The Beatles' 1965 European tour

‘Like starting again’ — John

“AS far as we’re concerned touring Europe is just about the same as starting all over again.” That’s how John Lennon summed up the prospects this week as the Beatles prepared for their first major European trek.

“It should be interesting because everything’s so much more different over there,” said Lennon this week. “There’s less Beatlemania on the Continent than in many other parts of the world mainly because their sort of music is different. So I suppose we’ll give them plain, hard rock and roll numbers, especially in places like France and Italy. We’re not blase about it. We’re approaching it more with interest than confidence, and every show we’re doing, I believe, all over the Continent is being televised. It’ll be good in Paris, with all these lads chasing us about again. They seem to lock their women away over there — they’re not allowed out at night, or something.”

Over to George: “We haven’t had really big hits in Spain, France or Italy. The whole idea of going there is to get them interested in the film. I’m not expecting anything very big. They’re so far behind there with the music, anyway. I suppose we’re reasonably okay in Paris—when we played a three-week season there it was a complete sell-out, so we’re not exactly flops, are we? Even the biggest artists in Paris don’t sell a lot of records. What this European tour will give us, more than anything to us, is the chance to play. We just like playing, y’know.”

The Beatles’ European appearances are in Paris (Sunday), Lyons (22), Milan (24), Genoa (26), Rome (27 and 28), Nice (30), Madrid (July 2) and Barcelona (3). They return to Britain on July 4.

From Melody Maker – June 19, 1965