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TThe Beatles played their last concert on August 29, 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Jim Marshall’s photos capture the group at a crucial moment, when they are already feeling nostalgic about what they are leaving behind.
Two months earlier, the Beatles had finished recording Revolver, a glittering collection of pop gems. The next day he boarded a plane to start a world tour without playing anything. They were not being perverted; It was just that none of the songs were committed to being effective. On stage, they were a four-piece band. He couldn’t play anything as serious as Eleanor Rigby or Tomorrow Never Knows to thousands of fans.
Three years after their first number 1, the Beatles’ artistic development split into two branches, one of which was withered. Until he came back, the recording was a show song. Please Please Me, the Beatles’ first album, was a group of performances that were honored on stage in Hamburg and Liverpool. But the Beatles had come to see the studio as a creative platform in itself; a place where they can experiment with different sounds and do things that no one else has done before. It entertained them in a way that the shows never did.
While artists like Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones were putting on what we would now recognize as rock gigs, the Beatles’ thoughts were elsewhere. So, even though their records raced into the future, their shows remained in the past. The format of the Beatles concert in 1966 is still a multi-genre format, with five or six acts. The Beatles come on last, play half an hour without taking a break, and say good night.
After the initial success of international travel, tourism lost its appeal. When they weren’t performing, the Beatles lived on planes, cars and hotel rooms. On stage, fans threw them jelly beans – not as fun as it sounds – or anything that came along, including bottles and shoes. In 1965 a show at the Cow Palace in California a crowd of fans passed the police; In the crush, 30 people were injured, mostly young girls. (Joan Baez, who, along with Dylan, became friends with the Beatles, was there. She was seen pulling children from the crowd and taking them to safety.) The Beatles often received death threats before the show.
When George Harrison said that the Beatles traded fame and money for their nervous system, this is what he was talking about. Meanwhile, in every city they visited, the group had to answer unnecessary questions at press conferences with whatever charm they could muster. They felt that they were among people who were very uncomfortable. As John Lennon said, “We’ve been the Beatles as we can be – those four fun guys. But we’re not those people anymore. We are old.”
However, it was not easy to stop sightseeing. A pop group that didn’t play live was impossible. Touring was profitable for the Beatles and the industrial machinery of sponsors, promoters and salespeople that sprung up around them. But when he left in 1966, he wondered if it was worth it. The trip made up their minds.
After a mock concert in West Germany, they left for Tokyo, where protesters who see the band as a deadly threat to Japanese culture marched through the streets, with signs reading GO HOME BEATLES. In the Philippines, they unwittingly started a political movement by refusing to attend a party that the first lady, Imelda Marcos, had organized. At the airport on his way out he was harassed and shaken by the crowd. They were very afraid.
In America, the southern DJs took over Lennon’s stray wordsabout the Beatles being more famous than Jesus, and started a hate campaign, involving the ritual burning of Beatles records. At one point, it seemed as if their entire career was in jeopardy. The Beatles, who used to sell out shows, played in stadiums with many empty seats.
The tour was the most stressful and stressful part of their career so far. By the time they arrived at Candlestick Park for the final show, they had regained their unity. Their supporters were already turning the back-and-forth campaign into a satirical joke (“Lennon Saves”). The Beatles told their manager, Brian Epstein, it was over. Having supported each other through all the conflicts, they were closer than ever, and sure of their creative purpose. In these pictures they look tired but determined to enjoy this last concert as much as possible. McCartney asked an assistant to record their work as a souvenir.
That night they closed with Long Tall Sally and their hero Little Richard. Armed with a bow, he chased them in an armored car and chased them away. A new episode will start soon. After a break, the Beatles reunited at Abbey Road in November to work on John’s new song, Strawberry Fields Forever.
The Beatles: Live at Candlestick Park 1966 by Jim Marshall, edited by Amelia Davis, is published by Chronicle Books at £30 on 11 June. To support the Guardian, order your book from guardianbookshop.com. Shipping fees may apply.
