August 15, 1965
Queens, New York
Videos by American Songwriter
A crowd of about 55,600 people filled New York’s Shea Stadium to watch The Beatles perform on a stage set up in the middle of the baseball infield. There were no video boards to assist. The PA system was the same one used to announce baseball or football games. The screaming fans certainly overpowered the Vox amps and Ludwig drums used that August evening.
John Lennon would later claim the night to be a career highlight. “At Shea Stadium, I saw the top of the mountain,” he said.
The story of how this legendary show came to be begins in March 1963. Promoter Sid Bernstein had an idea.
“I had developed a habit of reading English newspapers, and I read them regularly. I read this little piece about four kids in Liverpool creating a sensation in a little club in Liverpool called The Cavern,” Bernstein said in a 2004 interview. “Why don’t I think about introducing them here? When I read about the crowds and the reaction of the kids … I called Brian Epstein, their manager. … When he told me that they get the equivalent of 2,000 American dollars in each theater they work in, I thought, ‘Well, I’m gonna offer them a little more money.’ I offered them $6,500 for two shows in one day.”
Epstein asked where Bernstein was thinking of presenting them. When the promoter suggested Carnegie Hall, it certainly got the manager’s attention. No other offers had come in from America up until then. Epstein was worried about his act appearing in an empty hall as there was no radio support for The Beatles at that time. Bernstein assured him he could get the seats filled. February 12, 1964, was decided on. When television host Ed Sullivan learned the act would be coming to New York City, he booked them for February 9. Of course, the building excitement around the arrival of the lads from Liverpool only fueled the demand for tickets to Carnegie Hall. The Beatles had the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100, and the tickets that were priced at $3.50, $4.50, and $5.50 not only sold out but were being scalped for over $100 apiece outside of the venue.
After the two shows, Bernstein and Epstein hatched a plan. Bernstein took Epstein to see Madison Square Garden. Carnegie Hall’s capacity was 3,600, while Madison Square Garden seated 17,000. Epstein questioned Bernstein about the possibility of filling that venue. Bernstein checked with Nathan Posnick, the ticket office manager at Carnegie Hall, to see how many requests were turned away. The answer stunned Bernstein. Over 100,000 ticket requests to the Carnegie Hall shows were denied.
Bernstein continued, “I called Brian. I said, Brian, I want to change my mind about Madison Square Garden. I’d rather put them in Shea Stadium. He says, ‘How big is that?’ And I said, that’s 55,000 seats. He said, ‘Do you think we can fill it?’ and I said I’ll pay you $10 for every seat we don’t fill.”
A deal was struck. The Beatles would receive 60% of the gross. They ended up receiving $160,000 for the 27-minute show, the first of their second American Tour. Many support acts were on the bill, including Killer Joe Piro and The Discothèque Dancers, The Young Rascals, Cannibal & the Headhunters, Brenda Holloway, King Curtis, and Sound Incorporated. It was then time for the main attraction. Bernstein said a few words and then introduced Sullivan. The crowd roared as they realized the big event was about to begin.
Sullivan addressed the crowd, “Now, ladies and gentlemen. Honored by their country, decorated by their queen, and loved here in America. Here are The Beatles.”
Another wave of screams filled the massive venue. People who were there liken it to the roar of jet engines. The Beatles were brought to the venue by a Wells Fargo armored truck. The badges worn by The Beatles onstage were from Wells Fargo.
A few minutes of line checking and tuning followed as Lennon and Paul McCartney stepped up to the microphones. The crowd screamed more. The band launched into “Twist & Shout” as the over 2,000 security guards dealt with the surging crowd.
The scoreboard urged the crowd with the words, “FOR SAFETY SAKE, PLEASE STAY IN YOUR SEATS.”
The Beatles would play 12 songs in their brief concert, ending with “I’m Down.” Fourteen cameras captured The Beatles’ portion of the show, and 10 songs were shown on BBC television in England in 1966 and ABC in the U.S. in 1967. It was shown in theaters in 2016 along with the Ron Howard documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, but a lawsuit prevented the footage from being included with the film’s home video release.
At the time, it was the largest audience to experience a concert. The title would belong to The Beatles until May 5, 1973, when Led Zeppelin played to 56,800 people in Tampa, Florida.
The Beatles returned to Shea Stadium on August 23, 1966. The fallout in the press from Lennon’s comments about the band being more famous than Jesus Christ led to a lower number of ticket sales; however, the higher ticket prices still allowed The Beatles to earn more than the previous year. The band took home $189,000 from the 1966 show.
Just as The Beatles changed the face of popular music when they performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, they changed the way artists and promoters looked at live concerts. Future tours by The Rolling Stones, Elton John, and The Eagles would consist of only stadium venues—something that was unimaginable just a decade before.
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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
