Melbourne
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Contents |
Introduction
Melbourne is the capital of the state of Victoria and the second largest city in Australia. The Beatles visited Melbourne during their 1964 tour of Australasia.
The Beatles arrival in Melbourne
John, Paul and George arrived in Melbourne at 3:15pm on the 14th of June 1964. They were met at the airport by a crowd of 5,000 fans with a further 20,000 lining their route to the Southern Cross Hotel. The crowds outside the hotel (estimated at 200,000) required 300 police and 100 members of the armed forces to control.
Ringo landed in Melbourne five hours earlier. He was rejoining the group after taking a short break to recover from acute tonsillitis. Ringo sent his luggage label as a souvenir to a fan who injured herself screaming at his arrival. "First casualty was Marilyn Arthur, 14, of Nathalia, who screamed so hard at the airport arrival of Ringo Starr that she burst a blood vessel in her throat." [1]
Civic Receptions and other social activities
On the 15th of June, after their performance, the Beatles attended a private party at a Toorak Mansion.
On the 16th of June the Beatles were invited to a civic reception at Melbourne Town Hall. Streets were closed as 15,000 fans turned out, many having taken the day off school. The Beatles were the guest of Mayor Leo Curtis and family.
On the 17th of June, George went driving in the Dandenongs while the other three had their hair cut.
Beatles Performances
The Beatles performed 6 shows in Melbourne at Festival Hall (Melbourne), two shows a night (6pm and 8pm) on the 15th, 16th and 17th. All shows were sold out with 45,000 tickets sold. All shows were opened by Australian instrumental group The Phantoms who stayed onstage as the backing group for New Zealander Johnny Devlin and Australian Johnny Chester. Sounds Incorporated ended the first half of the show, the Beatles performed after a brief intermission. The first show on the 15th was Ringo's reunion with the group after his absence.
The setlist for all 6 shows:
- I Saw Her Standing There
- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- You Can't Do That
- All My Loving
- She Loves You
- Till There Was You
- Roll Over Beethoven
- Can't Buy Me Love
- This Boy
- Long Tall Sally
- Twist And Shout
The final show on the 17th of June was recorded and broadcast by Channel Nine as "The Beatles sing for Shell". This is the source of any Beatleg recordings advertising tracks from Melbourne on the 17th (or sometimes erroneously the 16th) of June 1964.
Jimmy Nicol
Ringo's replacement Jimmy Nicol, made his last appearance with the Beatles in Melbourne. He had been their drummer for their shows in Denmark, The Netherlands, Hong Kong and Adelaide. On June 14th, the five Beatles gave their one and only press conference together at the Southern Cross Hotel. All photographs of the five Beatles together come from this date. On the morning of June 15, Brian Epstein drove Jimmy to the airport and he returned to England. The Beatles didn't say goodbye as they were still asleep having been up late the night before celebrating Ringo's return.
