In and out of the bus to Candlestick

Bus ride to the show

The Beatles in Alaska

The Beatles were not able to make it to Japan on  June 27, 1966.    According to a ground service agent at the Anchorage International Airport, the Beatles' plane was scheduled to land in Anchorage, Alaska at 1:45 p.m. for their plane to refuel.      It wasn't a hurricane named Kit that stopped their plane from continuing, but a problem with the plane's hydraulics system.    It wasn't a difficult repair, but the Beatles' plane couldn't take off again because it would have landed in Japan after the country's curfew.     And so Brian Epstein had to figure out what to do while the Beatles sat on their plane for a few hours.

By that time, radio stations in Anchorage started to announce that the Beatles were at the airport.   So by the time the Beatles' emerged, fans were at the airport ready to see them get on a chartered  bus.

A huge amount of fans started to follow the bus to the Anchorage Westward Hotel, where they would spend the rest of their time.    The guys were a little ticked off and very bored.    They ordered in hamburgers and  George goofed off with a Polaroid camera.

Meanwhile up to 500 fans were outside of the hotel singing "We love you Beatles" and other songs.  Some tried to get very creative in their ways to get the Beatles' attention.

Because it was during the time when it remains daylight for 24 hours in Alaska, the girls did not leave and the curfew was not strongly enforced because the fans weren't doing any damage.

Life on the tour bus

Atlanta or Bust!

 

“There were lots of fans on the bus," said Grice, who was 16 at the time. "But we got there too early, so all we did was walk around the stadium with thousands of other people. It was so very hot, and no one was selling refreshments anywhere. So we went to a nearby store and bought drinks and some Vienna sausage until the gates opened."

Moved like Macca

photo by George Tebbins

Daddy's Little Angel

photos by George Tebbins

The tour without the Beatles

December 3, 1969 and George is touring with Bonnie and Delaney throughout the U.K.    Didn't this make anyone angry?   Weren't fans wondering why George was on tour with a band that wasn't the Beatles?  

This bus is not ten miles north on the Duesberry Road

The Beatles take a bus to their last concert at Candlestick Park and one fan broke through and got to touch Ringo's window. 

Magical Mystery Tour Memories

There has been a surge of Beatle news online lately about the Magical Mystery Tour.   With the updated Blueray being released and everything, it seems like this often forgotten film is getting some attention.    When I look at the stats for this blog, I have seen a huge jump in views on the posts about the MMT (especially the article about Little Nicola).   

Here is a great news story that I found here.    Once again a fan took some photos of the Beatles and then stuck them in a box and forgot about them until now.    Huh?   Who does that?  Seriously?   And why does this happen so often?   Who are you people out there in the world that have taken photographs of the Beatles and shove them off in a box somewhere?    Remember that my motto is that Beatles photos are to be shared with everyone!  

He was more of a Rolling Stones fan.
But that didn't stop Nigel Jarvis from rushing up the beach in Newquay, Cornwall, to snap these never-seen-before pictures of The Beatles.
Mr Jarvis, who was 16 in 1967, had been on holiday with his parents the day the Fab Four arrived to film scenes for their film Magical Mystery Tour.

He told MailOnline: 'There was all this to do at the car park. So I borrowed my dad's camera and went up to have a look.'
To the teen's surprise he came within touching distance of Paul McCartney, dressed in a crochet waistcoat, and Ringo Starr.
 

'It was a bit of a shock,' Mr Jarvis, now 61, from Chapmanslade, Wiltshire, admits. 'There was a melee of people. I just snapped off some pictures and followed them around for a bit.'

There was lots to-ing and fro-ing. I didn't see it, but they were filming on the beach. You could hear them, but not what they were saying. 'They did have very funny accents. You didn't really see that many people with northern accents in the South in those days.'
He added: 'Paul seemed to be quite friendly. Ringo was certainly there, but I didn't see the other two.

'It was rather exciting and I was the envy of all my friends.'

One person who was not impressed was Mr Jarvis' father.
'I had borrowed his Halina Paulette camera without permission,' Mr Jarvis said. 'It was only when he got the film developed that he realised.

'He wasn't impressed, film was expensive in those days.'
The pictures were forgotten until recently when Mr Jarvis cleared out his loft and found them again.

And after retiring from the Ministry of Defence, Mr Jarvis has taken up photography as a hobby.

It is doubtful whether he will snap any more famous bands however.
'Those sorts of picture opportunities only come around once.' he said.
The Beatles shot scenes for their the Magical Mystery Tour film in Kent, Devon, Cornwall and France.
The end result was an hour long film, originally shown on BBC1 on Boxing day 1967.

Riding on a bus

The 1972 Wings Tour bus

A few weeks back I posted a photo of the tour bus Paul and the rest of Wings used to tour Europe in 1972.   It is a really groovy bus.  According to everything I have read, it was painted by Paul himself and used in 1972 to transport Paul and his family and the rest of the Wings group from gig to gig.   What ever became of this amazing bus?   Well...as of 2011 it was listed for sale on Craigslist!    Craigslist of all places?    I am not sure who was selling it exactly or who bought it.   You would think something that awesome would be sold by an auction house and bought by some rich museum or something?   I don't get it.   Anyhow, one of the readers of this blog, Roland, said that there was a friend that rode on the bus and Roland was awesome enough to get the information about that "Magical mystery ride."    

I was 15 and we had been hitch-hiking to Örebro early in the day, barefoot, bell bottoms, with an Indian tunic, and long-hair. It was sunny, I remember. We went to Idrottshuset where it would be, and there we saw the BUS! We were there much too early. Paul’s and Linda’s children were there with some personnel, roadies? And we had the great HONOR to get INTO the bus and ride a short distance in the parking lot as they would move it a little. We had been there sooo long waiting ;)  The experience was amazing for us; I was completely overjoyed, found it difficult to believe that I was there! Later during the show I was dancing like crazy, and we got the spotlight on us for a while - my moment in the limelight. A magical evening, totally. Have seen him several times after that, but Örebro was special.

I have also included an article from the local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda from the day.

Nerikes Allehanda, 9/8 1972

WINGS CONCERT

Idrottshuset, Örebro August 8, 1972,

Paul McCartney and Wings in Örebro was a pop event that surely will never be repeated. Faced with well stocked seats in Idrottshuset he and his pals entertained for just over two hours. Because of all requirements there was a delay of the show for about a half-hour. But when they finally got started it was full out.

There he was in his baggy pants and with his special McCartney bend in his hips. When he then struck his bass guitar with his left hand there was as a shiver through my body. Is it really Paul McCartney who is here? He is such a sought after catch in England and the United States — and here he is in Örebro ...   

Having heard the last Wings single "Mary had a little lamb" one can easily be led to believe that the band is getting soft but the live show immediately demolished the preconceived notions. Although the soft singel hit was on the repertoire the difference between disc and live is huge.  It was quite different andso was the rest of the material which was mainly taken from the "Wild life"-album.

But there were also new songs such as "Henry's blues", a finely balanced blues with the distinguished guitarist Henry McCullough at the front. The other guitarist, Denny Laine, also did a few solo numbers. In his "Say You Don't Mind" he had ample space to exhibit what an exceptionally good singer he is.   

As expected, Paul McCartney stood for most of the song, and on songs such as "Smile Away", "Mumbo", "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" and "Wild Life" he sang himself properly sweaty. His bass playing was also something odd, and together with drummer Denny Seiwell was a nice rhythmsection and formed a good basis for the two guitarists.   

If Paul's wife Linda has a place in the band has been discussed. It took nearly half an hour before I even discovered her on stage. She sat behind the keyboard and not only looked pale, her playing was too! When the end came together for a little more difficult piano playing it was her husband Paul who took over. It was in "My Love", a finely balanced McCartney ballad, and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" both getting a much tougher treatment in Idrottshuset than on disc.   

It was almost full to capacity in the hall. Yet there was never any real atmosphere despite the fact that Paul repeatedly had the audience dancing in front of the stage, but it was clear that there was a world star who was here. The performance was not only a major event for all Beatles-fans. Paul and his buddies  played temselves considerably sweaty and were well worth the two bottles of whisky, which had been promised to wait in the dressing room.

Paul McCartney, gitarr, bas och sång
Linda McCartney, keyboards och sång
Denny Laine, gitarr, bas och sång
Denny Seiwell, trummor
Henry McCullough, gitarr

Other songs performed:
Bip Bop
Smile Away
Mumbo
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
1882
I Would Only Smile
Blue Moon Of Kentucky
The Mess
Best Friend
Soily

Smoking on the Bus

This photo was taken by a fan on May 11, 1973.  Who is the lady in the background?  A girlfriend/ wife of one of the Wings guys?

Wings over Arhus

Some awesome color photos of that groovy Wings bus.