This was The Beatles’ third and final show in Bedford, although only three of them took to the stage. John Lennon was bed-bound with a heavy cold, and so Paul McCartney and George Harrison re-arranged the group’s songs to share the vocal parts between them.
The Beatles’ setlist on this tour, in which they appeared on a bill with Tommy Roe and Chris Montez, was: ‘Love Me Do’, ‘Misery’, ‘A Taste Of Honey’, ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’, ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’.
Page last updated: 25 January 2024
I went with my older brother – I was thirteen the previous November and he was fifteen in January ’63. I think we went down to the Granada on our bikes!
On these tours (and many came to the Granada in Bedford) there were two shows each evening but I can’t remember the exact times. I think the early one may have been at 6.30 pm and the later one at 9.10. We went to the early one.
I can remember Tommy Roe doing “Sheila” and Chris Montez playing “Let’s Dance” but not much more of their repertoires. There was an air of expectation throughout as the girls in the audience were obviously not interested in anything other than seeing the Beatles (or three-quarters of them anyway!)
When they came on stage the bulk of the audience didn’t seem too interested in hearing them either as the screaming virtually drowned out everything they played/sang. One thing which sticks clearly in my mind was one of the young ladies shouting out for “Love Me Do” and there was a bit of a subdued roar as Paul walked up to the microphone and put his hands together as though in prayer; looked up at the ceiling of the Granada and said, “We can’t….John” which virtually raised the roof.
Obviously the reason they couldn’t play it was that neither George nor Paul could play the harmonica but I think that fact was lost on most of the girls!
Where does the setlist come from? I would have thought I saw her standing there would have been the opening song, not the closing one. And if Love me do was out because of John’s illness, any suggestions for what could have been done instead? And shouldn’t Misery be off the list as well, that is also mainly John’s.
I have been thinking a bit more about this first Threetles show. With John absent, I´d hazard a guess for a revised setlist.
No Love me do, no Misery, no Ask me why. But iff they stuck to a reasonable 7-song set, this could be it:
I saw her standing there, A taste of honey, Roll over Beethoven, Till there was you, Do you want to know a secret, Please please me, Long tall Sally.
But, it would have been just as easy for them to add Boys for Ringo to sing- although its first live performance with Ringo seems to be a BBC radio recording April 1.
I think I would trust the setlist as stated in the article rather than one suggested by someone else more than 50 years later
I went to the concert with my two friends John who organised us going
and my other great friend Roger…who I am still in touch with but we have both lost contact with George. Great experience though.. we saw the three Beatles but never heard them. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate them as I was and still am a Holly fan (like the Beatles) but by the time ‘Pepper’ came out I was hooked.
Hello, is there anyone out there who has a recording of The Beetles playing live at Bedford please? Its got my Parents Wedding Anniversary.
The Granada is preferable but I would also be happy with The Corn Exchange please?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Anne-Marie