The Business of Being a Beatle
The Fab Four final concert wasn’t the moneymaker one might think
BY EDDIE DEEZEN
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Special Contributor, Allegany Magazine
The Beatles were coming to the end of what was to be their last tour. It was August 29th, 1966. If ever there was an “end of an era,” this was it.
After playing more than 1,400 gigs together, the Fab Four knew that they were going to play their final concert that night. The 1966 tour hadn't been easy on the boys. They had been physically assaulted in the Philippines, faced outrage in Tokyo, and received criticsm worldwide after John Lennon’s now infamous “we’re more popular than Jesus” comment.
Another by-product of the Beatles concerts was the sad fact that the boys were worsening as musicians. The screaming fans' deafening shouts had all but completely obscured any actual music being either heard or played. Lennon would often deliberately change the words to a song. And Ringo Starr couldn't hear what was being played and had to watch his bandmates rear ends swinging back and forth to get the beat of the song.
Just earlier that week, their concert at Shea stadium had 10,000 empty seats. The stress was getting to the world-weary quartet by now. Another planned concert -- a few days prior -- in Cincinnati, had to be canceled because of rain. The angry 35,000 fans who showed up desperately wanted the Beatles to go on, not at all concerned about the safety issues of the band performing in an open air stadium in the midst of a teeming flood.
The boys' penultimate gig was at Dodger stadium in Los Angeles on August 28. After deplaning in Frisco, the Beatles and their supporting acts arrived at the venue to find the gates bolted shut. A show that was supposed to start at 7:30 was unable to start until 9:27 p.m.
At their final concert ever, every member of the Beatles carried a camera and took photos from the stage to document the day. They stood on a platform only five feet off the ground, surrounded
by an iron cage-like barrier six feet tall. A 200-man police guard accompanied the lads, and an armored truck drove out with the group, in case of an unplanned, early-but necessary exit. Their song list contained only 11 songs and the final concert lasted a mere 35 minutes.
Incredibly, in a stadium that sat 42,500, the crowd was just 25,000. Tickets ranged between $4.50 and $6.50. The Beatles fee that night was around $90,000.00 (65% of the gross). The City of San Francisco collected another 15%. The show's promoter was a local San Francisco business group, who lost money, owing to the facts of the less than expected attendance and unexpected expenses. Before the concert, Paul McCartney had asked their press officer to record the concert. The recording was made – on a primitive cassette recorder that held 30 minutes per side and so the final five minutes is lost.
The Beatles entered the nearby armored car and were whisked away. Although no one in the crowd knew or even suspected this was to be the Beatles' final concert, the four cramped armored car passengers did. The Beatles headed straight for the San Francisco airport and boarded a plan -- weary but relieved.
As the plane lifted off, George Harrison turned around in his seat, faced his three bandmates and reportedly said “Well, that's it. I guess I'm no longer a Beatle.”
The original version of this story appears in the March 2020 hard copy of Allegany Magazine.
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The Beatles perform their final live concert, August 29, 1966
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The Beatles onstage at Candlestick Park in San Francisco
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