The Beatles 1964 Package Tour

Back in 1964 the Fab Four embarked on a package tour which covered most of the UK.

The tour was from October to November of that year and accompanying the Beatles as part of the tour were, Mary Wells, Tommy Quickly, The Remo Four, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam, The Rusticks with Bob Bain as the show's compere. The shows as you can imagine were sell-outs!

Dates & Venues

October 1964

09 - Bradford (Gaumont)
10 - Leicester (De Montfort Hall)
11 - Birmingham (Odeon)
13 - Wigan (ABC)
14 - Manchester (ABC)
15 - Stockton (Globe)
16 - Hull (ABC)
19 - Edinburgh (ABC)
20 - Dundee (Caird Hall)
21 - Glasgow (Odeon)
22 - Leeds (Odeon)
23 - Kilburn (Gaumont State)
24 - Waltrhamst5ow (Granada)
25 - Brighton (Hippodrome)
28 - Exeter (ABC)
29 - Plymouth (ABC)
30 - Bournemouth (Gaumont)
31 - Ipswich (Gaumont)

November 1964

01 - Finsbury park (Astoria)
02 - Belfast (King's Hall)
04 - Luton (Ritz)
05 - Nottingham (Odeon)
06 - Southampton (Gaumont)
07 - Cardiff (Capitol)
08 - Liverpool (Empire)
09 - Sheffield (City Hall)
10 - Bristol (Colston Hall)

Historic Beatles pics up for sale

Photographs of The Beatles' first ever US concert are going up for sale.

Two days after their momentous US debut in 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Fab Four boarded a train from New York for Washington, DC, for their first US concert. An enterprising 18-year-old Mike Mitchell was there, a press pass in hand, shooting photographs just feet away and even jumping onto the stage for the group's brief pre-concert press call.

Forty-seven years later, Mike has made 50 silver gelatin prints from his negatives of the event and the Beatles' September 3, 1964, performance at the Baltimore Civic Centre. He is offering them for sale at Christie's New York auction house on July 20. The total pre-sale estimate is 100,000 US dollars; the images will be sold individually.

"It was a long time ago. Things weren't that way then," the 65-year-old said. "It was as low-tech as the concert itself. The concert was in a sports venue and the sound system was the sound system of a sports venue."

The batch of prints, showing the Beatles in their early signature mop hair, suit and ties, also will have a nearly invisible "secret moniker" that will not be used for any other of his images.

The photographs will be displayed at Christie's London galleries on June 11-12, and then at several other London venues before being shown July 11-20 at Christie's New York prior to the auction.

Merseybeat - The Beatles top the poll!

Mersey Beat was a music publication printed in Liverpool in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool art College. The paper carried news about all the local Liverpool bands, and stars who came to town to perform.

The Beatles had a close association with Mersey Beat, which carried many exclusive stories and photos of them. They also published several of Lennon's early writings, including a history of the band, and occasional comical classified advertisements by him as space filler.

In 1962, Mersey Beat held a poll to find out who was the most popular Merseyside group. The results were announced on 4 January 1962:

1. The Beatles
2. Gerry & The Pacemakers
3. The Remo Four
4. Rory Storm & The Hurricanes
5. Johnny Sandon and The Searches
6. Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes
7. The Big Three
8. The Strangers
9. Faron & The Flamingos
10. The Four Jays
11. Ian and the Zodiacs
12. The Undertakers
13. Earl Preston & The TTs
14. Mark Peters and the Cyclones
15. Karl Terry and the Cruisers
16. Derry 7 The Seniors
17. Steve and the Syndicate
18. Dee Fenton and the Silhouettes
19. Billy Kramer and the Coasters
20. Dale Roberts and the Jaywalkers

The results were printed in issue 13 of Mersey Beat on 4 January 1962, with the front page announcing, “Beatles Top Poll!” Paul McCartney supplied the issue's cover photograph, which was taken by Albert Marrion.

Such was the popularity of the poll, Rushworth's music store manager, Bob Hobbs, presented Lennon and George Harrison with new guitars. Many groups in Liverpool complained to Harry that his newspaper should be called Mersey Beatles, as he featured them so often.