Liverpool • 5:40pm show

AIR OF CONFIDENCE

I’LL go on with the diary I kept on The Beatles’ last British tour. SUNDAY, 5th DECEMBER, 1965.

Today’s journey from Newcastle to Liverpool should have been the worst of the tour. The one hundred and fifty mile route across the Pennines. But luckily we made the trip in good time.

Tonight was a very special night for The Beatles. Paul, George and Ringo had hosts of relatives in the audience. John, whose Aunt Mimi has moved away to Bournemouth, had passed a bunch of tickets to his many Liverpool friends. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison got plenty of attention from the photographers when they arrived at the Empire Theatre with Pattie Boyd, who is staying with them for the weekend.

All through the evening the dressing-room was jammed with visitors. For once, the boys scarcely used their television set.

Two little girls managed to pull a confidence trick which made them the envy of every other fan in town. Paul had left the dressing-room to make a phone call from a booth just inside the stage door. As he came out of the booth, two little girls grabbed him.

“We’ve travelled five hundred miles to see tonight’s concert,” they explained.

“Great, great. Hope you enjoy the show,” answered Paul.

“But we haven’t got tickets,” they replied.

“That’s no good, is it?” said Paul.

He thought for a moment then told the girls how hard it was even for him to get anybody into the dressing-room.

“Tell you what I’ll do,” he decided. “I’ll tell the man on the door here that you’re distant relatives of mine. Then he’ll have to let you through!”

And with that he led them into the dressing-room and introduced them to the rest of the group. Afterwards he fixed for them to stand in the theatre and watch the show. What Paul didn’t realise until later was that the girls lived in Crosby — and THAT’S A SUBURB OF LIVERPOOL JUST ABOUT FIVE MILES FROM THE EMPIRE THEATRE! Of course, con. tricks of one sort or another are always being pulled by fans who want to meet The Beatles.

Almost always the tricksters are girls. I remember one time when a nineteen-year-old boy was involved. It was some months ago in the States. We’d just arrived at the Indianapolis motel for the night and our rooms had their doors opening off a first-floor balcony. In England, I collect all the room keys when we arrive at each hotel. I go round showing the boys which room belongs to them. In America, all this is usually handled by the hotel and their security people.

ALL the rooms are opened up for the whole party in advance and a hotel manager or somebody will take each Beatle to his room. On this occasion, the boys had disappeared into different rooms and I had been shown mine. Everything was in chaos as it always is for the first five or ten minutes when we arrive.

I had no idea who was in which room. Suddenly, this waiter bloke comes along the balcony holding a big tray in each hand. They were carried way above each shoulder in very professional style.

“This The Beatles’ room?” he asked me.
“Yeah. Why?” I countered.
“They ordered tea and sandwiches.”
“Oh. O.K. Just take them in, will you?”

I opened the door for him. For the next ten minutes I was all tied up with Mal sorting out the baggage. Not being able to remember who was where, I checked with one of the hotel people and they showed me where each lot of baggage belonged.

Finally, I couldn’t remember which was my own room. I was shown it and was just taking my stuff inside when I spotted the “waiter,” still with his two trays inside my room. I snatched the metal cover off his plate of “sandwiches” and found bits of old crust underneath.

So he didn’t get to meet The Beatles as he planned — despite the clever disguise and careful planning. Because I had accidentally sent him into my own room instead of the one occupied by the boys!

From Fabulous208 – July 2, 1966

ALAN SMITH goes on tour with THE BEATLES!

[…] LIVERPOOL. The evening ended rather quietly too — back to the hotel, and so to bed. Then on to Liverpool on Sunday, arriving late afternoon.

The number of police outside rather dampened possible stage door demonstrations of enthusiasm, but inside the Empire Theatre there was no mistaking the warmth of Merseyside’s welcome home for its beloved Beatles.

Even in “the Pool,” however, I noticed a quietening down of audience reaction compared with previous concerts. I’m not knocking in any way — I just think the group’s fans are getting a bit more sensible lately. There was tons of thunderous applause to compensate for the lowered screaming decibel rate!

It really was “At Home” night at Liverpool. MP Bersie Braddock turned up, and so did George Harrison’s father and Mr. and Mrs. Starkey. George planned to see girlfriend Pattie Boyd later in the evening, while Paul spent some time making a trunk call to someone, somewhere.

While all this was going on, John talked about this, that and the other with fellow artists on the show, the Moody Blues. There was also the “Observer” colour supplement to keep him occupied.

Monday was a rest day in Liverpool — seeing old friends and relatives, and reviving old memories. The Beatles stayed there until Tuesday, when they left for Manchester for another concert, another press conference, and another meeting with film producer Walter Shenson. […]

From New Musical Express – December 10, 1965

Decorum and delight on the Beatles’ return

Liverpool welcomed The Beatles home again last night with a mixture of decorum and delight. Outside the Empire Theatre a strong force of police reported no trouble as 5,000 teenagers queued in orderly fashion for the two packed houses. But inside Beatlemania was in full scream as the M.B.E. group went through their half-hour act.

Said Ringo of the reception: “You heard them, you saw them. That’s the answer to the knockers who say we are on the way out.”

When the Beatles appeared on stage the noise was deafening; a chorus of high-pitched, ecstatic acclaim, enough to pierce the eardrums. Row upon row of girls jumped up and down in their seats, waving scarves, programmes and pictures of the famous four.

The Beatles’ programme included numbers from their new L.P. and single records, but the reception was such that almost everything about their performance was lost.

“Can you hear me?” Paul McCartney shouted into the mike, trying desperately to say a few words of introduction to a number. But his words were drowned in screams and shouts. It was a Yeah, Yeah, Yeah welcome. As Ringo said — the answer to the knockers.

But the twenty-three members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade dealt with only seventeen cases in the two performances. “The second house was a bit rougher,” said a spokesman, “but generally they all behaved themselves. It was a picnic compared with the Rolling Stones and previous Beatle shows.” He described it as “a record quiet night.”

At the end of the show there were only a few sightseers. The Beatles were smuggled out of the theatre and driven to the homes of their relatives on Merseyside.

From Liverpool Daily Post – December 6, 1965