The Beatles' 1964 North American tour

• 1. Introduction

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  At 6:25 pm on the 19th of August 1964, the Beatles touched down at San Francisco International Airport. Nine thousand fans were waiting on the ground. The band's six months away from the United States had been extraordinarily productive. Seventeen Top 40 singles had reached American listeners, including six number ones. Their film A Hard Day's Night earned $1.3 million in its first week of release. Now 32 concerts in 24 cities lay ahead of them, spread across 31 days. What logistical lengths would it take to move four of the most recognizable people on Earth from hotel to stage each night? What would happen when the group tried to use their fame to demand integrated seating at a Florida stadium? And why would a live recording made at the Hollywood Bowl sit in a vault, silent, for thirteen years?

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• 2. Moving Through the Madness

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  Decoy limousines were not a novelty on this tour; they were a necessity. Delivery vans and ambulances became routine transport for the group. At the show in Vancouver on the 22nd of August, a surge of thousands of fans broke toward the security barriers. One hundred and sixty girls were treated for injuries and distress.

  At shows in Cleveland and Kansas City, fans broke past police lines and reached the stage itself. Each time, Beatles press officer Derek Taylor threatened to cancel the remaining concert before calm returned. Attendance across the tour ranged widely: from 4,000 at a New York City show to 28,000 in Baltimore.

  Journalist Larry Kane of WFUN in Miami was 20 years old when he wrote to Beatles manager Brian Epstein. He asked for a one-time interview. Epstein responded by inviting Kane to travel with the band as part of the press party. Kane later speculated that Epstein included him because he believed Kane was a prominent American personality who owned several radio stations.

  Capitol Records had traveled with the tour specifically to attempt a recording in Los Angeles, at the Hollywood Bowl, on the 23rd of August.

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• 3. The Hollywood Bowl Tapes

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  Capitol Records had first tried to capture the Beatles on a live album in February 1964. The target was Carnegie Hall in New York City, on the 12th of February. The American Federation of Musicians refused permission, and no recording was made.

  When the band returned to the United States in August 1964, Capitol tried again. This time the Federation granted permission. Producer George Martin and Capitol's Voyle Gilmore recorded the Beatles' performance at the Hollywood Bowl on the 23rd of August 1964.

  Capitol's executives rejected the recording for release. The problem was the crowd. Martin described the audience's screaming as "like putting a microphone at the end of a 747 jet." The tapes went into storage. They remained there for thirteen years, until the 1977 album The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. That release combined the August 1964 recording with two performances from August 1965.

  Five days after the Hollywood Bowl show, on the 28th of August, the Beatles checked into Hotel Delmonico in New York City.

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• 4. An Evening with Bob Dylan

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  On the 28th of August, New York Post writer Al Aronowitz brought Bob Dylan to meet the Beatles at Hotel Delmonico. The Beatles offered Dylan amphetamine pills. He declined, saying he preferred "cheap wine." Dylan suggested they smoke marijuana, something the group had tried only a few times before.

  Ringo Starr, not realizing he was supposed to share, smoked an entire joint by himself. After another was rolled and lit, the Beatles laughed continuously while Dylan answered the ringing telephone, saying, "This is Beatlemania here."

  Paul McCartney became convinced he had discovered the meaning of life. He asked Beatles roadie Mal Evans to write down his thoughts. The next morning, McCartney read the note Evans had written. It said: "There are Seven Levels."

  Lennon described feeling genuinely starstruck when he recalled the night in 1970. "I'm pretty much a fan type myself, in a way," he later said. Dylan, speaking the following year, remembered being among the few who believed the band had lasting appeal. "I just kept it to myself that I really dug them," Dylan said. "Everybody else thought they were for the teenyboppers, that they were gonna pass right away. But it was obvious to me that they had staying power."

  Three weeks of shows remained before a death threat and Hurricane Dora together rerouted the band to an unscheduled landing.

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• 5. Storms and Segregation

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  In Montreal, a newspaper reported that Ringo Starr had received a death threat before the band's shows on the 8th of September. Starr later speculated the threat stemmed from antisemitism and a false assumption that he was Jewish. The Beatles left Montreal immediately after their performance.

  Their intended destination was Jacksonville, Florida. But Hurricane Dora diverted the flight to Key West, where the plane landed at 3:30 am on the 9th of September. At the hotel that night, Paul McCartney and John Lennon drank together and talked late into the night.

  Jacksonville itself had been a source of concern for weeks before the Montreal shows. In July 1964, President Lyndon Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act. The law prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Beatles, opposed to racial segregation, worried their Florida show could still draw a divided audience.

  On the 6th of September, a week before the Jacksonville performance, the group issued a press statement. It read: "We will not appear unless Negroes are allowed to sit anywhere." The following day, Jacksonville's daily paper, The Florida Times-Union, published an editorial titled "Beatlemania Is A Mark Of A Frenetic Era." It described the group as "a passing fad." Writer Bill DeMain interprets the piece as arguing the Beatles were not intelligent enough to comment on social issues.

  The Beatles performed at Gator Bowl Stadium on the 11th of September. They had received assurance from the promoter that the audience would not be segregated. According to writer Barry Miles, segregating the show had never been planned. The group initially refused to take the stage until newsreel and television cameramen were removed from the arena.

  Two cities after Jacksonville, a Kansas City baseball team owner would extend an offer the Beatles initially refused. The dollar figure he eventually reached had no precedent in American music.

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• 6. The Kansas City Record

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  Charlie Finley, a millionaire who owned the Kansas City Athletics, offered the Beatles a large sum to perform an extra show. The group had few days off on the schedule and declined.

  Finley increased his offer until it reached $150,000, more than any American artist had ever received for a single performance. At that sum, the Beatles agreed. On the 17th of September, they played Municipal Stadium in Kansas City to around 20,000 spectators, roughly half the stadium's full capacity.

  Breaking with their usual practice of playing only released material, the Beatles covered "Kansas City"/"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey." Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn describes the crowd's response as "an especially uproarious reception." The Thursday night show was a net loss for Finley. Afterwards he explained: "I don't consider it any loss at all. The Beatles were brought here for the enjoyment of the children in this area and watching them last night they had complete enjoyment."

  The Kansas City show fell on the 17th of September; the tour's final performance was still three cities away.

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• 7. What the Tour Left Behind

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  The final night was a charity event in New York City on the 20th of September. Titled "An Evening With The Beatles," the show raised money for United Cerebral Palsy of New York City and Retarded Infants Services.

  Writer June Skinner Sawyers calls the 1964 North American tour "the first major rock-and-roll concert tour in the history of popular music." Larry Kane once asked John Lennon if there was anything he cherished about the tour. Kane had traveled the full length of the tour as part of the group's press party.

  Lennon answered: "Well, just the whole thing. It's been fantastic. We will probably never do another tour like it." He added that it was "probably something we will remember the rest of our days."

  The Beatles returned to North America in 1965 and again in 1966.

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