August 18, 1965
Hope everything is going well for all you Beatle fans. I promised to end this blog when the Beatles played Ed Sullivan in the states, but I just had to make a post for this seminal event.
50 years ago today, the Beatles played for the first time on a stage with a wonderful new innovation - stage monitors, so they could actually hear what they were doing. Here's a recording of that concert. At about 7:20 Paul even remarks "Ooo. It's loud, isn't it!" And at about 10:00, John says, "It's great! You can hear it!" And the field of musical stagecraft makes a giant leap forward.
Beatles, Atlanta 1965
It's interesting to reflect that for all this time since February, they
were playing without being able to hear each other or even themselves. Until the Beatles came along, it just wasn't an issue.
The description with this Youtube post describe all of the new things that Baker Audio brought to the the concert. The Beatles wanted to bring Baker along for the rest of their tour, but the offer was declined.
The recording was made by a local radio station, WQXI, and likely represents one of the tightest live stage performances of this period.
It's been a little less than 50 years since the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show February 9th, 1964 and changed our lives forever. The Beatles started their professional careers with a trip to Hamburg, Germany in August of 1960. I'm going to post to this blog what the Beatles were doing 50 years ago to the day from just before that first tour until the historic Ed Sullivan appearance. "Follow by email" for ongoing updates. (Eternal thanks to Mark Lewisohn.)