2 November 1964 was to have been a rest day in The Beatles’ 1964 British tour, but a late booking was made by promoter Arthur Howes for two shows at the King’s Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Beatles flew from London to Aldergrove Airport in the afternoon. For their concerts that evening they performed 10 songs: ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’, ‘I Should Have Known Better’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Long Tall Sally’. They flew back to London the next day.
This was The Beatles’ second and final visit to Northern Ireland. They had performed at the city’s Ritz Cinema on 8 November 1963.
Page last updated: 24 January 2024
I was not quite eight years old when my grandmother took me and my brother tightly by the hands and let us well away from the evil influence of the devil’s music played by the Beatles in the Ulster Hall. I saw gangs of youths running wild through the traffic in the early evening in Belfast, in order to get to the entrance in time – something which frightened and also impressed me at the time. We had just returned from a family week-end in Bangor and had been taken to the wrong bus station near to the venue. Somehow that image of the wild spirit of those kids remained in my memory and now with the internet I was able to put an exact date on the event. I thank you for getting these small but significant pieces of history assembled so that we can all piece together little bits of our lives which were so heavily influenced by what many will agree to have been the most influential musicians of the last century. The Beatles. A magical combination of talent.
I was there at the concert – a night I will never forget.