Backstage at Bournemouth’s Gaumont Theatre today in 1964.
Beforehand, The Beatles had been trapped outside with a bunch of maniacal teens who the venue’s management had tried to divert by posting most police outside the main emergency exit. This had left the lower emergency exit clear to admit the band members, but nobody told the doorman who took a couple of minutes to finally let them in.
Onstage, the group performed ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘You Can’t Do That’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘This Boy’ and ‘Long Tall Sally’.
There to review the show – which also featured The Hearts, Adrienne Posta, Mike Berry and The Kinks – was Stan Sowden of the ‘Evening Echo’:
“Last night the screaming was still there, but it was not so loud, one could hear the show and there was a higher proportion of people who went to listen to The Beatles rather than to scream at them. Apart from a few children who tried to rush the stage, there was little trouble during the actual performances themselves.
“With fantastic tours of America and Australia behind them, as well as their first film, The Beatles themselves don’t appear to have changed at all, thank goodness, and there is still that drive and vitality that makes them the most popular entertainers in the world.”
