There’s a slew of Beatles anniversaries coming this year, not least the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ first gig with their ultimate lineup on 18 August, as well as 60 years since their debut single, Love Me Do, in October.
Ringo Starr’s first official show as a BeatleSaturday 18 August 1962 Live: Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight
Candlestick- "The sound at our concerts was always bad. We would be joking with each other on stage just to keep ourselves amused," remembered Harrison in the Anthology. Lennon took particular delight in making vaguely obscene alterations to their song lyrics ("I Wanna Hold Your Gland").
The Beatles knew it was the last concert, and they decided to mesmerize it with photo. "We placed our cameras on the amplifiers and put them on a timer," says Harrison. "We stopped between tunes, Ringo got down off the drums, and we stood facing the amplifiers with our back to the audience and took photographs. We knew: 'This is it – we're not going to do this again. This is the last concert.' It was a unanimous decision."
"I remember Paul, casually, at the very last minute before the show went on saying to Tony Barrow, (Beatles Press officer), 'Have you got your cassette recorder with you?' 'Yes, of course.' Paul then said, 'Tape it, will you? Tape the show".
After the show, as the Beatles' plane took off, McCartney rushed his head over the back of Tony Barrow's seat. "Did you get anything on tape?" he asked. Barrow handed him the cassette. "I got the lot, except that the tape ran out in the middle of 'Long Tall Sally.
"Back in London - Tony Barrow said -I kept the concert cassette under lock and key in a drawer of my office desk, making a single copy for my personal collection and passing the original to Paul for him to keep. Years later my Candlestick Park recording re-appeared in public as a bootleg album. If you hear a bootleg version of the final concert that finishes during 'Long Tall Sally' it must have come either from Paul's copy or mine, but we never did identify the music thief!" ( Source Rolling Stone)
Tony Barrow was The Beatles' Press Officer, he worked within the group's closest circle for six breakneck years during the Beatlemania era of the Sixties. Few were closer to The Beatles than Tony Barrow,
