You could go back in time to see one Beatles' concert. Which of these would it be?

Hulme Hall in Birkenhead,
Aug. 18, 1962.
The day Ringo officially
joined the band.

 

Shea

 

Sullivan Show. No doubt about it.

 

The Escorts and the Merseybeats were pretty terrific too!

 

Not that long before... the pilot episode was filmed 17 months later.

 

Forget going to a show - I'd settle for attending an Abbey Road recording session. I'd like to be there in '66 as they recorded "Taxman" or "Paperback Writer" or "Tomorrow Never Knows"!

 

That's what was reported in the news too.

A's owner Charlie O'Finlay brought them to KC on a scheduled day off (for lots of $$$$).

 

I pick The Cavern. It's always fun to be there at the beginning.

 

Have you seen the video? They sound AWFUL, it was a very sloppy, indifferent performance.

 

How amazing it would have been to have seen The Beatles during your lunch break from work, as those who worked near the Cavern in the early sixties could have done.

Beats spending your lunch break miserably grazing on a sandwich and reading ****e on the internet, eh?

 

A friend of mine showed it to his young son, and the son astutely commented, "The Beatles look normal, and the audience looks weird."

 

It got better the second and third nights when they realized they could be heard and decided, "We better try harder."

 

Definitely one of the Cavern/Star Club-era sets. People were listening, the band was on fire and still having fun, and they played for far more than 30 minutes. And I don't think the few documents we have of those years truly capture what they were like on a daily/nightly basis.

Having said that, if that wasn't on the table, I'd much rather have been alive to see one of McCartney's 1976 shows than any post-fame 30 minute Beatles gig with the screaming. I mean, I think just the idea of witnessing Beatlemania live in the flesh would've been something to behold, but whenever these "concert time travel" questions are posed, I think about what would have the most musical value to me, rather than just picking an "event," which is what Beatles gigs quickly became after 1963.

 

Leyton Baths April 1963 for me!

 

Tell you what, if you can make it the first Cavern show (February 9, 1961) its a deal. Them, I'm taking the fuse out of the time machine, putting it in my pocket, and not reinstalling it until the day after the Rooftop gig. Oh, and I'm changing my name to Mal.

 

The Cavern for me. Long sets. No real set list. Seeing the band having fun and being less "professional." Actually having a chance to talk with them after.

 

Where would my seats be?

 

boy do I not agree with that at all. of course, they did a few days there so maybe one day was not as good but everything I've heard there has been spectacular.

 

1964 Dallas Memorial Auditorium because myself & friends did not get to see the show but we did witness the band arriving at The Cabana Hotel in Dallas.To have that memory coupled with seeing the concert would constitute the ultimate Beatle memory for me.

 

The Cavern. I'm guessing you might be able to actually hear the music.

 

It's a very hard choice between The Cavern and the first Sullivan appearance. The former because it would place me amidst the primitive excitement they generated both among themselves as a band and for their fans. This, basically, was "point 1" in terms of where they were about to go. And then there's the Sullivan Show...I've asked repeatedly of older fans who might have been young teenagers at that time (I was 6 and still remember that night very well as the family sat in front of the TV in shock and confusion), was it REALLY like that? Was it as exciting and mindblowing as all the books depict? I also feel that once Beatlemania exploded in full force, this was the band at their finest (save for the crummy sound balance)...a testament to how good they really were as a live band before it all started going downhill.

 

roof top

 

The Cavern...best chance to hear a few sets without 50,000 screaming girls and a terrible mix.

 

Partially obstructed view, George side, unless you choose rooftop, then its clear view, Billy Preston side.

 

There's two recent books that cover that and many other great stories:
1) History of Buffalo Music & Entertainment: A Nostalgic Journey into Buffalo New York's Musical Heritage – Rick Falkowski.
2) No Stoppin' This Boppin'; Let The Good Times Roll - Bob & Terri Skurzewski, a retrospective of Buffalo NY's music scene, from 1950 through 1964 , when
AM radio was King!
The rest of the story, involving the singing team of Reynolds & Neaverth, from Wikipedia.