong Kong institution DJ Ray “Uncle Ray” Cordeiro, they most likely came from military servicemen. In fact, the concert was the only time in Beatles history where the promoter lost money. Tickets went unsold.

“It was quite a flop because the teenagers couldn’t afford to buy the tickets … and the parents didn’t know who The Beatles were. So the theatre was empty,” Cordeiro says.

According to Cordeiro, the promoter was forced to offer the unsold tickets to the army, free of charge, and the auditorium was filled with soldiers in uniforms.

Other audience members remember things a bit differently. Anders Nelsson, then a teenager and lead singer of the band The Kontinentals, and Philip Chan Yan-kin of the Astro-Notes, clearly remember throngs of screaming female fans. Nelsson recalls barely being able to make out the music, “the girls were screaming so loud and the PA system was so bad that it was basically an experience rather than a concert”.

Interviewing the Beatles

Ted Thomas is a man who was a writer for newspapers who migrated into becoming one of the best interviewers in Hong Kong.   And in June of 1964, the biggest news in Hong Kong was that the Beatles were in town, so Ted was there to interview them. 

Ted is standing behind John wearing the khaki clothing

Beauty Pageant judges

The Miss Hong Kong 1964 beauty pageant was being held in the hotel in Hong Kong where the Beatles were staying, and they were supposed to be judges.   However, they were so tired from their flight from the Netherlands, that they skipped the contest and disappointed many people.   This seemed to have been a pattern in the Beatles touring careers.  

However, John Lennon decided to go down to the pageant at the very end and helped with the final part of the proceedings.

 

Then the rest of the group (with Jimmie) came down for the press conference and met the winners.

Flowers in Hong Kong

Tourists

John and Sean look like your average British tourists in Hong Kong posing for a photo.  But it appears like someone has noticed them.  "Is that???  No...it can't be!" 

Happy in Hong Kong

The Beatles (well three of them plus Jimmie Nichol) seem to be enjoying this meeting with the Hong Kong beauty contestants.   We have seen other photos of John judging the contest.   This was before the Hong Kong press conference.   Looks at John's face!   We know that he has a think for women from Asian countries....wonder what he is thinking!  

Hong Kong

First color photo from the Hong Kong press conference I have ever seen!   Lovely!