Spending time with The Beatles - When and where? | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I would be tempted by two time periods.

April to July 1961 in Hamburg. Stu on bass, Pete on drums. Stu fascinates me as an individual, and these were his final days with the band. It’d be interesting to observe the dynamics during that period, and to get a real idea of Pete as their drummer – rather than the little audio snatches we have of him sitting in Ringo’s seat. All of their trips were important, probably bar that final fortnight in December 1962 – which was more pregnant pause before everything changed forever, but none was more important than that the Hamburg residency of 1961. It was where the frontline of John (rhythm guitar), George (lead guitar) and Paul (bass guitar) happened. It also saw their first commercial recordings. It was also the beginning of the end for Pete as the other three started to get to know Ringo better.

16 February to 12 April 1968 in Rishikesh. The last days before the rot started to set in, and freed from their fame for the first time since 1963. Again, just an interesting period to observe them in. There was also a lot of songwriting happening there, and it’d be interesting to see how they worked in that relaxed atmosphere.

I am more tempted by ’61 though.

A few weeks, eh?

I’ve often thought it would have been cool to hang out with them in the early days before they hit the big time. But after thinking more about it, they were right b******s back then and it may not have been as cool as one thinks.

If I could be in my late teens / early twenties when this happens, I’m thinking 19 July through 11 August 1967. Here is why. The Summer of Love. Pepper dominates. We all travel to Greece, island hopping on a private yacht partying our asses off. When we return, I could fly to California with George and Pattie and meet up with Ravi Shankar. On my last day of hanging out, I could “photo bomb” the boys during Richard Avedon’s photo shoot.

Yeah, that.