Contra Band Music

From Atlanta, the Beatles and company flew overnight to Houston, Texas, where their plane was swarmed by fans on the runway upon their 2...

The second stop on the Beatles' 1965 North American tour was Toronto, a city they had visited in 1964. Once again, they were playing...

The pinnacle of the Beatles' concert career, albeit a distant and lonely pinnacle, was their August 15th, 1965 performance at Shea S...

As covered in a previous blog post , the Beatles arrived in New York City for their 1965 tour on August 13th, holding a press conference...

On July 29th, 1965, the Beatles attended the Royal World Premiere of Help! at the London Pavilion. The next day, they were interviewed ...

From France, the Beatles flew to Italy, performing in Milan on June 24th, Genoa on the 25th, and in Rome on the 27th and 28th. An Italia...

Paul McCartney began June of 1965 on holiday with Jane Asher in Portugal (where he finished composing "Yesterday"). On the 11t...

With principal photography on Help! completed, The Beatles had a chance to relax for a few weeks before setting out on a European tour....

Filming for Help! was completed over the first two weeks of May, 1965. From May 3rd-5th, the musical numbers "I Need You" and...

From April 15th through 19th, The Beatles took a break from filming for Easter weekend, interrupted only by John and George's TV gue...

Capitol Records pressed the "Ticket To Ride" single in the US with label copy reading "from the United Artists release Eight ...

During the week of April 5th-9th, 1965, The Beatles spent their days filming Help! at Twickenham Studios. On the 6th, they received an ...

On March 10th, The Beatles left the sunny climes of the Bahamas, arriving back at London Airport early the next morning. Two days lat...

The parade of American DJs continued to march through Nassau as filming for Help! continued into March, 1965. Murray the "K" hung...

After resigning at the end of the North American tour in September 1964, Beatles press officer Derek Taylor had moved to Los Angeles, wh...

Dave Hull of Pasadena radio station KRLA-AM had interviewed The Beatles extensively during their August 1964 visit to Los Angeles. At th...

February 25th, 1965 was the second full day of filming for Help! in the Bahamas. It was also George Harrison's 22nd birthday, and he ce...

From February 15th-20th, 1965, The Beatles were in EMI Studios recording eleven songs for potential use in their second movie. On the 22nd, ...

On the sixth day of 1965, Murray The "K" phoned London and spoke with Paul and Ringo , who were in the midst of their Christmas Sh...

OK, it wasn't exactly Brianmania, but The Beatles' manager did have a high profile in the winter of 1964-65. He even had his own fan...

The Beatles had closed 1963 with a highly successful run at the Finsbury Park Astoria, headlining a Christmas show mixing music and sketches...

On December 1st, 1964, Ringo entered University College Hospital in London to undergo a tonsillectomy. Prior to checking in, he held a press...

Dudley Moore and Peter Cook's sketch/variety TV series, Not Only... But Also... made its debut on BBC2 January 9th, 1965. John Lennon a...

The Beatles finished recording Beatles For Sale on October 26th, 1964, then headed back on the road. October 29th found them at the ABC Cin...

The UK tour rolled through Scotland from October 19th-21st, 1964, with shows in Edinburgh, Dundee, and Glasgow. On the 20th, The Beatles fil...

The Beatles began October 1964 with a TV taping for the US pop program Shindig , slotted in among several recording session dates for the LP...

Although he had officially resigned as Beatles press officer at the end of the North American tour, one of Derek Taylor's biggest projec...

September 19th, 1964, was a day of rest for The Beatles. They spent the day as guests of American Flyers owner Reed Pigman, on his ranch in ...

The final new city on The Beatles' exhausting summer 1964 tour was Dallas, Texas. Local radio station KLIF-AM built up anticipation in t...

After the chaos in Cleveland, The Beatles were looking forward to visiting New Orleans, home of Fats Domino and Lloyd Price. In their room a...

With the North American tour just five days from completion, Beatlemania finally burst at the seams in Cleveland on September 15th, 1964. Th...

September 13th, 1964 found The Beatles crossing two more concerts off their list, at Baltimore's Civic Center. Between the shows, they s...

With assistance from George's sister Louise, WBZ-AM radio produced a documentary covering The Beatles' September 12th visit to Bost...

After their Montréal concerts , The Beatles were due to fly south to Jacksonville, Florida for two days of rest before their September 11th ...

From Chicago, The Beatles flew to Detroit for two shows on September 6th. That night, it was on to Toronto, where they landed at Malton Air...

From Milwaukee, it was on to Chicago for a September 5th performance at the International Amphitheatre. Their arrival at Midway Airport was...

" On September 4, 1964, The Beatles gave a concert in Milwaukee, Stop Number 12 on their first American tour which visited 25 cities, f...

The Beatles landed at Weir Cook Airport in Indianapolis around 1am on September 3rd, flying in from Philadelphia, and checked in to the Spee...

September 2nd, 1964 saw The Beatles visit Philadelphia for a concert at the Convention Hall. Prior to the show, the usual press conference w...

From August 24th through 27th, 1964, the Democratic National Convention was held at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Lyndon Johnson was ...