The Beatles- Washington D.C. 1964 Full Concert

[Richland123]

The Beatles- Washington D.C. 1964 Full Concert

 

[b/o 402]

It just popped up yesterday on my YouTube feed too, but apparently it's been up for years?
Anyway, it's an amazing document to see.
Thoughts? I'll start:
-Whose idea was it to have George start the show, with "Roll Over Beethoven?" Seems like an odd call.
-it sounds like a "board mix," but what kind of system could they even have had? In any case, the music is way louder than the screaming, and obviously someone is fiddling with the mic levels.
-check how great the vocal blend is on the one number they share a single mic for, "This Boy."

Set list:
Roll Over Beethoven
From Me To You
I Saw Her Standing There
This Boy
All My Loving
I Wanna Be Your Man
Please Please Me
Til There Was You
She Loves You
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Twist and Shout
Long Tall Sally

 

[Michedelic]

It just popped up yesterday on my YouTube feed too, but apparently it's been up for years?
Anyway, it's an amazing document to see.
Thoughts? I'll start:
-Whose idea was it to have George start the show, with "Roll Over Beethoven?" Seems like an odd call.
-it sounds like a "board mix," but what kind of system could they even have had? In any case, the music is way louder than the screaming, and obviously someone is fiddling with the mic levels.
-check how great the vocal blend is on the one number they share a single mic for, "This Boy."

Set list:
Roll Over Beethoven
From Me To You
I Saw Her Standing There
This Boy
All My Loving
I Wanna Be Your Man
Please Please Me
Til There Was You
She Loves You
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Twist and Shout
Long Tall Sally

It's been available on VHS and DVD for decades, and bits of it always popped up in Beatles documentaries beforehand. George getting the opener? Why not? They didn't know what they were in for, and using an American rocker song for the icebreaker would be a safe bet. "T&S" would come later to save John's voice. As for the audio…there was no such thing as a music PA system in those days, I think that place was a wrestling arena with announcement horns hung from the ceiling(hence the audience surround, and all that ridiculous turning around of the drumset). Vocals only would go through that, and the sparse amount of mics on the amps and drums, plus a split from the vocals, would go to a very basic film audio mixer. It was because of these insane conditions(don't forget the screaming)that the concert audio industry came of age and developed.

That spoken intro sounds like it was dubbed in later, but the performance is definitely real(because it is so crude), as opposed to the well-produced Shea Stadium show, where the band had to go in to a studio secretly afterwards and play against the film because the concert recording had flaws.

 

[Michedelic]

2.5 years later, world weary, just months away from hanging up the live shows and starting to record Pepper's, here they have mics for PA and film audio, bigger amps, and in spite of the limitations, an actual Klemt PA system…

 

[b/o 402]

It's been available on VHS and DVD for decades, and bits of it always popped up in Beatles documentaries beforehand. George getting the opener? Why not? They didn't know what they were in for, and using an American rocker song for the icebreaker would be a safe bet. "T&S" would come later to save John's voice. As for the audio…there was no such thing as a music PA system in those days, I think that place was a wrestling arena with announcement horns hung from the ceiling(hence the audience surround, and all that ridiculous turning around of the drumset). Vocals only would go through that, and the sparse amount of mics on the amps and drums, plus a split from the vocals, would go to a very basic film audio mixer. It was because of these insane conditions(don't forget the screaming)that the concert audio industry came of age and developed.

That spoken intro sounds like it was dubbed in later, but the performance is definitely real(because it is so crude), as opposed to the well-produced Shea Stadium show, where the band had to go in to a studio secretly afterwards and play against the film because the concert recording had flaws.

Agreed on all points. Do you think this soundtrack is original, or was it tampered with in post?
My question about George is open ended. Why didn't they start with a John or Paul song? The pair had already written hits. Were they a little nervous, and so pushed George out in front? Or did George volunteer? After all, he'd already been to the states, so maybe he felt slightly more confident?

 

[Michedelic]

Agreed on all points. Do you think this soundtrack is original, or was it tampered with in post?
My question about George is open ended. Why didn't they start with a John or Paul song? The pair had already written hits. Were they a little nervous, and so pushed George out in front? Or did George volunteer? After all, he'd already been to the states, so maybe he felt slightly more confident?

Not the actual concert audio, because it remained almost as bad as a bootleg. It was like old newsreel footage. They were still a novelty that could have disappeared after a month. By the time they did Shea Stadium, the stakes were higher, they were a big deal, that's why they had to re-record their performance on the down low.
As far as the DC show, I'd guess that they thought if they opened up with something familiar, like a Chuck Berry song, they'd go over better. Since America was one album behind, no kids here knew their version of "ROB" yet, but they should have known Chuck's. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, that gig was for the sensation and not the music(if you could even could have heard it).