The Beatles Fans were So Genteel (Newcastle 1965)

 

The Beatles Fans Were So Genteel

By  A Sunday Sun Reporter

Sunday Sun

December 5, 1965

     50 policemen stood outside the City Hall, Newcastle, last night. Inside the hall, two dozen ushers waited for girls to make a rush for the stage, and St John Ambulance men waited to carry off unconscious girls. But it never happened. 

    The 2,500 fans who packed into the hall to see the first Beatles concert in Newcastle in two years screamed themselves hoarse, but the expected chaos didn't come. 

    The concertgoers dutifully showed their tickets to policemen, thus gaining entry to Northumberland Road; the queues filed quietly into the hall. 

    Excitement and impatience grew during the supporting acts, and here and there, choruses of "We want the Beatles" hit the air. There were screams every time a door opened. The stage seemed set for pandemonium, but only the screaming brought back memories of the old Beatlemania. 

    The Beatles sang for 30 minutes, often losing out to the bigger noise in the auditorium, but the ushers and ambulance men just looked bored. One earned his pay by telling a girl who was hanging precariously over the gallery rail to sit down. Another by telling a girl not to hang banners over the rail. But otherwise it was the most ordinary, big star concert at the hall for several months, a Sunday school party compared to the last Rolling Stones concert. 

     Mr. Tony Barrow, publicity officer, said afterwards, "It's obvious, the fans are starting to listen to the songs instead of just wanting to grab the boys and scream. That's just spontaneous."  But a policeman, shivering on a futile guard duty, had another opinion on it. "The big hysteria is over, man," he said, "The Beatles are popular, but it's not as mad as it used to be."

Nice Things By Wings (Newcastle 1975)

 

Nice Things By Wings

By Andy Bone

Newcastle Sunday Sun

September 21, 1975

    They were still cheering for Paul McCartney 10 minutes after the last note had been played by Wings at Newcastle City Hall last week. Afterwards, there were a few minutes of exhausted silence. Then the superlatives began to come out. "Fantastic, magnificent, superb," were uttered by hardened reporters and disc jockeys. There was not a doubting Thomas in the house. All were agreeing. It was the concert of the year. 

    McCartney had done the impossible by reaching a second peak in his pop career. He seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself as he gradually warmed to the wildly enthusiastic audience during the two hour concert. 

    It was a varied, well-paced set, a bit of rock, some excellent solo acoustic stuff, and every song spot on. But it was no ego trip either. Paul did not hog the spotlight. He and his wife, Linda, humbly sang backing vocals as ex-Moody Blue Denny Lane sang his classic "Go Now". He then became a mere bass guitarist as an excellent guitarist, Jimmy McCullouch played "Medicine Jar" and strummed along when Denny sang Paul Simon's "Richard Cory", but the biggest acclaim of the night was reserved for old Beatle numbers like "Yesterday", "Lady Madonna",  "Baby, I'm Amazed," and "Long and Winding Road."

     Wife Linda is no longer just part of the baggage. She played a variety of keyboards and sang nice backing harmonies. It was Linda who beckoned the audience to front when the seething mass leapt around for the great rock session in the final 20 minutes.

Tape is Silent as in Wings

 Tape is Silent as in Wings

No Writer Listed

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

September 18, 1975

    Radio Newcastle reporter Ian Penman thought he had got the scoop of a lifetime when he persuaded ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to be interviewed. He rushed the tape back to the studio, but when he played it back, all he got was the sound of silence.

     "McCartney had been playfully fiddling around with the tape recorder and must have accidentally pressed the rewind button." Radio Newcastle disc jockey Dick Godfrey said today.

     Penman had been reviewing the wildly successful concert by McCartney's group Wings at Newcastle City Hall last night. It was to have gone out on Godfrey's Bedrock Program on Monday, 

    Penman refused to take no for an answer when the ex-Beatle's aides banned interviews after the Show. "He toured the Newcastle hotels, and he found McCartney," Godfrey said today. "Paul gave him an excellent interview, but it all came to nothing."

     Penman has put down notes from the interview from memory and will read them out on the Bedrock Program on Monday.

Newcastle Hall

 December 14, 1979 

The word is out: John is married and has a baby!

January 6, 1964 -  Yes Beatle fans, it is true -- John Lennon was married to Cynthia and they had a baby named John Julian.  The married couple lived right here in this flat.   Shocking news to hear 60 years after the fact.  
 

When we were New(Castle)

 July 10, 1973

Newcastle Paul

 June 8, 1963

Have a Coke and a smile

 May 22, 1973 -  Newcastle 

Coming or Going

Spotting John at his apartment!

The cat's out of the bag

Cynthia tried to keep the fact that she and John Lennon were married and had a baby a secret, but secrets can only be kept for so long.    If Cyn was seen pushing Julian in a pram, she would give an excuse that she was maybe babysitting for a friend or family member.    I am sure the fans that hung around Cyn and John's home realized quickly what was going on, but the rest of the public wasn't too sure until these photos of Cynthia appeared.   Taken January 6, 1964.