Glasgow • 6:15pm show

ALAN SMITH goes on tour with THE BEATLES!

LIKE something from the world of James Bond and international intrigue, a sleek Austin Princess with black tinted windows headed out of London in the bleak early hours of last Thursday morning, streaking with 007 speed in the direction of the English-Scottish border.

INSIDE the car it was a different story. Slumped cosily in the comfort of four specially fitted armchairs were those most un-Bond-like characters, the Beatles — eating fish and chips from newspaper! This was breakfast and lunch rolled into one for them.

I flew to Glasgow to follow the show for NME readers and I have been the only journalist to stay with the tour right through until the middle of this week. I will not say it has been the greatest tour the Beatles have ever played. I know the group can do without hypocrisy like that. At the same time, some of the national newspaper journalists who’ve decided in paying down their impact could well have their heads examined.

Crazy Beatlemania is over, certainly Beatles fans are now a little bit more sophisticated than Rolling Stones groups, for the proof is in the Glasgow experience. But there were two jam-packed houses, some fainting fits, and the dream waves of screams that hit the city’s Odeon Theatre interior.

At one point I was literally deafened to time by the surging, screaming waves of sound coming from the audience. But let me put you in the picture as it happened — from Glasgow to Liverpool and then Manchester earlier this week.

Security

It was late on Thursday night that the Beatles’ Austin Princess arrived at Berwick-on-Tweed on the English-Scottish border. High security arrangements had been made for them to stay overnight at a small hotel in the town and they worked so well that only a few people were there to see them off the next morning!

Friday morning’s drive to Glasgow brought almost the only untoward incident of the tour. It seems that fourteen Beatles guitars were strapped to the boot of the Austin Princess, but on a particularly bumpy stretch of road, one of them – a Gretsch belonging to George – fell out and into the path of on-going traffic.

George told me later: “About 13 lorries went over it before our chauffeur could get near it. Then one of the lorries stopped and the driver came up with the dangling remains of it and said: “Oy, is this ‘ere banjo anyfink to do wiv you? Some people would say I shouldn’t worry because I could buy as many replacement guitars as I wanted, but you know how it is, I kind of got attached to it.

GLASGOW

The guitar incident over, the Beatles’ car drove on and eventually arrived at Glasgow’s Central Hotel late in the afternoon. It was the ideal place for them to stay — built like a grim, impregnable fortress, and so big inside you could comfortably use a taxi to get about. Even then you’d need a good driver and a map.

A big steak, a wash, and then the boys were whisked off to a press conference. It was set for 4:45 p.m., but they’d been told it would start at 4 p.m. The idea was that they’d be late for 4 o’clock – but on time for quarter to five! They actually arrived at the conference at 5:10 p.m. You know how these things are.

Sensation of the press conference? Paul’s massive floral Mod tie, bought at Harrods a few days ago! John clowned about for the photographers, wiping his nose on it and making cracks like “where did he get it? Leased it from Arthur English!“

Even one of the hotel’s chefs was taking pictures at that conference (actually in the theatre), but the boys managed to get away in the end.

At last – backstage – there was time for them to relax as they waited to go on stage. The audience were filing in row and we could make out the screams and shouts of “We want the Beatles.”

Outside, the scene wasn’t so enthusiastic. The police were there in force, holding off streets around the theatre and on horseback shepherding the fans. There were so many police about it was like Saturday night at Dock Green. It was certainly enough to dampen Beatlemania before it started.

Paul told me: “We don’t like it. The police have got to do their job and keep order, but just lately it’s getting ridiculous. There are so many of them about, it ruins the whole atmosphere of enjoyment.”

As it happened, arrangements by the police were so strict in Glasgow, Newcastle and Liverpool that the theatres were sometimes completely deserted from the outside. Streets around were sealed off. Only ticket holders were allowed through, and even then they were ordered to make their way direct into the theatre.

On a happier topic, I asked George how he felt to be on a British tour again after so long (the last Beatles package was late 1964). Did the long gaps between the group’s personal appearances affect them from a music point of view?

“Certainly,” George replied. “It’s easy to get rusty when you don’t play together for a long while, but we’ve been doing a heck of a lot of recording lately and it’s helped to keep us in shape. We’ve also put in a lot of rehearsals.”

He began to get ready for the first house performance. “What about song writing?” I asked. “I see you’ve written one for the Hollies. Any plans to set up your song writing plans in the future?”

He turned sharply away from the mirror. “Tell people I didn’t write it for the Hollies,” he said bluntly. “It’s called If I Needed Someone and they’ve done it as their new single; but their version is not my kind of music.

“I think it’s rubbish the way they’ve done it. They’ve spoilt it. The Hollies are all right musically, but the way they do their records they sound like session men who’ve just got together in a studio without ever seeing each other before. Technically good, yes. But that’s all.”

A comment to shock Hollies fans, certainly—but George believed in honesty whether it shocks or not.

In another corner of the dressing room John was cheerfully arranging his neat hair style into something resembling a berserk haystack. He muttered: “It takes me hours to look this scruffy.”

Ringo saw me take a note of the Lennon-ism and he mockery-taked: “John said, ‘It takes me hours to look this scruffy.’ Ho-ho!”

“O.K.,” I challenged, “you say something sparkling.”

Ringo looked straight at me in that usual deadpan way and said: “Schweppes.”

It was a fantastic opening night. As I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t up to Beatlemania standards of a couple of years ago, but you can’t escape the phenomenal impact they still make at a live appearance.

Anyone who says they’re finished — particularly with “Day Tripper” / “We Can Work It Out” at No. 1 in the NME Chart in its first week — must be out of his head!

One thing that struck me backstage however was that the Beatles have become much quieter people of late. There’s a calm, mature atmosphere about them backstage. It isn’t all jokes and drinks and living it up.

After the Glasgow show they went back to their hotel, and after a short chat, to bed. […]

From New Musical Express – December 10, 1965

A NEW LOOK AT THE BEATLES – IN SCOTLAND TODAY – THEIR RECORD OF FAME JUST CAN’T BE BEATEN

FOUR shaggy-haired Lancashire terriers have collared the pop world in a way that no one else has ever done and no one else is likely to do. In order of merit (my merit), they are John, Paul, George and Ringo. Collectively, they are known as The Beatles, and they don’t crawl to anybody. They don’t have to. They really are the pop pioneers. They dethroned Elvis when everyone thought the Americans were it and it and it. They gave Britain a new place in the sound of music. Now the Americans come over here, anxious for crumbs from OUR table. The Beatles did that. No one else. Let’s be thankful for that sizeable contribution to the lessening of the National Debt.

About 3000 will see (and maybe hear) them tonight at the Odeon in Glasgow, but a few months ago they played to 57,000 people in a hall in New York. Let’s repeat that — 57,000 people in one night in one hall. Only Rangers and Celtic could draw that crowd.

The Beatles have remained on top largely because they have remained on top — in ideas, in trends, in engaging frankness, in outrageous irreverence at press conferences, in catering for the tastes of everyone.

The Rolling Stones, who come next to The Beatles in popular appeal, present raw music with a scruffy image. This, The Beatles have never done. If they sport long hair, the hair has always been manageable. The clothes have always been tidy, the image has always been immaculate and natural. It is this naturalness which is their anchor. John Lennon still talks as he did when he lived with Aunt Mimi in Liverpool. Ringo hasn’t changed. George is the same boy that he always was. Paul is every mother’s darling. How can you resist a combo like that?

The Stones are sultry. The Beatles are sunny. They have an appeal which is universally devastating, but it is an appeal which affects the kid next door and the old man up the street and the middle-aged mum round the corner. This, of course, is their secret — and it’s a secret that stays with them.

A partial explanation is that The Beatles have never let time stand still. They are developing all the time, chasing new ideas and new thoughts and fresh story for song themes. For instance, who would have dreamed in the “Love Me Do” days that John and Paul would turn out a song “Yesterday”? The song-writing field of John and Paul — Lennon and McCartney — is one of the most interesting developments in the long and involved story of pop music.

In their own field they are the bulls, the kings, the bosses, the masters of a natural (to them) art. Just listen to their new song called “Michelle,” and you’ll understand that. It is “Yesterday” today.

For those who like to know these things, Paul McCartney is credited with 90 per cent of “Yesterday,” with John Lennon contributing the rest. With other songs John often offers the 90 per cent, with Paul doing the vice versa.

[Paragraph only partially readiable] No one has set job of writing music or doing the […] just something that […] happens. […] of a new compelling a broader scope […] once “Love Me Do,” “I Want To Hold Your Hand” might have been OK […] no longer applies. The [world] changed. The mood [altered.] A growing-up […] readily apparent. […] this way have The [Beatles] changed. Songs now are more [mature,] have meaningful [words,] a story attached to them, and the words, and music, are chosen carefully for an audience, which just happens to be the biggest in the world.

The boys, too, have stayed at the top with most of us because they have been good to their parents (bought houses for the lot of them, all WITHOUT any planned publicity), and because they haven’t messed about like so many other pop millionaires have done. They’ve kept a head — and they’ve kept ahead.

Oh, and there’s one other thing. They’ve got sheer, natural, exuberant talent as well…

Weather changes Scots trip plans

THE BEATLES had to make last-minute changes yesterday in plans for their Scottish trip. A spokesman for the group said: “The weather in Scotland has forced the boys to change their plans. We are in the middle of making new arrangements. I can tell you that the boys will be leaving today to motor up to Scotland. They will stay overnight at a hotel on the way up.”

While the four were driving up to Glasgow, police and theatre authorities were making plans to deal with their fans. A police spokesman said: “We are taking the usual precautions for this Beatle visit. Extra police will be on duty inside and outside the theatre. We can’t reveal how many.”

At the theatre, a spokesman said: “We don’t know where the Beatles will be staying during their visit. Plans have been made to get the group into the theatre safely — but they are secret.”

The group last visited Scotland in October, 1964, when they appeared in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.

From Daily Record – December 3, 1965

Neil Aspinall, continues his daily diary of The Beatles’ U.K. tour.

FRIDAY, 3rd DEC.

Today we arrived in Glasgow after an icy drive from Berwick-on-Tweed. The N.E.M.S.  office had organised accommodation thirty miles north of the city so that we would get a bit more privacy. When the weather turned bad, the office switched everything and brought us into the centre of Glasgow, to the city’s main hotel-The Central.

Tonight, at the Odeon theatre, Glasgow’s Beatle People gave John, Paul, George and Ringo a terrific welcome. I noticed that the strength of the security inside the theatre had been trebled since our last visit. Everywhere you looked there. were attendants keeping the kids in their seats.

I was watching one of the other acts from the wings when the stage-door security man tapped me on the shoulder.

“There’s some bloke at the side door claiming to be John’s cousin,” he said.

This sort of thing is always happening. By now I know where to expect relatives of The Beatles and I know them all, at least by sight. George and Paul have relatives centred around Merseyside. Ringo has more in London where his step-father comes from. John has relatives in Liverpool, London… and Scotland.

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to bother John. I’m sure he’s a fake. I didn’t even ask his name.” I went to the stage-door. It turned out to be John’s cousin Stanley who lives in Edinburgh and has an accent which is an odd mixture of Scottish and Scouse! The security man was amazed when I recognised Stanley and took him off to see John!

Before tonight’s shows there was a big press conference. Afterwards the boys relaxed in their dressing room and watched television. A set has been installed for them in every theatre throughout the tour.

They had a visit from deejay Mike Berry, of Radio Scotland, the pirate radio station. When the station goes on the air for the first time from a ship in the North Sea the voices of John, Paul, George and Ringo will be the first sounds heard. The boys recorded those historic first words for the station in their dressing room this evening.

From Fabulous208 – June 25, 1966