Detroit • Saturday, August 13, 1966 • 2pm show

About

On this day, August 13, 1966, The Beatles left Chicago after performing two shows there the previous day. They arrived in Detroit at 11 am and performed two more concerts that day, one at 2 pm and the other at 7 pm, before a total of 28,000 fans at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium.

The support acts for the entire tour were The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle, and The Ronettes.

A press conference had been scheduled between shows, but it was cancelled. Instead, The Beatles were interviewed by Scott Regen, a DJ on Detroit radio station WKNR, and three other reporters (including one from the Detroit Free Press).

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We flew to Detroit where there was a jumping crowd waiting at the airport. We transferred to a bus which took us to the stadium, and as we pulled into the parking lot The Beatles were asked to put their heads down so the mob wouldn’t know they were in the bus. They didn’t like that idea, Paul in particular refused to slouch down. The guards had quite a time keeping the fans back so we could get out of the bus. Once the fans caught a glimpse of a real live Beatle, it was pure bedlam.

Judith Sims – From TeenSet Magazine – Quoted in “Ticket To ride – The Extraordinary Diary of The Beatles’ Last Tour” by Barry Tashian

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From Motor City Radio Flashbacks, August 13, 2016:

The Beatles performed two sold-out concerts before 28,000-screaming Detroit fans at the Olympia Stadium on this day. With 11 standards slated for their second North American tour, they included several of their latter post-1964 hits for the Detroit ’66 performances, Nowhere Man, Day Tripper, If I Needed Someone and Paperback 

Other acts on the Olympia marquee who performed with the Beatles were The Cyrkle, The Ronettes, The Remainsand Bobby Hebb. Immediately after the concert the band took a chartered Greyhound bus to their next scheduled stop in Cleveland.

WKNR deejays emceed both shows. Bob Green took the stage at 7:00 p.m., welcoming the Beatles to the Olympia before the Detroit home crowd. Earlier in the afternoon Scott Regen introduced the Beatles on stage for the 2:00 p.m. performance.

As previously, September 1964, both Beatles’ Olympia Stadium appearances was presented by WKNR.

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Paul was the only Beatle up and around in flight, working his way slowly through the airplane, greeting people and chatting. The rest of The Beatles stayed in the back of the plane, in their own little area. […]

After landing, we taxied into a hangar away from the public terminal, and unloaded onto a chartered bus to take us to Detroit. We were escorted by three Wayne County Sheriff’s cars to the city limits. At that point, six Detroit Police motorcycles took over and escorted us to Olympia Stadium. On the Ford Freeway, two carloads of girls tried to drive their cars in front of our bus, but the police forced them over to the shoulder of the road. Once in Detroit, we were greeted by a couple hundred people at Olympia Stadium. On the way into the press conference, John almost wiped out when he tripped over a photographer’s tripod.

Olympia Stadium is a large indoor arena with the audience surrounding the stage. With the fans all around, we turned and smiled at the people behind us. (The girls smiled back.) The crowd seemed to live us as much as The Beatles! It was amazing!

We loved the feeling of intimacy here. It worked for us and helped us win the audience over. This was not an important factor for The Beatles because they don’t need to prove themselves.

The Beatles’ concert is really groovy, but also kind of scary. The crowd just goes completely nuts when The Beatles come into view. The sound of screaming humanity sounds like a rocket ship blasting off. I can’t describe the sheer physical force of it. It’s also an emotional thrill to be there to witness it! Even with all the security it seems like the crowd could at any moment crush them if they wanted to. It’s scary.

Barry Tashian – Leader of the Remains, one of the opening acts of the Beatles for the 1966 US Tour – From “Ticket To ride – The Extraordinary Diary of The Beatles’ Last Tour” by Barry Tashian

I lived the dream – I was still 9 years old, almost 10, when I won 2 tickets in a contest put on by Cunningham’s Drug Store (50 words or less to say why I loved Cunningham’s and my winning entry read “I love Cunningham’s Drug Store because I always get my allowance’s worth!”) – the prize being 2 tickets to the Beatles afternoon concert at Olympia Stadium on 8/13/66. I took the neighbor girl across the street, who was 11 (Gwen Dormaier, if you are seeing this, do you remember?). What an amazing experience and I brought my little Kodak camera so have a few photos to remember it by. I must credit my sainted mother who was brave enough to let the two of us little girls go into this madness (no cell phones then!) and trust we would return to her where she had parked, at the appointed hour. It was unreal to be there in the same room (arena!) with the Beatles and hear what I could among the wall of screaming. Those were some days.

Andrea Miller – See comments below

I was at the afternoon concert. I was 11 and my mom took me. It was insane. I remember Cyrkle doing Red Rubber Ball. I couldn’t hear anything but girls screaming the whole time The Beatles were on stage. The played in the round and the entire stage was surrounded local cops for their protection. I tried to get as close to the stage as I could in the first balcony when I witnessed a girl get up on the it edge wall and screaming, she jumped and landed belly down on the stage where she got up, arms Raies and screaming as she ran towards Ringo. The police got her. I can’t believe she was ok.

Joseph Bichler – See comments below

I was 18 and a senior in high school. My friend Clayton and I had tickets for the afternoon show. It was so loud with all the screaming we didn’t hear a word and we were way up in the nosebleeds. The opening act The Crykle shouted out “guess who this is”. And broke into the teenage anthem “Round Round Get Around I Get Around.” They were the only words I heard that August 1966 afternoon in Olympia Stadium.

Mark LaVoie – See comments below

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Last updated on September 20, 2023