When Beatlemania swept fans in the United States and Britain in the mid-1960s, The Beatles were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of screaming fans at all their performances. Around the same time in their career, the band pursued a more serious musical style, moving away from the two-minute, radio-friendly pop songs of their early days and opting for a more psychedelic and haunting approach on albums such as revolver And Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club BandWith screaming fans drowning out the music and their newer material requiring more elaborate orchestration, the Beatles decided to end their tours once and for all in 1966.
58 years ago today, the Beatles played their last ticketed concert at the famous Candlestick Parkthe former stadium of the San Francisco Giants. Although fans did not know that it would be the last show, there were already talks among their true fans about the band’s unreasonable live shows. The band knew that it was time to move on with John Lennon particularly eager to work in the studio rather than touring.
At the show itself, the band played a total of eleven songs: “Rock And Roll Music”, “She’s A Woman”, “If I Needed Someone”, “Day Tripper”, “Baby’s In Black”, “I Feel Fine”, “Yesterday “, “I Wanna Be Your Man”, “Nowhere Man”, “Paperback Writer” and “Long Tall Sally”. Paul McCartney had asked her publicist Tony Barrow to record the show and equipped him with a handheld recorder to copy the footage onto an audio cassette. Unfortunately, the cassette only lasted 30 minutes on each side and Barrow never turned the tape over, so the last song – “Long Tall Sally” – is cut off in the final recording.
Thankfully, that record still exists and we can still enjoy the Beatles’ final performance 58 years later. Listen below.
The Beatles – Candlestick Park – San Francisco, California – 8/29/66
(Video: Elevator Fan)
Of course, the last years of the Beatles’ reign are well documented. The show at Candlestick Park was not the last time the band played in front of an audience, as they famously played on the roof of the Apple Records three years later. However, as this was the last official Beatles ticketed concert, we felt it was important to acknowledge such a significant shift in rock’n’roll music.