Wednesday, February 18, 2009

August 29, 1966 - Candlestick Park, San Francisco

On August 29, 1966 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California, the Beatles performed before a paying audience for the last time. It was seen by 25,000 fans. Their last number on stage was "Long Tall Sally," one of their Hamburg show-stoppers.

By this time the whole group, even Paul who had held out the longest for a continuation of touring, knew that the concerts had to stop. With posterity in mind, he asked the Beatles press officer to tape the performance on his hand-held cassette recorder. George expressed his relief on the plane home: "That's it. I'm no longer a Beatle," he announced.

John: "On our last tour people kept bringing blind, crippled and deformed children into our dressing room and this boy's mother would say, 'Go on, kiss him, maybe you'll bring back his sight.' We're not cruel. We've seen enough tragedy in Merseyside, but when a mother shrieks, 'Just touch him and maybe he'll walk again,' we want to run, cry, empty our pockets. We're going to remain normal if it kills us."

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