Australia:
Excerpt
from a newspaper article -
"...More than 10,000 fans at every performance have, according to official statements by an acustics expert
of New South Wales University Mrs Anita Lawrence, made more noise than a Boeing 707 jet in full flight.
Said Mrs Lawrence,
who last night took a sound-level meter with her to check the pitch of audience noise. Normally, noise reaching the ground
from a Boeing jet plane 2,000 feet up is between 90 and 100 decibels. When the Beatles appeared, the pure screams alone showed
112 decibels on the recording apparatus. For the next half-hour he needle never fell below 100 and many times leapt higher.
The decibel meter showed Paul McCartney the most popular of the Beatles. Whenever he bobbed his head and grinned the needle
shot up as high as 114 decibels which is more than the noise given out by an electric saw three feet away from your ears..."
This perhaps was the article that prompted one reporter to write: "If you've never heard the
screams of Beatles fans, borrow a Boeing 707, put it in your living room and start it up. It won't be quite as loud as Beatles
fans, but you'll be getting closer."
Australia, 1964 - the charts:
1. All My Loving (Last week: 1, times in: 3)
2. Love Me Do (Last week: 2, times in: 11)
3. Roll Over Beethoven (Last week: 4, times in: 4)
4. I Saw Her Standing There (Last week: 3, times in: 11)
5. She Loves You (Last week: 5, times in: 29)
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand (Last week: 6, times in: 16)
June 1966, Germany:
Ecstasy and lots of screaming - according
to newspaper reports. Newspaper headlines include - "They screamed, They cried, They fainted". Any guesses
as to who was in town :) ?
April 4, 1964, USA:
Aside from having
songs at #31, 41, 46, 58, 65, 68 and 79, the Beatles achieved something no one else has - they held the top 5 positions on
the Billboard Hot 100 Charts -
1. Can't Buy Me Love (weeks in chart: 2)
2. Twist and Shout (weeks in chart: 4)
3. She Loves You (weeks
in chart: 11)
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand (weeks in chart: 12)
5. Please Please Me (weeks in chart:
10)
1965, USA:
Doorknobs were stolen form hotels, because
it was believed by fans that "the Beatles touched them!"...
The Hollywood Bowl:
People who were there (and were not
too busy screaming) said that if the Bowl had a roof, the volume of the screaming would have blown it off.
Shea Stadium:
You've probably seen the video footage...
needless to say, it was LOUD.
Newspapers reported hundreds of girls fainting because they were within a few hundred feet
of the Beatles.
Waiting...
for up to 36 hours to get tickets for a concert
was never too much to ask.
February 1964, New York City:
Apparently, some 50,000
people requested tickets to the "Ed Sullivan Show" with the Beatles... for a theater with room for 728 people.
Britain, 1963:
October 31, 1963: Ca. 20,000 fans blocked
Heathrow Airport due to the arrival of the Beatles, detaining flights.
Cambridge - John got as far as "We'd like to play a song from our new LP..." and the rest of the sentence was drowned in
screams.
York - The announcer at the concert called out, "Do you want to see John?" (screams), "George?" (screams),
"Paul?" (screams), "Ringo?" (pandemonium).
London, Fan Club Convention - The fans arrive early in the morning, for the big day: meeting the Beatles and
seeing them live in concert. The lucky fans got to shake hands with each Beatle (although this caused some hysteria and fainting).
The concert was held with the fans behind a fence, in order to keep the fans back from the Beatles (prompting John to say
"If they press any harder, they'll come through as chips.").
1964,
Paris, France:
One hotel room alone was used for Beatle fan mail...
1964, USA:
Washington DC concert:
After the show ended,
fans scrambled to the stage, picking up all the (infamous) jelly babies, because, after all, "the Beatles stepped on them!"
1964, Amsterdam, Netherlands:
Fans jumped into the canals
to reach the boat the the Beatles were traveling on.
1964, Pakistan:
While refueling in Pakistan on the flight
to Australia at 2 o'clock in the morning, Paul decided to leave the plane to buy something - only to be chased back to the
plane by a horde of screaming girls.
July 6, 1964
"A Hard Day's Night" movie premiere in London. Piccadilly Circus and surrounding streets
are blocked by thousands of fans.
USA, 1964:
The Beatles' Concert in Seattle 1964 - an article:
http://www.wshs.org/columbia/0296-a1.htm
