The Beatles' 1965 UK tour

• 1. Introduction

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  The Beatles' 1965 UK tour opened with near disaster. On the road to Scotland, George Harrison's Gretsch Tennessean guitar slid from the group's car. It landed in the path of an oncoming truck and was destroyed instantly, leaving Harrison with only two guitars for the whole run. Eighteen shows filled the schedule across nine venues in England, Scotland and Wales, running from the 3rd to the 12th of December 1965. The dates coincided with the album Rubber Soul and the double A-side single 'Day Tripper' backed with 'We Can Work It Out.' It was the last tour the band would ever play in the United Kingdom. Worn down by the noise of Beatlemania, the four musicians agreed to the run on one condition. They would skip the Christmas concert season they had played every winter, in 1963-64 and again in 1964-65. What changed between those earlier Christmas shows and this one? And what finally led the band to walk away from British stages for good?

• 2. From Arenas To Theatres

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  Sports arenas and grand auditoriums had hosted the Beatles across the United States that same summer of 1965. For this UK run, every venue was a theatre or a cinema instead.

  According to comments George Harrison gave the NME, the band's tight ensemble playing benefited from a demanding stretch of studio work. They had just wrapped intensive recording sessions for Rubber Soul before the tour began.

  Rubber Soul marked a real step forward from the group's Merseybeat beginnings. It continued a direction they had first explored on Beatles for Sale, released in late 1964. For the first time on a UK tour, the setlist dropped every song written before that record.

  John Lennon opened each show with 'I Feel Fine,' a hit from the previous year. Paul McCartney closed the set with 'I'm Down,' a song NME writer Alan Smith later called 'the 1965 Twist and Shout.'

  Behind the scenes, an unusually small crew was about to keep this whole operation running.

• 3. Behind The Scenes

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  Multiple acts shared each bill, a standard format for British package tours in the 1960s, with two performances scheduled every day. The Moody Blues, the Paramounts, Beryl Marsden, Steve Aldo, the Koobas and the Marionettes rounded out the roster of support acts.

  At £1000 per engagement, the Beatles earned the highest fee ever paid to a performing act in Britain up to that point.

  The touring party numbered just nine people. Alongside the four band members and manager Brian Epstein, only four others made the trip. They were road managers Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans, press officer Tony Barrow and chauffeur Alf Bicknell.

  Preparations wrapped with a rehearsal on the 1st of December, held at the London flat Aspinall and Evans shared. The two men had served as the group's road managers and roadies for years by then.

  Within a day, that small team would be steering the Beatles north into a Scottish winter.

• 4. Home To Liverpool

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  The opening night unfolded at Glasgow's Odeon Cinema on the 2nd of December. NME writer Alan Smith covered the first four stops, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester, in a single feature article.

  Smith reported that 'it's been capacity audiences, screaming fans and better-than-ever performances by the group all the way.' He attributed the calmer mood partly to a heavy police presence. Roads around each venue were closed, limiting crowds to those actually holding tickets.

  The Beatles reached their hometown on the 5th of December, playing the Liverpool Empire Theatre in front of friends and family. At the second show that night, McCartney joined the Koobas on drums during their performance of 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy.'

  McCartney voiced frustration over the security surrounding the tour: 'just lately it's getting ridiculous. There are so many of them about, it ruins the whole atmosphere of enjoyment.'

  Snow, fog and rain were about to become just as much trouble as the police.

• 5. Snow, Fog And Late Arrivals

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  Winter weather dogged the tour from the start. In Glasgow, Brian Epstein had to switch the band's accommodation to an inner-city hotel just to get them on stage on time.

  Snow blocked roads around Newcastle, while dense fog slowed travel through Manchester. Heavy rain followed on the drive to Birmingham.

  At the first Birmingham Odeon show, the Beatles arrived late. The Moody Blues stretched their own set to fill the gap until the headliners appeared.

  The very next day, the tour would reach London, where a different kind of news was waiting.

• 6. The Capital Roars

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  The Beatles played the first of two London venues, the Hammersmith Odeon, on the 10th of December. That same day, the NME announced its readers had voted them Best British Group and Best World Group for 1965.

  Lennon added a personal honor to the tally, winning the NME's 'British Vocal Personality' category. The following day, Melody Maker placed Rubber Soul at number one on its national albums chart.

  On the 11th of December, the band played the Astoria in Finsbury Park. Author Barry Miles later described the crowd's reception as 'tremendous.'

  Alan Smith, who had noted a calmer mood earlier in the tour, walked that back after Finsbury Park: 'I have not seen hysteria like this at a Beatles show since the word Beatlemania erupted into headlines.'

  Backstage, drenched in sweat, George Harrison told Smith: 'This is one of the most incredible shows we've done. Not just because of the audience, but because they're Londoners!' Lennon offered his own take: 'We used to think Londoners had that cool we've-seen-it-all-before outlook but we take it all back!'

  One night remained, in a city the Beatles had never played on this run: Cardiff.

• 7. Twelve Songs, Four Voices

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  Musicologist Walter Everett later documented the full set list alongside who sang each song. Across twelve songs, all four band members took a turn at lead vocals.

  Lennon handled several of the set's biggest numbers himself. He sang lead on 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy' and 'Help!,' then shared vocals with McCartney on 'Baby's in Black' and 'Day Tripper.'

  McCartney carried 'She's a Woman,' 'We Can Work It Out' and 'Yesterday' solo. Harrison took lead on 'If I Needed Someone,' while Starr sang 'Act Naturally.' Lennon also led 'Nowhere Man,' backed by McCartney and Harrison.

  One city on the tour had never seen these arrangements performed live before: Cardiff, the last stop on the schedule.

• 8. The Final Bow

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  The tour closed on the 12th of December with two shows at Cardiff's Capitol Cinema. Roughly 25,000 ticket applications poured in for just 5,000 available seats.

  These Cardiff shows turned out to be the last concerts the Beatles ever played in the UK outside London. Their final London performance came months later, at the NME Poll-Winners' Concert in May 1966.