Sydney
From BeatlesWiki
Contents |
Introduction
The largest city in Australia and the capital of the State of New South Wales.
Beatles Arrival
The Beatles (John, Paul, George and Jimmy Nicol) landed at Kingsford-Smith International Airport at 7:43am on the 11th of June 1964. Despite the torrential rain and fierce winds, they toured the airport in an open top truck, waving to over 1000 fans.
During the tour a woman threw her six her old child onto the truck where he was caught by Paul. He handed the child (who had a mental disability) back to the mother who burst into tears shouting “He’s better, oh he’s better”.
The Beatles were driven to the Sheridan hotel where they appeared on the balcony to wave to fans. John and Paul had found a change of clothing but George braved the cold weather clad only in a towel. They spent the night in the hotel and flew off the next morning for Adelaide.
The Beatles returned to Sydney on the 18th of June at 11:40 am. They were met by a crowd of 1,200, their smallest Australian airport welcoming party.
Civic Receptions and Other Social Activities
Paul celebrated his 22nd birthday in Sydney on June 18th. According to Brian Epstein, writing in The New Musical Express on June 26th 1964, local newspaper The Daily Mirror organized a “Why I would like to be a guest at a Beatle’s birthday party “competition for local girls. 15 girls were chosen out of 30 finalists and they attended the celebrations which were a quiet and regulated affair despite Ringo passing out drunk at 3am. The 15 unlucky finalists had a chance to meet by the Beatles the following day.
Beatles Performances
The Beatles performed two shows a night (6pm and 8pm) on the 18th, 19th and 20th of June at Sydney Stadium. Each show was attended by 12,000 fans, a record for Sydney at the time.
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 shows were compered by English comedian Alan Field. 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. All acts performed on a revolving stage.
The 18th of June performance had to be stopped twice by Paul due to hails of Jelly Babies which were being thrown by fans. The 20th of June performance was marred when John was hit in the foot by an egg thrown from the audience prompting the response “What do you think I am, a salad?”
A sound technician hired by a local newspaper registered the volume in the hall at 114 decibels. The newspaper printed a headline reading “Beatels Fans Sound like a Jet in Flight” and made comparisons to a Boeing 707 which registers a maximum level of 100 decibels.
