I hate to see the destruction of Candlestick Park after the 49ers season ends ... lots of good memories -- the Giants, the 49ers, the Stones. Here is an interesting piece ...

Sir Paul McCartney has tossed up the possibility of headlining one last concert at Candlestick Park - where the Beatles played their final gig for a paying crowd in 1966 - before the stadium's date with the wrecking ball.

No one was more stunned than Mayor Ed Lee when McCartney floated the idea as he was about to take the stage at his recent Outside Lands festival appearance.

"And it was him who made the suggestion," Lee said. "Believe me, it wasn't something I, or anyone else, was expecting."

It all began when Lee - with about a half hour to kill - decided to check out how things were going at the festival in Golden Gate Park the evening of Aug. 10.

Lee was talking with Outside Lands promoter Gregg Perloff, who asked if he had a couple of minutes to meet with McCartney before the singer went on.

"Ah, Mayor Lee, what an honor," McCartney said. "I understand you are the first Asian mayor of the city."

"Thank you," Lee replied, "but I'm not sure it's quite as glamorous as being knighted."

Sir Paul put his thumb and forefinger almost together and said, "It's that much more."

The ice properly broken, city salesman Lee launched into the success of Outside Lands, then slid into another upcoming significant event - the end of Candlestick, and how the city was putting together photos and film footage to honor the Beatles' final concert.

"Oh, kind of like Shea Stadium," McCartney said, referring to the old New York ballpark where the Beatles played two of their most famous shows. "That sounds fantastic."

"Then," Lee said, "he looks at me and Phil Ginsburg" - general manager of the Recreation and Park Department - "and says, 'Well, if you are going to tear down the stadium next year, we should think about us doing the last concert there.' "

As Lee's and everyone else's jaw dropped, McCartney added, "You know my agent. Why don't we follow up with him?"

McCartney did this once before - at Shea Stadium, just before it was demolished in 2009. Then he and Billy Joel helped break in Citi Field, the New York Mets' replacement stadium.

If the Stick show does come together, it would be full circle from Aug. 29, 1966, when the Beatles played to a crowd of about 25,000 - well short of the stadium's pre-expansion capacity of 42,000.

Tickets went for $4.5o and $6.50, and the Beatles played for about 30 minutes.

When McCartney hit the stage at Outside Lands, an estimated 65,000 were on hand - at $75 to $105 a head. Over the three-day festival, the Recreation and Park Department netted $2.2 million.

A McCartney farewell show would grab international headlines - but it's only one of the many ideas in the works for turning the Candlestick tear-down into a boon for Rec and Park.

Forty-Niners owner Jed York has proposed selling team-autographed seats to benefit the city's parks programs once the team plays its final game there this season.

Lee has taken the memorabilia craze a step further - proposing that the city auction off the chunks of turf where Joe Montana and Dwight Clark hooked up for "the Catch" in 1982, sending the Niners to their first Super Bowl.

"I'm sure there is some multimillionaire out there who would like to have that kind bragging rights for his backyard," Lee said.

That would be very cool!

_____________________________________________________

What's your favourite flavour?...........Cherry Red!!

Paul certainly seems to be having fun in his golden years. Good on him!

Aug. 29, 1966, when the Beatles played to a crowd of about 25,000 - well short of the stadium's pre-expansion capacity of 42,000.


Any theories as to why the Beatles played to so many empty seats on their final tour? Of course, no one knew it was gonna be their final tour, but still ....

I've never understood getting nostalgic for a steel and concrete building until now...I hate to see Candlestick go...

Rolling Stones, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, J. Geils, Journey...they can tear down Oakland Alameda...but dammit leave the Stick standing...

The Beatles last live concert not on a roof...Mac seems fitting



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-19 18:14 by Munichhilton.

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tatters
Aug. 29, 1966, when the Beatles played to a crowd of about 25,000 - well short of the stadium's pre-expansion capacity of 42,000.


Any theories as to why the Beatles played to so many empty seats on their final tour? Of course, no one knew it was gonna be their final tour, but still ....

Wasn't this around the time of John's infamous 'we're bigger than Jesus' remark? Perhaps that was a factor.

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Big Al

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tatters
Aug. 29, 1966, when the Beatles played to a crowd of about 25,000 - well short of the stadium's pre-expansion capacity of 42,000.


Any theories as to why the Beatles played to so many empty seats on their final tour? Of course, no one knew it was gonna be their final tour, but still ....

Wasn't this around the time of John's infamous 'we're bigger than Jesus' remark? Perhaps that was a factor.

It probably was. Strange though, even in New York, where they sold out Shea Stadium in 1965, when they played there again in '66 (a lot of people don't even remember that they did play there again in '66) there were 10,000 empty seats. Must have been quite a few people who saw them in '65 decided that the experience wasn't worth repeating. Ticket price certainly wasn't a factor. $5.50 in 1966 would still be only around $31.00 in today's money, a fraction of what it will cost to see Macca play Candlestick this time.

Yes their 66 tour was beset with problems. It was then when Lennon made his famous Jesus quote. With that came death threats, protests, and boycotting. This was a lesser selling tour for The Beatles, and combined with all the craziness and the amount of time they spent on the road, it was a big factor in convincing them that it was time to quit the road. . . even Macca at this point agreed with the others to quit.

They may not have sold out the Candlestick and Shea shows, but who else in music was performing for 25-40,000 people at the time....

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batcave
They may not have sold out the Candlestick and Shea shows, but who else in music was performing for 25-40,000 people at the time....

The Pope...John's nemesis

Sid Bernstein, who promoted the Shea gigs, says the reason 1966 was not sold out was due to other stadium gigs the Beatles did that year were too close to NYC: Philadelphia, Boston, Washington. In 1965, Shea was the only East Coast show they did. As for Candlestick, I don't think all 42,000 were put on sale.

"On
The Beatles Anthology video, there is a brief
interview with a young girl in the audience
attending The Beatles' second appearance at
Shea Stadium . When asked why The Beatles
did not sell out the venue this time, she
replied that they were not as popular any
more and that she preferred Herman's
Hermits. "

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

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whitem8
Yes their 66 tour was beset with problems. It was then when Lennon made his famous Jesus quote. With that came death threats, protests, and boycotting. This was a lesser selling tour for The Beatles, and combined with all the craziness and the amount of time they spent on the road, it was a big factor in convincing them that it was time to quit the road. . . even Macca at this point agreed with the others to quit.

Also, there was an increasingly large disconnect between what they were doing in the studio and what they were doing onstage. The (relatively) poor ticket sales in '66 can't be blamed on any waning of their popularity. Their brand new Revolver album was well on its way to #1 while they toured that August, but they couldn't, or wouldn't, play anything from it, which, when you think about it, is a completely bizarre situation, but their matching-suits live act was still very much stuck in 1963, and there was no way for them to bring it more in line with the ground-breaking music they were making in the studio. It would have been nothing short of ludicrous if they'd gone on tour like that in 1967, with Sgt Pepper as their current album, so they did the only thing they could do, they stopped touring.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-20 15:02 by tatters.

They also weren't playing anything off Rubber Soul, as their set list from the Budokan, in Tokyo, Japan, the previous month reveals.

In the Anthology film, when they're sitting around George's kitchen being interviewed, Paul and George recount how even their recent single Paperback Writer was difficult to pull off onstage because the vocal bits in between the verses had so many overdubs that it was problematic to perform it live.

Set list for July 1, 1966, at the Budokan, Tokyo, Japan:

Rock and Roll Music
(Chuck Berry cover)
She's a Woman
If I Needed Someone
Baby's in Black
Day Tripper
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
I Wanna Be Your Man
Paperback Writer
I'm Down
Note: Matinee Show

Set list for July 2, 1966 at the Budokan:

Rock and Roll Music
(Chuck Berry cover)
She's a Woman
If I Needed Someone
Day Tripper
Baby's in Black
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
I Wanna Be Your Man
Nowhere Man
Paperback Writer
I'm Down
Note: Matinee Show

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tomk
Sid Bernstein, who promoted the Shea gigs, says the reason 1966 was not sold out was due to other stadium gigs the Beatles did that year were too close to NYC: Philadelphia, Boston, Washington. In 1965, Shea was the only East Coast show they did. As for Candlestick, I don't think all 42,000 were put on sale.

That's an interesting theory, but I've never really heard any anecdotal stories about large numbers of teenage girls traveling from all over the eastern United States to see the Beatles concert in New York in 1965. I'm not sure the concept of the "road trip" had really taken hold at that point. My guess is that the vast majority of those girls were probably New Yorkers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-21 14:47 by tatters.

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stonehearted


In the Anthology film, when they're sitting around George's kitchen being interviewed, Paul and George recount how even their recent single Paperback Writer was difficult to pull off onstage because the vocal bits in between the verses had so many overdubs that it was problematic to perform it live.

It's a brave attempt, but they're no Beach Boys.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-20 02:37 by tatters.

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tatters

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stonehearted


In the Anthology film, when they're sitting around George's kitchen being interviewed, Paul and George recount how even their recent single Paperback Writer was difficult to pull off onstage because the vocal bits in between the verses had so many overdubs that it was problematic to perform it live.

It's a brave attempt, but they're no Beach Boys.

I don't think they even rehearsed for any 1966 gigs. According to legend, the only rehearsal they did for their 1965 winter UK tour was a one-night get-together at Neil Aspinall's apartment on acoustics.
Also a fashion note: the lapels and buttons on those coats are green.

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stonehearted
They also weren't playing anything off Rubber Soul, as their set list from the Budokan, in Tokyo, Japan, the previous month reveals.

In the Anthology film, when they're sitting around George's kitchen being interviewed, Paul and George recount how even their recent single Paperback Writer was difficult to pull off onstage because the vocal bits in between the verses had so many overdubs that it was problematic to perform it live.

Set list for July 1, 1966, at the Budokan, Tokyo, Japan:

Rock and Roll Music
(Chuck Berry cover)
She's a Woman
If I Needed Someone
Baby's in Black
Day Tripper
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
I Wanna Be Your Man
Paperback Writer
I'm Down
Note: Matinee Show

Set list for July 2, 1966 at the Budokan:

Rock and Roll Music
(Chuck Berry cover)
She's a Woman
If I Needed Someone
Day Tripper
Baby's in Black
I Feel Fine
Yesterday
I Wanna Be Your Man
Nowhere Man
Paperback Writer
I'm Down
Note: Matinee Show

If I Needed Someone and Nowhere Man were from Rubber Soul. American audiences were treated to six different songs in '66 vs. the '65...Rock and Roll Music, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Yesterday, Nowhere Man, and Paperback Writer. Not that there were many set list conversations back then like today!

They played We Can Work It Out during their short December '65 UK Tour, but never performed it again after that. Paul also played Yesterday on organ during that tour (compared to a full band version in '66)...both would have been interesting to hear, but lamentably no recordings have ever surfaced from that tour.

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stonehearted
They also weren't playing anything off Rubber Soul, as their set list from the Budokan, in Tokyo, Japan, the previous month reveals.

If I Needed Someone is taken from Rubber Soul and Day Tripper was released in December '65, the same month as the LP. However, you're basically right. The Beatles set-lists in '66 show how little they'd progressed in a live setting since 1963-65. I don't see how I Wanna Be Your Man and Rock and Roll Music have much in common with the inroads they were making in the studio at that time.

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Jah Paul
If I Needed Someone and Nowhere Man were from Rubber Soul. American audiences were treated to six different songs in '66 vs. the '65...Rock and Roll Music, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Yesterday, Nowhere Man, and Paperback Writer. Not that there were many set list conversations back then like today!

They played We Can Work It Out during their short December '65 UK Tour, but never performed it again after that. Paul also played Yesterday on organ during that tour (compared to a full band version in '66)...both would have been interesting to hear, but lamentably no recordings have ever surfaced from that tour.

Yes, my mistake--or is it? As I'm from the U.S., I grew up on the Capitol album versions, so until relatively recently If I Needed Someone and Nowhere Man were not available on Rubber Soul and to this day I still don't equate those songs with that album.



Yesterday and Today; U.S. release date: June 20, 1966

Side one
Drive My Car – 2:25
I'm Only Sleeping – 2:58
Nowhere Man – 2:40
Doctor Robert – 2:14
Yesterday – 2:04
Act Naturally (Morrison–Russell) – 2:27

Side two
And Your Bird Can Sing – 2:02
If I Needed Someone (George Harrison) – 2:19
We Can Work It Out – 2:10
What Goes On (Lennon–McCartney–Richard Starkey) – 2:44
Day Tripper – 2:47

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stonehearted

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Jah Paul
If I Needed Someone and Nowhere Man were from Rubber Soul. American audiences were treated to six different songs in '66 vs. the '65...Rock and Roll Music, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Yesterday, Nowhere Man, and Paperback Writer. Not that there were many set list conversations back then like today!

They played We Can Work It Out during their short December '65 UK Tour, but never performed it again after that. Paul also played Yesterday on organ during that tour (compared to a full band version in '66)...both would have been interesting to hear, but lamentably no recordings have ever surfaced from that tour.

Yes, my mistake--or is it? As I'm from the U.S., I grew up on the Capitol album versions, so until relatively recently If I Needed Someone and Nowhere Man were not available on Rubber Soul and to this day I still don't equate those songs with that album.



Yesterday and Today; U.S. release date: June 20, 1966

Side one
Drive My Car – 2:25
I'm Only Sleeping – 2:58
Nowhere Man – 2:40
Doctor Robert – 2:14
Yesterday – 2:04
Act Naturally (Morrison–Russell) – 2:27

Side two
And Your Bird Can Sing – 2:02
If I Needed Someone (George Harrison) – 2:19
We Can Work It Out – 2:10
What Goes On (Lennon–McCartney–Richard Starkey) – 2:44
Day Tripper – 2:47

I'm from the U.S., too - valid point, my friend.

stonehearted, when you stated that no tracks from Rubber Soul were performed, I thought you meant it in the sense that the Beatles were not performing recordings from their latest release. I note from your post that Yesterday and Today pre-dates the Japan shows you highlight. So, I am a little confused by the point you were trying to make.

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Big Al
stonehearted, when you stated that no tracks from Rubber Soul were performed, I thought you meant it in the sense that the Beatles were not performing recordings from their latest release. I note from your post that Yesterday and Today pre-dates the Japan shows you highlight. So, I am a little confused by the point you were trying to make.

My point was that Rubber Soul, like Revolver, was a bit off "the Beatle path" when it came to performing songs live, more acoustic songs with mellower tones and more exotic and at times fancy instrumentation. How would they recreate the electric piano solo of In My Life, the sitar flavorings of Norwegian Wood, and so on. You's need to have a fuzzbox handy to left George play Think For Yourself. They were only onstage for 30 minutes as it was, so would they break out acoustic guitars for a slow quiet little ditty like Girl when they couldn't even hear themselves at full electric volume? Even their treatments of Yesterday at this time tended to be electric, if the full band was on the stage when it was being played.

It appears that revolutionizing the length and pacing of rock concerts was not to be in their forte.

Ah, I am with you now, stoneshearted. My thoughts are also along the same lines.

Does it matter what they performed they could have played nothing and no one there would have know with the intensity of the screaming!

It mattered in Atlanta, Georgia, 1965, where they really could be heard due to an expert PA system that was set up at the direction of a thoughtful local DJ (who can be heard in this clip delivering the opening announcements)....

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stonehearted

It appears that revolutionizing the length and pacing of rock concerts was not to be in their forte.

No, because aside from Macca, they were not musician enough for that, but, had they still been together in the 1970s, they would have eventually been able to perform even their most complicated material onstage, primarily though the use of synthesizers, a brass section, a second drummer, a third and fourth guitarist, pre-recorded tapes, and Billy Preston. They probably would have had to hide all this stuff under the stage, because their fans would have only wanted to see "the Beatles."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-20 15:24 by tatters.

No one will ever know what turn in the Beatles history would have been taken had they tried to adopt their live acts to the standards of the post Monterey 1967 pop festival standards. Both JL and GH quite hated the live act thing (both quite rarely gave any live performances post 1966 - I think it was a tour + 1/4 of a tour for Harrison and just a handful of live shows, no tours at all, for Lennon) so we may assume they legend might have been less of a legend had they continued touring. Listening to the Tokyo, Munich and Candlestick gigs of 1966, and right after that listening to the Monterrey "Summer of Love" festival (JA, Hendrix, The Who, The M&P, Country Joe and ther fish etc.) make you sometimes think "its good the Beatles live act ended on that late Aug. 1966 day" - quite like thinking that for the sake of his historic image its good for Roosvelt to have died just when he did...

No wonder the 1966 live recording of the Beatles had always been "wanted but not for their musical value" by the hardcore fans. I really love the "Raw" Shea stadium 1965 recordings (as opposed to the overdubbed Ed Sullivan production recording). Help, Tk to Ride and a Hard Days night worked great live. Day Tripper, Yesterday and Paperback writer were awful live! just make one think what kids of a disgrace would it been had the Beatles tried to play "Got to get you into my life" or "She said she said" just a few month later! (not to mention the more exotic and delicate ones).

When you go to see macca and he does Paper Back writer of GTGIML you dont get the "Reunion greatest hits" cover show but rather feel as if it is some sort of an improved Beatles show.

And BTW: does anyone knows how come the 1966 Shea stadium concert never appeared on bootlegs in full? I have heard once pieces of it as part of some radio broadcasting, but that was just the people in the studio talking with the Beatles playing in the background. Is there any chance and 1966 US Beatles concert is still hiding somewhere, unheard BUT known to exist? I'm still stuck in the Pre WWW days knowing about this issue mostly from the "Do you want to know a secret" epic book...

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stonehearted


My point was that Rubber Soul, like Revolver, was a bit off "the Beatle path" when it came to performing songs live, more acoustic songs with mellower tones and more exotic and at times fancy instrumentation. How would they recreate the electric piano solo of In My Life, the sitar flavorings of Norwegian Wood, and so on. You's need to have a fuzzbox handy to left George play Think For Yourself. They were only onstage for 30 minutes as it was, so would they break out acoustic guitars for a slow quiet little ditty like Girl when they couldn't even hear themselves at full electric volume? Even their treatments of Yesterday at this time tended to be electric, if the full band was on the stage when it was being played.

Electric piano on In My Life? George with fuzz box on Think For Yourself?

Tsk tsk.

Their being sick of playing live affected their performances a bit, but despite the unsuitable pa's etc of the time they were still vocally superior and in a way instrumentally on par with the stones during that time.

Yesterday from Japan is ace imo, as are other performances of songs from those concerts. Imagine how great they would have been had their hearts been in it!

Most of their songs from 1965 - 1966 could have been played live and all electric with just the four of them, different arrangement wise, but still played all the same. The desire to do such things has to be there though.