Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour

• 1. Introduction

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  The Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour brought two rising acts together across the United Kingdom in 1963. Backstage, guitar maker Jim Marshall handed Roy Orbison two amplifiers, the first two Marshall amps to reach America. Orbison carried them home once the tour ended. Promoters had originally billed Orbison as the tour's headline act. Night after night, crowd reaction to the acts sharing that bill changed how each show was run. What made organizers rework the running order partway through the tour? Who else played on these dates, and what did each act actually perform for the audience?

• 2. A Star Overtaken

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  Roy Orbison had never headlined a UK tour before this one; the Beatles were already on their third nationwide tour of the country in 1963. Promoters originally billed Orbison as the top act. The bill also included Gerry and the Pacemakers, David MacBeth, Louise Cordet, Tony Marsh, the Terry Young Six, Erkey Grant and Ian Crawford. Crowd reaction to the Beatles proved strong enough that organizers moved the group into the closing position. That change made the two acts co-headliners for the rest of the run. The 21 concerts ran from the 18th of May to the 9th of June 1963, opening in Slough and ending in Blackburn. Between those dates, the tour crossed into Wales for a show at Cardiff's Capitol Theatre. It also reached Scotland for a date at the Glasgow Odeon. Other stops included Liverpool, Southampton, Nottingham, Sheffield and Newcastle upon Tyne. Each remaining stop on the schedule still called for a full set from both acts, built from very different songs.

• 3. Two Set Lists

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  John Lennon usually opened the Beatles' set, taking lead vocals on "Some Other Guy." George Harrison followed with "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", then Paul McCartney sang either "Love Me Do" or "A Taste of Honey." Lennon and McCartney shared the vocal on "From Me to You," before Lennon returned to sing "Please Please Me." McCartney then led "I Saw Her Standing There," and the band closed with Lennon singing "Twist and Shout" or McCartney singing "Long Tall Sally." Roy Orbison's set ran through "Only the Lonely," "Candy Man" and "Running Scared." He also sang a cover of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say," along with "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)" and "In Dreams." Behind both frontmen, touring bands supplied every note the audience heard each night.

• 4. The Backing Musicians

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  Rodney Justo sang background vocals in Orbison's touring band. Dean "Ox" Daughtry played keyboards, John Raney Adkins played guitar, Paul Garrison played drums and Bill Gilmore played bass. Orbison himself sang lead and played guitar every night. Fewer names changed on the Beatles' side of the stage. John Lennon sang and played rhythm and acoustic guitar, plus harmonica. Paul McCartney sang and played bass guitar, George Harrison sang and played lead and acoustic guitar, and Ringo Starr played drums. Nine musicians in total, five behind Orbison and four behind the Beatles, carried the instrumental sound through every date on the bill.