The Beatles performed before an audience of 12,037 at the Convention Hall, part of the Philadelphia Civic Center.
Also on the bill were, in order of appearance, The Bill Black Combo, The Exciters, Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry, and Jackie DeShannon. Henry joined the tour on this date, replacing The Righteous Brothers who had complained to Brian Epstein that their music was drowned out by the audience’s cheers for The Beatles.
The Righteous Brothers were on stage singing You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, when we came hovering over in this sodding big Chinook. All the people were up in the stands, pointing up to the sky, screaming and shouting, paying not a blind bit of notice to The Righteous Brothers – which pissed them off a little. In fact, they got so pissed off that they decided to leave the tour. Righteous indignation.
The Beatles performed the standard 12-song set which they retained for most of the tour: ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘You Can’t Do That’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘Boys’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’.
A few days before the concert there were race riots in Philadelphia. To The Beatles’ disgust, the audience at the Convention Hall was all-white. The concert was broadcast live on local radio.
The art deco hall was built in 1931, and was located at 3400 Civic Center Blvd, on the edge of the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. It was demolished in 2005.
My mum, 18 years old at the time, was one of the 12,037 at this gig. It’s telling that, while my dad grew up in England and shared an equal love of their music with his future wife, he can’t say he ever saw them live. He was from a working-class, coal-mining family in Yorkshire, and it would have been beyond his means. My mum, on the other hand, came from a middle class, suburban Philadelphia single-parent home; all she had to do was ask for a few dollars to get the El (elevated train) and a concert ticket.
I’ll hopefully find that ticket stub somewhere in the house when I go back to America in September. She swears she still has it.
That’s a great story. I live in Philadelphia and grew up in the suburbs. I was 7 when the Beatles came here and couldn’t go to this show. I have many older friends that were there. I’ve been to the Convention Center many times. Sadly it was torn down a few years ago.?
I hope you find that ticket ?
As a freelance writer-photog for the Main Line Times I covered this show using a YashicaMat 2 1/4. In those days we processed our own negs using acufine, a super fine-grain developer that produced 3500 meg results. I still own seven medium format negs from the show. The feature I did was named the top weekly newwpaper feature in Pa. for that year.
Glenn
My name is Mary. I was 12 at the Beatles concert in 1964 Philadelphia.
My brother was a Philly cop and got me a sit on stage behind the velvet curtain.
I saw a photo of yours on line once and when I zoomed out I could see myself. Interested if I could get a copy.
does anyone who attended this concert remember receiving a promotional album of this event?
The show is one of the few preserved on audio. Find it and then take a moment to listen to ‘Roll over Beethoven’: I swear it sounds like George is singing “Well if you feel an´ like it, get your mother and reel and rock with”, instead of “get your lover”!
I was 14 that September 2, 1964. It was FABulous! I paid $7.00 for a $5.50 ticket. Scalpers!?
I remember feeling sad for Jackie Deshannon. She sang “Don’t they know it’s the end of the world,” and nobody was listening. I honestly don’t remember any of the other performers before the Beatles.
None of the photos taken with our little Brownie camera came out. We saw Hi Lit at a dance and begged him for pictures if he had them. I was so surprised to see this film. I never knew it existed.
Great video. The banner seen behind the stage that says “A WIBBAGE WELCOME …” refers to WIBG, Philadelphia’s Top 40 radio station. As a young teen growing up in southern New Jersey, WIBG was our gateway to the popular music of the time and the cultural revolution it inspired.