New York City

On February 12, 1964, the day after their historic first US concert in Washington, D.C., The Beatles returned to New York City.

That morning, on their way to the train station, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr stopped to pose for photographs with the U.S. Capitol in the background.

Thousands of fans were waiting for The Beatles when their train arrived at New York’s Penn Station, and more gathered outside the Plaza Hotel. To avoid being mobbed, police detached the Beatles’ car from the rest of the train and diverted it to an isolated platform. A special elevator intended to take them to street level was blocked by fans, forcing the group to run up the nearest staircase and jump into a taxi on Seventh Avenue. They later transferred to a limousine and finally arrived at the Plaza Hotel about an hour later.

Outside the Plaza, police used loudspeakers to mislead fans by announcing that The Beatles would travel directly from Penn Station to Carnegie Hall. In reality, the group returned to the hotel to shower and change clothes before the evening performances. When their limousine arrived, fans climbed onto the roof, hood and trunk of the vehicle. Later, to reach Carnegie Hall, The Beatles had to slip out through the hotel’s back elevators and kitchen entrance.

New York promoter Sid Bernstein had approached Brian Epstein about presenting The Beatles at Carnegie Hall before the group became widely known in the United States. However, the timing of that approach has often been misrepresented. In later years, Bernstein claimed that he first contacted Epstein in mid-1963, but contemporary evidence indicates that the discussions began in November 1963, after Ed Sullivan had already booked The Beatles for his television show.

Speaking to a reporter on the night of the Carnegie Hall concerts, Bernstein recalled:

“When Sullivan had signed them, I got Epstein’s number through friends in England and called him up.”

According to Bernstein, Epstein preferred to wait before finalizing any deal until The Beatles’ popularity in America became clearer. The green light came in mid-January 1964, after Epstein learned that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” had reached number one in the United States.

Bernstein also chose February 12 for the concerts because it was Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, a public holiday in New York State, meaning that many teenagers would be free from school.

“My long-shot guess turned out to be a very important one for me,” Bernstein later explained. “We sold out in one day. There had never been a one-day sellout in the history of concerts up to that time. Twenty thousand people were outside Carnegie Hall, which is a 2,870-seater, hoping for a chance to see them, find a ticket, buy a ticket from a scalper. It was history in New York. History in the world.”

That evening, The Beatles performed two concerts at Carnegie Hall. The first was scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and the second for 9:30 p.m. However, the opening act, folk group The Briarwood Singers, extended its performance while the venue waited for The Beatles to arrive on stage, delaying the start of the first concert until approximately 7:45 p.m. Demand for tickets was so intense that around 150 additional seats were installed on the stage itself, surrounding the band.

The second concert was also delayed. Because of the time required to clear the hall, remove litter and admit the next audience, The Beatles did not take the stage until about 11:15 p.m. Despite the late hour, the enthusiastic crowd greeted the group with the same frenzy that had characterized Beatlemania throughout their first American visit.

Carnegie Hall

This was the 1st concert played at Carnegie Hall.

A total of 3 concerts have been played there • 1964 • Feb 12• 1997 • Nov 19 • 2006 • Nov 14