The Beatles live: ABC Cinema, Great Yarmouth

The Beatles began a 10-week series of seaside dates on 30 June 1963, with two shows at the ABC Cinema on Regent Road, Great Yarmouth.

The compere on this evening was Ted Rogers, and four other acts accompanied The Beatles on the bill: The Brook Brothers, The Terry Young Combo, Erkey Grant, and Tommy Wallis and Beryl.

Tickets cost four shillings and sixpence, and nine shillings and sixpence. The first show began at 6pm, with The Terry Young Combo and The Brook Brothers. Following an interval The Terry Young Combo returned, followed by the novelty act Tommy Wallis and Beryl, before The Beatles closed the show.

They performed 11 songs: ‘Some Other Guy’, ‘Thank You Girl’, ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’, ‘Misery’, ‘A Taste Of Honey’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘Love Me Do’, ‘From Me To You’, ‘Baby It’s You’, ‘Please Please Me’, and ‘Twist And Shout’.

In their dressing room after the first show The Beatles were inteviewed by Gianni Bisiach, a reporter from Italian TV station RAI. The footage was aired in Italy in December 1963, dubbed into Italian, but the original audio survived and has since been overdubbed onto the footage. Brian Epstein was also interviewed but the footage is lost.

The second show started at 8.15pm, and the crew from RAI filmed The Beatles from the cinema balcony. Afterwards The Beatles drove back to London, before recording ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I’ll Get You’ at EMI Studios the following day.

The Beatles returned to the ABC Cinema on one other occasion, on 28 July 1963. The venue was finally demolished in 1989 to make way for the Market Gates Shopping Precinct.