What a night! February 11, 1964 from the Washington, DC Coliseum .
“From Liverpool England! The most exciting band in rock and roll in the world! Capitol recording artists. Ladies and Gentlemen ... the Beatles!” With that four young men walked out, moved their own equipment around, plugged in, chatted with the cops by the stage and cranked up an electrically-charged concert before 7,000 (mostly female) screaming fans. With that I, a non-committal Beatles fan at best, was transfixed by this concert film. Grainy and with beautiful single track monophonic sound, this film is s joy to behold. (See www.apple.com/the-beatles.)
The first thing you notice about this show is the non-fained innocence of the band as they set about doing their own 'roadie' work as if they were back at the Cavern singing for free beers. Next you notice that the show was in-the-round. The Beatles had about 2300 fans on each side of them and no one thought that this might be dangerous for the band; think 'The Who' in Cincinnati and Altamont. Finally, you have to be stunned to notice that only eight of DC's Finest easily kept the stage clear. [It took only three cops to walk (yes, walk) the band back to the dressing room after the show.]
I am a very jaded individual, but all of this could never happen today. If even a minor star tried this type of informality, the star and the promoter would have more law suits than bed bugs in a cheap NYC hotel.
This show too place only two days after their first gig on the Ed Sullivan Show. The concert opened with George up front doing Chuck Berry's Rollover Beethoven and finished with Little Richard's Long Tall Sally with Paul in the lead. The fact is that Paul's version of Long Tall Sally may be the best rock and roll song of all-time. [If you doubt me, give a listen to the last cut on British release of Wings Over America if you want proof.]
Everything in between, all 40 ' 12” of it, are these 2' 30” pieces of pure joy. Even a cover of the Isley Brother's Twist and Shout comes off cleanly and authentically R&B.
To be certain there are the occasional missed note or riff, as is true of all live shows, but the band is well practiced and tight. It does seem that John's famous (infamous) leopard scream tends to draw Paul a quarter tone flat throughout the show. One thing that made this 100+ db crowd noise concert that much more impressive is the fact that the entire show was played through only a trio of 100 watt Vox studio amps. It is surprising that the band could hear at all, yet it was in tune. (Playing in European beer bars was probably a great training ground.)
This concert showcased four young men who were apparently having the time of their lives. I had forgotten that the Beatles were young once-upon-a-time and only became pseudo-religious icons post-Revolver. The band looked and acted like bandmates: smiling and chatting happily between songs and whilst moving the amps or drum kit around. They and all concert goers looked … happy.
Only 5 ½ scant years after this show, the Beatles were functionally no more. John was off with Yoko. Paul was happily married to a Kodak trust-funder. George was in and out East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) hip deep in the Maharishi's teachings and Ringo was off being Ringo: never really gone, but no longer in the center of the spotlight.
Were we ever really as young and innocent as it seems we were in 1964? Yes, I think were probably were. But one thing is certain, that we have never that innocent since.
