The Beatles had arrived in Sydney, Australia on 11 June 1964, but didn’t perform there until this day, 18 June.
They arrived in the city by aeroplane at 7.40am. Around 1,200 fans greeted them at the airport, along with 300 police officers.
The Beatles were taken to their suite at the Sheraton Hotel, and later gave a press conference for Australian reporters.
In the evening they gave the first of six shows over three days; each performance was seen by 12,000 people. As was now customary, The Beatles were subjected to a storm of jelly babies thrown by the fans, the result of an off-the-cuff interview comment made by George Harrison in 1963.
Wherever we’ve been since then – America, Europe and now Australia – that stupid story has gone ahead with the result that we get jelly babies chucked at us till we’re really fed up.
Paul McCartney was forced to twice stop the group’s performance to ask the audience not to throw sweets; both times he was ignored and a new candy hailstorm greeted the band.
18 June 1964 was McCartney’s 22nd birthday, and after the concert a party was held back at the Sheraton. Also present were 17 girls who had won the Daily Mirror newspaper’s “Why I would like to be a guest at a Beatle’s birthday party” competition. Ringo passed out drunk at 3am the following morning.
Also on this day...
- 2022: Tributes paid to Paul McCartney on his 80th birthday
- 2016: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
- 2014: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Beacon Theatre, New York City
- 2011: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Empire Theatre, Liverpool
- 2010: John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for A Day In The Life sell for $1.2m
- 2009: Ringo Starr to get Hollywood Walk of Fame star
- 2001: Sir Paul McCartney’s coat of arms is granted
- 1995: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Osaka-jō Hall, Osaka
- 1976: Wings live: Tucson Community Center, Tucson
- 1973: US single release: Live And Let Die by Wings
- 1968: Première of the In His Own Write stage play
- 1968: George Harrison and Ringo Starr return to England from America
- 1968: Paul McCartney celebrates his 26th birthday at Apple
- 1965: Television: Tonight
- 1965: Radio: BBC European Service
- 1965: Mixing: I’ve Just Seen A Face, I’m Down, It’s Only Love, Act Naturally, Wait, Help!, Yesterday
- 1963: John Lennon beats up Cavern DJ Bob Wooler at Paul McCartney’s 21st birthday party
- 1961: The Beatles live: Top Ten Club, Hamburg
- 1960: The Silver Beetles live: Grosvenor Ballroom, Wallasey
- 1956: Paul McCartney is given a trumpet for his 14th birthday
- 1942: Paul McCartney is born
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
Where’nt they living at the hotel opposite to the Chevron, the sheraton?
https://beatlephotoblog.com/room-801-sydney-sheraton
That is correct. The Chevron didn’t want them because it was afraid that the hotel would be blocked out by fans standing on the footpath outside. So where did the fans stand so they could get a better view of the Sheraton?
We stood outside the Chevron to get a good look at Beatles who were at Sheraton opposite. Guess who was staying at Chevron at that time? Famous musician … go on! Guess! Artur Rubenstein. Note his name is Artur and not Arthur
I noticed you got the hotel wrong, although they had previously been booked at the Chevron Hilton. As their fame grew in late ’63 and early ’64 the Chevron cancelled the booking fearing physical damage and pandemonium on their doorstep. Unfortunately for them the hotel opposite (in reality not much more than a motel) took the booking instead, which meant the Chevron got exactly what they feared. By the way, they arrived at 7.40 am, not 11.40.
Bits of most of the songs exist on film. Clips taken outside, before the show, looks like it was at least early in the evening, and the audience seem to be wearing coats as well, I suggest the film is from the evening show as well.
This time of year it is winter in Australia and Sydney. It would have been cold at night in June but nothing like it is in Sweden in Winter! The coats were necessary. I was there that night and had an overcoat.
I was there that night too and the night was very wintery by Sydney standards. In a stroke of pure luck, one of my older sisters won two ringside tickets to see the Beatles in a Sydney daily newspaper competition (the Sun?). In the lead-up to the concert, the excitement in the house was paramount and my sister loudly counted off the days and hours. However, in a stroke of pure un-luck, mum took the tickets off my sister when she broke curfew big time on the Saturday night before the concert. Mum refused to let my sister go as punishment and I then became the Steven Bradbury of Beatles concert goers, accompanied by my mother. I was eleven years old. I might add that this event had repercussions for years to come between my sister, my mother and myself but that’s another story completely. So mum and I arrived at the Stadium and to our astonishment, the seats were just a row behind the front ones! But curiously, I have absolutely no memory of fans throwing jelly-beans. I’m pretty sure mum would’ve banned me from doing that anyway but what I do remember is hundreds and hundreds, probably thousands, of coloured paper streamers being thrown from the audience at the Beatles as the stage revolved. I have a vivid memory of the old Stadium littered with a sea of coloured, tangled paper. And the screaming! Oh my gosh the screaming (from me included)! Even from a couple of rows away from the stage, we could hardly hear the music, let alone singing. And our ears! My poor mother was deaf for the next three days and actually needed medical intervention, something she boasted about for years to come. We were very close to the stage and towards the end of the concert, I threw a pink streamer towards the band and you wouldn’t believe it, Paul actually caught it. For a fleeting few seconds Paul and I were joined together; the stuff that eleven year old girls’ dreams were made of back then. Paul let the streamer go, I reeled it in and have kept it all these years. The following morning I couldn’t wait to get to school to brag about being at the concert and naturally, to show off even more, I took the bit of streamer; my new prize possession. At school I wrote on it in old-fashioned loopy handwriting, ‘Touched by Paul McCartney 1964’ with my nib and ink. I became the most important and popular girl in the school for a couple of weeks thanks to that one night and to this day, I still maintain my I-saw-the-Beatles-live-in-concert bragging rights. My sister is still not happy.