‘I really think the Queen believes in it all. She must. I don’t believe in John Lennon, Beatle, being any different from anyone else, because I know he’s not. I’m just a feller. But I’m sure the Queen must think she’s different.
‘I always hated all the social things. All the horrible events and presentations we had to go to. All false. You could see right through them all, and all the people there. I despised them. Perhaps it was partly from class. No, it wasn’t. It was because they really were all false.’
Some of the 1965–6 tours have to be mentioned, if only as a brief record, especially their two other American tours. Their third American tour began on 13 August 1965. It was decided to keep it to half the length of the previous one, as that had been too exhausting. This tour covered 17 days and they were insured for a million pounds, which was what the last tour had taken. It made even more money than the previous one, though it was half the length, because they concentrated on baseball grounds, which they had pioneered the time before.
The biggest event of this tour of America was on 15 August 1965. This was when they played at the Shea Stadium, New York. ‘Over 55,000 people saw that show,’ says Sid Bernstein. ‘We took 304,000 dollars, the greatest gross ever in the history of show business.’
This is still a world record. It wasn’t beaten during their subsequent American tour. Out of the 304,000 dollars, the Beatles got 160,000 dollars. Over 30,000 dollars went on the rent of the Stadium for the night. There were 1,300 police on duty, which cost 14,000 dollars. Insurance came to 11,000 dollars. After advertising, publicity and other expenses, Sid Bernstein’s profit on the evening came to 7,000 dollars.
‘I could still do it again today. The Beatles are as popular in the States as they ever were. I’ve offered them one million dollars for two shows at the Shea Stadium. That offer still stands. It would have to be exclusive in the USA. One million dollars. That’s my offer.’
Exactly a year later, in August 1966, they did their fourth and final American tour. This was again a shorter one, but it made most money of all. Nat Weiss, who had been appointed head of Nemperor Artists in New York, helped to organize it. He had been practising as a divorce attorney in New York for 15 years when he met Brian Epstein, socially, and through him became interested in pop music. In June 1966 Brian decided to bring all the NEMS bits and pieces in America under one office. Nemperor was named after the cable address of Nems.
It was just before this tour that John’s remark about Jesus Christ hit America. He had originally said that the Beatles ‘were now more popular than Christ’ several months previously in a Maureen Cleave interview in the London Evening Standard. No one had objected or remarked on it publicly. But when it was reproduced and went round America, out of context, it caused a furore.
‘A friend rang me to say they were burning Beatle records in Nashville, Tennessee,’ says Nat Weiss. ‘I rang Brian and said I thought it serious enough to warrant his arrival in New York.’
Brian was very worried, as the Ku Klux Klan came out and Beatle effigies were burned throughout the Bible Belt. He considered cancelling several appearances, even though it would have meant paying back one million dollars. ‘I didn’t want any chance of the boys being harmed, whatever the cost.’ But the promoters and mayors and local officials said there would be much more trouble from fans if any concerts were cancelled. A slight retraction was put out from John, saying he hadn’t meant it, and the tour went off as planned. The concerts in the Bible Belt were the best of all.
Their other foreign tours during these two years included France, Italy, Spain and Germany (a huge welcome in Hamburg). From Germany, in June 1966, they flew to Tokyo for their one and only Japanese series of concerts. The Japanese Beatle fans turned out to be the most knowledgeable of all, judging by the programme they produced for the concerts. This was the most lavish and exhaustive programme from any of their concerts anywhere. It contained, amongst other academic information, the title of every song they’d ever sung up to that time and its chart position. Nobody in London had ever worked it out in such detail. Brian kept a copy of it in his desk as a work of reference.
From Japan, they returned home via Manila in the Philippines, and wished they hadn’t. This visit resulted in the first and only scene of real violence throughout their touring career. All those times they’d nearly been killed in Britain and America was due to over-affection. In Manila they were kicked and punched by officials and police. This was the result of a supposed act of discourtesy towards the president’s wife. She expected them to turn up at the palace after she had invited them. They said they’d never been invited. The president’s wife was very hurt.
In Britain, Beatlemania hardly abated. The switchboard at University College Hospital was jammed when Ringo had his tonsils out. Hourly bulletins were issued. Thousands of fans wrote asking for his old tonsils. Ringo announced that no one was getting them. They were to be burned.
In October 1965, the Queen and Prince Philip were on tour in Canada. One of the biggest stories of the tour in the British press was when Prince Philip was quoted as saying that the Beatles were ‘on the wane’. This got headlines everywhere. The London Evening Standard did a poll to find out if it was true — five out of seven said it wasn’t true. A couple of days later, Brian Epstein got a personal telegram from Prince Philip in which he explained that what he’d really said was ‘I think the Beatles are away.’
It shows that famous personages were still coming out with Beatle references, and were very worried if they came out wrong. But more than that, it shows there was now a bit of wishful thinking around. Everybody was sure the Beatles must be on the wane. They couldn’t possibly keep up the same pace.
But they were waxing as strongly as ever. After each wave of bubble-pricking, they brought out yet another record that went straight to number one. In December 1965, when ‘Day Tripper’ came out and went direct to number one, it was their tenth consecutive number-one record in the British charts.
That same month, December 1965, they started what was to become, although no one said so at the time, their last British tour. They did one concert after that, on 1 May 1966, at Wembley, which is the last live concert the Beatles have done in Britain.
At long last, one of their singles didn’t immediately reach number one, although after a week it did. This was ‘Paperback Writer’ in June 1966. Even more surprisingly, because it was much better, ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields’, in February 1967, didn’t get to number one at all. Perhaps by that time the fans knew they were never going to see the Beatles singing in the flesh again.
Their last live appearance anywhere in the world was at the end of their American tour, on 29 August 1966.
‘During that last show in San Francisco,’ says Nat Weiss, ‘Brian was very sad and almost pathetic. It was the first time I’d ever seen him pathetic. He suddenly said, “What do I do now? What happens to my life? That’s it. Should I go back to school and learn something else?”
‘He was obviously greatly saddened. Then he took hold of himself and said no. He would carry on and do something.’
There was no denial or confirmation about giving up touring when they came back to England. This led to some confusion, and rumours began spreading that they were splitting up.
The fan club and Beatles Monthly were swamped by letters from fans. Mrs Harrison, George’s mother, got so fed up answering the same query that she had several hundred copies of a letter duplicated, saying they were not splitting. She said they were very busy on an LP, which would keep them going all over Christmas. ‘So I think this proves that they have no plans what-so-ever for parting company. All my best wishes. Louise Harrison. (Mrs)’