Who among us has seen The Beatles in person? (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

Not offhand, Jeffrey. But Mark Lewisohn did a really good volume that detailed all the shows The Beatles performed, including set lists. Someone will provide an answer, thanks to Google. (I think it was in excess of 1,500 shows.)

 

[TJPC]

When the Beatles first came to our attention in North America, we boys, (I was around 12), thought of them as being exclusively for girls like the Back Street boys would be later on. The girl next door had an extra ticket for a concert in Detroit and asked me if I wanted to go. I politely turned her down. My attitude was “The Beatles — Blechhh!”. Later I would have killed to go!

 

[BobO'Link]

I guess I wasn't old enough to notice such things and never thought of them as anything but a really good rock band.

My dad was the chief engineer at the local AM station. They got all the Beatles singles (didn't play them as they were a country station) and when he saw how big they were he put them all (A & B sides) on reel-to-reel for my sister and me to listen to at home (he had a portable Wollensak tape recorder/player). We practically wore those tapes out we played them so much. To this day I expect certain songs in that tape order rather than album order due to the frequency that we played those tapes.

The first album I ever purchased was "Let it Be" in the late spring of 1970, not long after I turned 15. My best friend and I saw the movie in the local theater around the same time. I taught myself to play "Let it Be" on the piano by listening to the album track.

 

[TravisR]

I guess I could Google this, but does anyone here know how many shows The Beatles performed?

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

From 1961 to 1966, the English rock band the Beatles underwent many live performances all over the world. They began performing live in England in 1961 and continued in various clubs during their visit to Hamburg, West Germany until 1962, with a lineup of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best. Following Sutcliffe's departure (and subsequent death of a brain hemorrhage), the Beatles continued performing throughout 1962, most notably at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, where they were discovered by Brian Epstein and George Martin. After firing Best and hiring Ringo Starr, the Beatles performed a series of concert tours throughout the UK in 1963, before they left for in the US in early 1964. As Beatlemania and the British Invasion came into full force, they began a world tour and continued to perform in the UK and US throughout 1965, including a well-known performance at Shea Stadium.

In 1966, following a controversial tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines and a tour of the US (which was plagued with backlash due to Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comment), the Beatles ceased performing live due to being fed up with touring and became a studio-only band. Their last commercial performance was at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August.[1] It marked the end of a four-year period dominated by almost nonstop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.[2] Thr group made no more public appearances until 30 January 1969, when they performed an unannounced rooftop concert at their Apple Corps headquarters in London. Numerous documentaries about their live performances have been made before and after their break-up, including The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1965) and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_Beatles'_live_performances

 

[Mike Frezon]

So, there's only one other member here who is old enough to have seen The Beatles in person? (Where's my Geritol?)

I found it Jack! It was right where you left it--on the middle shelf of the HTF medicine cabinet.

It was right next to a bottle of Save the Baby.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Jack: Have you seen the recent film:

 

[BobO'Link]

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_Beatles'_live_performances

No wonder they were wore out and wanted out of live shows! That's essentially a concert a day, every day, with only a rare "day off" and having to fight off adoring fans with just about every step.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Not to take away the achievement of giving 1400 performances because that really is something, but that was also an era where they could play as little as half an hour and have that be “the show”. And that doesn’t make the logistics around each appearance any less to endure. But it’s also different than today’s expectations of longer shows - when I’ve seen McCartney solo it’s always been in the 2 1/2 to 3 hour range. Imagine doing 1400 three hour shows in five years, yikes!

 

[Jack Briggs]

But, Mike, that bottle of Geritol is old. Almost as old as I am. And will everyone please speak a little louder?

As for the film Yesterday, no, I have not seen it yet. But I will. The premise is delightful -- though I can scarcely tolerate the idea of a world in which there were no Beatles.

Regarding the band's touring days, Brian Epstein had The Beatles booked too solidly. The four were either touring or recording or performing for television, with hardly any rest. Yet look at the records they made. How many other artists can make a claim to such a heritage? That's right: none.

 

[BobO'Link]

Now that Jack's responded I'll throw in my $.02 about Yesterday and try to be spoiler free. I absolutely loved the premise. It mostly works. The scene where he meets a "Beatle" is kind of meh (I really, really, expected and wanted more). Some scenes are very, very good. The payoff was an absolute let down. Still... I'm glad I've seen it and more glad that it was a rental instead of a purchase. While I mostly enjoyed it I just don't see myself ever watching it again.

 

[TJPC]

You’re going to think I am just being a wimpy contrarian, but I found the meeting with the Beatle to be one of the most moving parts of any movie I have ever seen. As I write this and remember, I actually have tears in my eyes!

 

[BobO'Link]

You’re going to think I am just being a wimpy contrarian, but I found the meeting with the Beatle to be one of the most moving parts of any movie I have ever seen. As I write this and remember, I actually have tears in my eyes!

I can see that...

Spoiler

What got me most about the meeting is the incredible resemblance to and history of that Beatle. Yes, it was moving for me for that reason alone.

I still expected more from that meeting and the whole movie. It's another case of a movie I'd have liked better had it not had all the hype. It didn't help that a coworker, *after* I said I'd not seen it but planned a weekend viewing, insisted on laying out the entire movie completely spoiling several scenes! I was rather furious! He's also pretty much a non-movie person and doesn't "get" the whole idea about spoilers.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Okay, Bob and TJPC, I say let's forget about spoilers. Tell me about the film's portrayal of its protagonist meeting with John Lennon. Bob is disappointed about it while Terry is "moved to tears." My own enjoyment (or otherwise) of the film will not be affected (honest!).

Also, though the thread is about anyone having actually seen The Beatles perform, I am letting it run off tangent -- in the spirit of Bob's SF-on-film/TV thread. Have at it. I want to read what both of you say about Yesterday's key moment.

 

[TJPC]

Ok, first of all, since reaching the age of 60, it doesn’t take much at all to turn me into a blubbery twit. (It almost happened again when I was playing the new Monty Python Blu ray set and encountered the “Parrot Sketch” after not seeing it for years. — I am thinking of changing my name to Sarek) I just found a sense of loss I guess when I think of what might have been.

 

[BobO'Link]

I felt that same emotional tug as did Terry during that scene. The sense of loss. It didn't help that the actor in the Lennon role really looked like an older John Lennon (although my 13yo granddaughter said "It doesn't look like John"). Outside the emotional tug it was just a bit hollow and somehow incomplete feeling. I didn't feel like it gave any closure for the lead character and felt like it was there solely for that emotional tug.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Interesting -- both viewpoints.

From the reviews I have read, the protagonist appears to come into contact with others who remember The Beatles and inform him that he can meet a Beatles (sort of pun, there). How does this play out in the film? Go ahead and tell me. If you are afraid of revealing spoilers, just use the hide-the-spoiler feature.

 

[BobO'Link]

OK then...

Spoiler

At one point a rooftop concert to promote his album is set up. In the press room/backstage there are a couple of fans waving a yellow submarine model. They make their way to him to tell him they remember the Beatles' songs as well, but are there simply to thank him, fearing the music had been gone forever. They give him the address of John Lennon, who has survived into old age, having never been famous or in the spotlight. Jack asks Lennon if he has led a successful life to which Lennon replies that he has lived happily with his wife. He advises Jack to pursue the one he loves and to always tell the truth.

That leads to the conclusion where, on stage at the final concert, Jack admits to having plagiarised all the music.

Overall, it's a rom-com with Beatles music as the glue holding it all together.

I'm not much of a fan of rom-coms which is the big reason I found it less than satisfying. I wanted the Beatles' music and his turning it into stardom to be more involving, not the side story it really was. It could, and should, have been better.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Is that your primary complaint, though -- that it's a romantic comedy with the music of The Beatles being almost beside the point?

 

[cinemiracle]

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_Beatles'_live_performances

I never trust anything on Wikipedia. They get several thousands of entries each day and few if any are ever verified as being the truth.. It is possibly the most distrusted site for information on the internet and hated by so many people.

 

[Jack Briggs]

No offense, but I really like Wikipedia.