John Lennon Live in Madison Square Garden

40 years ago, on Thursday 30 August 1972, John Lennon performed two sessions at Madison Square Garden.

It was a live benefit show for the pupils of Willowbrook School in New York City. This school was the center of a major controversy when a Geraldo Rivera report on ABC TV documented the physical and sexual abuse of children with physical disabilities.

The first session started at 2:00 pm and the setlist was:
- Power To The People,
- New York City,
- It's So Hard,
- Move On Fast,
- Woman Is The Nigger Of The World,
- Sisters, O Sisters,
- Well Well Well,
- Born In A Prison,
- Instant Karma,
- Mother,
- We're All Water,
- Come Together,
- Imagine,
- Open Your Box,
- Cold Turkey,
- Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow),
- Hound Dog. 

In the evening the setlist was changed, omitting many Yoko Ono songs:

- Power To The People,
- New York City,
- It's So Hard,
- Woman Is The Nigger Of The World,
- Sisters, O Sisters,
- Well Well Well,
- Instant Karma, Mother,
- We're All Water,
- Come Together,
- Imagine,
- Cold Turkey,
- Hound Dog,
- Give Peace A Chance.

Tickets cost $5, $7,50 and $10

Magical Mystery Tour Released on DVD and BluRay

According to the Beatles website, the 1967 TV-movie "Magical Mystery Tour" will be released very soon on DVD and Blu-Ray.  The film has been completely remastered by George Martin's son (Giles Martin) and will include many new scenes and edited promo clips.

Roll up! Roll up! A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

In September 1967, The Beatles loaded a film crew onto a bus along with friends, family and cast and headed west on the A30 out of London to make their third film, this time conceived and directed by The Beatles themselves.
"Paul said 'Look I've got this idea' and we said 'great!' and all he had was this circle and a little dot on the top - that's where we started."

A second trip on the Royal Iris River Boat Shuffle

On Friday 24 August 1962 The Beatles boarded the M.V. Royal Iris for a second time. Billed as "The Merseyside Top Group" they appeared with the Four J'S and the Zodiacs.

If you look carefully at the ticket you can see that there was a mix-up with the day. August 24 1962 was not a Saturday, but a Friday.

In total the Beatles appeared 3 times aboard the Royal Iris:

- Friday 6th July 1962
- Friday 24th August 1962
-  Friday 28th September 1962

Copyright info for the ticket:

1. It's a low resolution copy of an advertising poster.
2. It doesn't limit the copyright owner's rights to sell the poster in any way.
3. Because of the low resolution, copies could not be used to make illegal copies of the poster.
4. The image is itself a subject of discussion in the article or used in the infobox.
5. The image is significant because it was used to promote a performance that has not been well documented

John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell

Today, 50 years ago on Thursday 23 August 1962, John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell at Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool.

Cynthia was born on September 10, 1939 in Blackpool, England. John met Cynthia Powell at art school in Liverpool in 1957. Cynthia and John were married on August 23, 1962 at the Mount Pleasant Registry Office in Liverpool.

Brian Epstein was Best Man, and George Harrison and Paul McCartney were also in attendance.

According to Cynthia, the ceremony was very unceremoniously, as there was a pneumatic drill that drowned out almost all of the words.

After the ceremony they all went to Reece's, a restaurant in Clayton Square. The restaurant was demolished when they built the Clayton Shopping Centre. Funnily, this is the same place where Alfred Lennon (John's father) took Julia Stanley after they got married.
Brian Epstein picked up the bill, and they all ate a set menu of soup, chicken and trifle.

Because the public image of the Beatles had to be one of 'available' young men (and ideal sons-in-law), teir marriage was kept a secret for awhile by Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles.

Ringo Starr plays his first official Beatles Show

On Saturday 18 August 1962, exactly 50 years ago, Ringo Starr played together with John, Paul and George at Hulme Hall in Birkenhead. They first rehearsed for 2 hours, and then appeared together on stage at 10pm. The occassion? The local horticultural society's 17th annual dance.

After Pete Best was sacked two days earlier, The Beatles approached Ringo Starr to replace Best. They had known Ringo already for a couple of years. The first time they appeared together, was at the opening of the Morgue Skiffle Cellar in Liverpool on 13 March 1959.

Ringo played in a group called Al Caldwell's Texans (maybe that is where he got his love for westerns?). Caldwell would later become famous as Rory Storm. On the same bill were the Quarry Men.

Over the years (leading up to August 1962) Ringo had helped The Beatles out when they needed a temporary drummer, for example in Hamburg and in the Cavern.

Pete Best is sacked

50 years ago, on 16 August 1962, Pete Best was sacked from The Beatles. Brian Epstein had called him into his office and told him the bad news.

Till this day it is not 100% sure why he was fired. There have been many reasons and rumors, but I guess we will never know.

Some of the reasons why Pete Best was kicked out of the Beatles were:

- he was unsociable, rarely smiled, didn't want to be a Beatle, didn't want to wear the Beatles Style hairdo
- he was not a very good studio drummer
- he was too popular with the public, thus putting the other Beatles in the shades

Luckily for Pete Best, the Anthology 1 album contained quite some songs where he is drumming. This allegedly made him between 1 and 4 million pounds from royalties.

The Beatles perform for just 5 people in Crewe

Imagine being at the Majestic Ballroom in Crewe, Chesire on Monday 13 August 1962. You would have been able to see the Beatles in concert, together with 5 other people. Because that was the number of spectators in the audience.

Since they got paid, they still did the two shows :)

Incidentally, they also had a lunch concert at the Cavern

Paul McCartney at the Velodrome

Amazing images yesterday (Saturday August 4 2012) when Paul McCartney joined thousands of sport fans at the Velodrome for the Women's Cycling Pursuit Race at  London 2012. Of course Sir Paul McCartney was proud that his daughter Stella designed all the track suits for the British team, but he must have been equally proud to see the British Women's Team to win Gold.

The audience even joined him in a singalong version of Hey Jude. Yes, you know you want to join in as well, so here we go: nah nah nah nanananah Hey Jude!

Here Comes the Sun tops Apple iTunes Store

Do you ever wonder which Beatles Songs are the most popular at the moment? Just take a look at the Apple iTunes most downloaded songs, and you have the answer. And no, it is not Yesterday...

Top Songs by The Beatles on the Apple iTunes Store

1. Here Comes the Sun
2. Hey Jude
3. Let It Be
4. Come Together
5. Blackbird
6. Twist and Shout
7. In My Life
8. Yesterday
9. Revolution
10.While My Guitar Gently Weeps

25th Beatles Day in Mons, Belgium

On Saturday October 13th, the city of Mons will be the venue of the 25th Beatles Day at the Lotto Mons Expo.

You can expect many Beatles Tribute bands and lots more. All the info can be found on www.Beatlesday.be

The Beatles at Victora Hall, Bebington

On Saturday 4 August 1962 the Beatles went back to Birkenhead (Wirral) on the other side of the Mersey.

They played their first and last gig at Victoria Hall in Village Road, Bebington (Wirral). Even Brian Epstein had never been there, so it took them some time to find it.

The Beatles at Grafton Rooms

The Grafton Rooms was a club in Liverpool, and no stranger to The Beatles. As the Quarrymen they had already performed there, and on Friday 3 August 1962 they appeared on stage for the first time there as The Beatles.

In total they would appear 4 times there as "The Beatles". The last time would be almost one year later, on 2 August 1963.

Concert promotor for this show was Albert Kinder (he regularly booked artists of the calibre of Chris Barber and Lonnie Donegan at the Empire and Pavilion Theatre) and The Big Tree and Gerry and the Pacemakers also appeared on the bill 

The Beatles at Grafton Rooms, Liverpool

On Friday August 3 1962 The Beatles played their first gig (out of a total of 4) at the Grafton Rooms in Liverpool. Also known as The Grafton Ballroom, this venue was opened on February 2nd, 1924. The dance-hall could accommodate up to 1,200 dancers and was built next to the Locarno Ballroom.

Incidentally, it was not the first time that John & Paul had appeared at the Grafton. The Quarrymen used to play there in the late 1950's.

Apart from The Beatles other famous artists who appeared at The Grafton Rooms include Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Loss, Victor Silvester and Henry Hall.

Nowadays it is a Comedy Club

p.s. a very nice side-note: The Joe Loss Orchestra contained amongst its members a certain Ross MacManus...father of Elvis Costello!

Copyright notice for picture: Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0 - owner Sue Adair