Beatles tour 1963

[LewisHartley]

Hi guys,

 

I'm writing regarding the Beatles tour of Sheffield in 1963. I currently study Journalism at Sheffield Hallam Univeristy and i'm doing a backgrounder on the tour as part of one of my modules. I was just curious as to whether any of you attended any of the gigs and would be willing to message me your email adress so I could ask a few questions. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Regards,

Lewis Hartley.

 

---------- Post added 17-02-2013 at 09:12 ----------

 

Any information would be appreciated

[singist]

I can really help you there, forgive the pun. I Saw all the Beatles gigs live and even the one at the Azena ballroom... i actually met all the Beatles a few times in 62' and 63'

 

---------- Post added 17-02-2013 at 11:22 ----------

 

my-e-mail....akcomposer@gmail.com:)

[Bushbaby]

The Beatles at The Azena

In 1986, biographer Mark Lewisohn published the definitive tome “The Beatles Live”, a catalogue of every live performance the band had ever undertaken. It had taken years of research which entailed Mark speaking to hundreds of people in compiling this chapter, of which he was rightfully proud, in the life of the Fab Four. It began with The Quarrymen playing on the back of a coal lorry in Rosebery St, Liverpool on 22nd June 1957, two weeks before John met Paul, and went right through to the famous Rooftop concert twelve years later.

One of the concerts listed was at a Sheffield venue, the Azena Ballroom on White Lane at Gleadless, and the date given had been established after a conversation between the author and the show’s promoter, Pete Stringfellow.

It is now a popular local story and has entered the annals of folklore. Stringfellow had booked The Beatles to play at his relatively small Black Cat Club held regularly in St Aiden’s Church Hall on City Rd, but as the band erupted into a global phenomenon, it became apparent that demand for tickets would very quickly outstrip supply, and so Pete, ever mindful of making a few shillings, began to search for a larger venue. He eventually made an agreement with owners of a dance hall, the aforementioned Azena, and after an exchange of £25, the concert was switched, and while the exact number of attendees is disputed, all agree it was well over the five hundred limit recommended by the fire authorities.

Stringfellow told Mark that the date of the event was Feb 12th 1963, the first Sheffield concert by the band, and this was how it was listed in book.

After the book was published however, it soon became apparent that there were some anomalies connected with this date, not least of which was the fact that the group were also listed as having played at the Astoria Ballroom, Oldham, on the very same day. It wouldn’t be impossible to do both, but it would be very difficult. Travelling 100 miles, including a journey over the pre-M62 Pennines, in between two very exhausting concerts, seemed to be a bit of a tall order. Especially as, the previous day had been spent in Abbey Rd studios, recording nine songs for the “Please Please Me” album, finishing at almost 11PM.

The issue seemed to be solved when copies of a poster, advertising the event on this date, went on sale at Beatles memorabilia conventions, it even appeared on a range of T Shirts, but experts soon identified this as a fraud. The key proof of this being that the word “Beatles” on the poster, contained the famous “Drop T”, as shown on Ringo’s drums. This logo was known to have been designed late in April of that year, by Ivor Arbiter, and was first seen in public in mid-May, on TV show “Thank Your Lucky Stars”. It couldn’t have been on a poster three months earlier.

Meanwhile, many more Beatles volumes, by many different writers, were beginning to appear on the bookshelves, and the February date was written into history. Years later, when the World Wide Web became a fixture in most households, this date was still listed in many places, and even today it still turns up on the less conscientious websites.

In the early years of this millennium, I got involved in a web exchange, where this Feb date was still being questioned. Lewisohn had stated quite categorically that the date must be wrong. A hand written set list had turned up, a souvenir that the drummer of the support act, “Mark Stone and The Aidens”, had received from Lennon and had held on to for dear life. It was confirmed that this list was in Paul McCartney’s handwriting and was quite genuine. But instead of making things clearer, it muddied the water even further. One of the songs on the list, the soon to be No 1 “From Me To You”, had been certified as having been written on the tour coach on February 28th , while travelling between York and Shrewsbury on the Helen Shapiro tour, and therefore couldn’t have existed in the first half of February. There was also the absence of closing number “Twist and Shout”. A popular inclusion in the radio sessions, its effect on Lennon’s voice was to make him hoarse, and it was understandably left out on this occasion.

I decided to see if I could help clarify the situation, and got a message from Mark saying that he suspected that the concert had actually taken place in early April, in between a series of radio sessions, If this were true, then the main consequence would be that Stringfellow’s boast of having hosted the first ever appearance of The Beatles in Sheffield, no longer held water, as they had twice played the City Hall in March, supporting Helen Shapiro.

I began by putting the question on the Sheffield Forum, to see if anyone who had attended the concert could throw some light on it. I had many responses from people who remembered the occasion, but none could give me a definitive on the date.

After this, armed only with a list of possible dates, I went into the archives of the main City Library on Surrey Street, and booked out a handful of microfiche editions of the Sheffield Star, and began looking through them, starting with April 1st. I found nothing on that day but imagine my delight when, on page two of the Star’s April 2nd edition, Lewisohn’s primary choice for the genuine date, I found a poster advertising the event that was taking place that very day! I printed the page, and an enlargement of the ad, and later that day sent copies to all who had been involved in the research.

From that day, newly published lists of Beatles’ concerts now show that on April 2nd 1963, The Beatles played live at The Azena Ballrom. I had helped to rewrite history. The ad I printed from The Star now appears on websites worldwide, often alongside the fake, and a few lines explaining the discrepancy.

The building on White Lane still exists, and is now a Co-Op Supermarket. There are rumours that autographs of the Fab Four are scrolled somewhere on an internal wall but that’s probably folklore. In just over a month, we will reach the 50th anniversary. I would love to see the current tenants commemorate this unique event, by hanging an inscription or some similar memorial. I’m sure also that Peter Stringfellow could be persuaded to come along and unveil the plaque, and celebrate the fact that a young lad, not yet 23 years old, could successfully promote such a momentous occasion.

[LewisHartley]

Thanks Bushbaby!! great background info here!