No Full House Yet For The Beatles
Associated Press
Liverpool Echo
June 28, 1965
The Rome newspapers today showed mixed reactions to the Beatles' concert there
last night. Il Messaggero said they sang well and had good rhythm. It went on, “No
more than four ugly faces, four long heads of hair, four sublime idiots, four barefoot
bums, but they succeeded in creating a spectacle that one can only admire.” Il Tempo said, “The real show was by the fans, and for this reason, it was not a good show.”
Some Italian newspapers said the Beatles' visit had the elements of a triumph, even without
the capacity audiences the organizers had predicted. Paese Sera, a pro-Communist Rome
Daily, noted that the Adriano Cinema was not air-conditioned. It said, “whoever succeeds
in half filling a cinema in mid-afternoon with a temperature at 37 (98 degrees Fahrenheit)
can well be satisfied.”
The Beatles are coming to the end of their Italian tour with something of a record for them.
They have not played a full house yet, making their Italian debut in Milan last week in the
22,000 seat Vigorelli Velodrome, they attracted 7000 fans. The second performance was
better, with 20,000. Two general performances failed to fill the 25,000-seat Lido Sports
Palace. There at one show, the audience barely reached 5000, including 1000 police on
hand to keep order. They proved unnecessary
In Rome yesterday, at two performances at the Adriano Cinema, there were empty seats in
the 2000-seat theater. The organizers had claimed that all the seats had been sold. The
Adriano Cinema advertised that seats were available for the two final performances today.
From here, the Beatles go on to Spain. Rome newspapers suggest the high prices were
one of the reasons for the lack of spectators. Seats for the Rome performances ranged
from 11s 60d to £ 4. The cheapest and most expensive seats were selling best, the
cheapest to teenagers, the expensive ones to such Beatles fans as actor Marcello
Mastroianni and actress Ursula Andress, who attended last night's show. The heat wave
may have kept the crowds down.
