Brian Epstein announces The Beatles’ 1966 tours

FUTURE TOUR PLANS

It is now more or less confirmed that the boys will undergo a three week tour of the States in late August to the middle of September, and will cover some fourteen cities. Prior to the American trip they will probably make a short tour of Japan and Germany. It has been stated that they will definitely not be playing at the Star Club in Hamburg, although they might drop in for a social call. Finally their long awaited British tour — this will be towards the end of the year, but no venues have been fixed.

From The Beatles Monthly Book – April 1966

Beatles’ tour dates

THEY PLAY TO 32,000 IN GERMANY, 36,000 IN JAPAN

BEATLES will make six special concert appearances in Germany (playing to a total of 32,000 fans) and three In Tokyo in June!

They fly to Munich on June 24 and appear that evening at the Circus Croner (capacity 3,000); Essen Grugahalle (7,500) on June 25; Hamburg Ersst Merck Halle (5,500) on June 26. They play twice at each date.

The boys arrive in Tokyo on June 27 and do three shows at the Budo Kan (capacity 12,000) on June 30, July 1 and July 2.

From Disc And Music Echo – April 23, 1966

BEATLES 1966 TRIP

The following dates have now been confirmed for the Beatles American, German and Japanese trips:

June: 24th Circus Kroner, MUNICH; 25th Grugahalle, ESSEN; 26th Ersst Merck Halle, HAMBURG — there will be two performances at each venue. On the 27th they fly to Tokyo for three days holiday before appearing at the 12,000 seater Budo Kan on the 30th and 1st and 2nd of July.

The boys American tour begins with a show at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago on August 12th. The following night they move on to the Olympic Stadium in Detroit. The rest of the schedule takes in Washington (15th), Philadelphia (16th), Maple Leaf, Toronto (17th), Boston (18th), Memphis (19th), Cincinnati (20th), St. Louis (21st), Shea Stadium, New York (23rd), Seattle (25th), Dodge Stadium, Los Angeles (28th) and San Francisco (29th).

It has been said that as the stadium at Philadelphia holds 100.000 people, it will be the Beatles greatest concert ever. But, owing to the fact that they are only issuing 40,000 tickets for the Philadelphia Show (because no one would be able to see anything in the rear seats), the Shea Stadium concert will still be the biggest.

From The Beatles Monthly Book – May 1966

BEATLES GERMAN AND JAPANESE DATES SET

THE Beatles’ visits to Germany and Japan have now been finalised. The group fly to Munich on June 24 to do two shows at the 3,000 capacity Circus Kroner, the following day (25), they play two shows at the Grugahalle, in Essen (capacity 7,500), followed by two shows at the 5,500 capacity Ernst Merck Halle, in Hamburg, on June 26.

The following day, June 27, they fly to Japan where they open at Tokyo’s Budokan on June 30. They will appear for one show per night for three nights – June 30, July 1 and July 2 – at this venue, which has a capacity of 12,000.

The Beatles spent the whole of last week in EMI’s recording studios cutting their new LP and working on their next single release. But neither record will be out until the end of May “at the latest”

From Melody Maker – April 30, 1966

BEATLES PLAY TWO EXTRA JAPAN DATES

THE Beatles will play two extra afternoon concerts in Tokyo, Japan, on July 1 and 2. The Japanese promoter received 200,000 applications for tickets for the shows on June 30, July 1 and July 2 at Tokyo’s Budo Kan and the afternoon dates were slotted in to meet the demand for seats.

Total seating capacity at each performance is 33,000 which means that over 150,000 Japanese fans will see the Beatles during their three days in Japan.

Following their Tokyo appearances, the group will fly to Manila for two shows at the 12,500 capacity National Football Stadium on July 4 before returning to Britain to prepare for their new American tour.

There has been a date switch on the U.S. tour. The appearance at Louisville, Kentucky, has been cancelled and the Beatles will appear on August 14 at the Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio, which has a seating of 100,000.

From Melody Maker – May 21, 1966