 Today in Beatle History Wed, August 20th, 2008
Sun, August 20th, 1961: The Beatles perform at Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool. Mon, August 20th, 1962: The Beatles perform at the Majestic Ballroom, Crewe. Tue, August 20th, 1963: The Beatles perform at the Gaumont Cinema, Bournemouth. Thu, August 20th, 1964: On a tour of America, The Beatles perform two shows at the Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Attendance for both concerts is 16,000. The Beatles add the song "Till There Was You" to their song list for one of the shows. Fri, August 20th, 1965: The Beatles, on tour in North America, perform two shows at White Sox Park, Chicago, Illinois. Total attendance is 62,000 and The Beatles earn $155,000. Sat, August 20th, 1966: The Beatles, touring America for the last time, are forced to cancel/reschedule their planned performance in Cincinnati's open-air stadium, Crosley Field, when heavy rain (and no cover provided) makes electrocution a virtual certainty were The Beatles to attempt to perform. Sat, August 20th, 1966: "Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby" is the #1 single in the UK charts. Tue, August 20th, 1968: The Beatles in the recording studio (Studios Three and Two, EMI Studios, London). Two separate sessions, with John and Ringo in Studio Three and Paul in Studio Two. George is in Greece, having left suddenly on a four-day trip. John and Ringo complete "Yer Blues", recording Ringo's intro ("two, three:"). Paul works on "Mother Nature's Son", adding overdubs that include the recording of two trumpets and two trombones. Engineer Ken Scott will later recall that John and Ringo walked in during Paul's session and that the sudden negative tension that immediately developed between Paul and the others was striking. When John and Ringo left, things returned to normal. Late in Paul's session, he records the demo for a song named "Etcetera". This is followed by "Wild Honey Pie", which is recorded in its entirety. Wed, August 20th, 1969: The Beatles in the recording studio (Studios Three and Two, EMI Studios, London). Completion of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". A preliminary master tape of "Abbey Road" is compiled. The medley is slated for side one, and the placement of "Octopus's Garden" and "Oh! Darling" are reversed from the final version. The album ends with the slashed guitar chord that finishes "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". All four Beatles attended this session. This is the last time that all four Beatles will be together at the EMI Abbey Road studios. |