9 Dec 1961: the day of the concert the Beatles came 18 people
Liverpool Quartet had to play for an audience that numbers barely surpassed them.
In December 1961 Sam Leach arranged for his friends-musicians from the Liverpool performance in Aldershot, Hampshire. It was the first concert in the South of England for Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Pete best, who called themselves The Beatles.
The organizer hoped that the concert will attract the attention of leaders of London record companies, but, unfortunately, the Lich didn't understand that Aldershot was just a military town 60 miles from London.
In addition, advertising in the local press, which paid a Lich, was never published because he paid by cheque instead of cash and did not provide editors with the contact information.
The concert was conceived as a battle between groups of The Beatles from Liverpool and London Ivor Jay & the Jaywalkers. Opponents never showed up.
When the Beatles arrived in Aldershot after a nine hour trip from Liverpool with a friend of Leach Terry Mackenna, never had posters of the group, so the musicians had to wait until they miss the place of performance.
The same evening the Beatles played their usual cover versions of songs by Chuck berry and Jerry Lee Lewis 18 for bored people.
"We came in, unloaded things, guys set up their amps and waited for the flocking of the crowd — and waited, and waited, and waited" — Terry McCann.
"[Sam Leach] stopped any passerby to tell him about the concert. Of course, they'd go in, cast a quick glance and saying, "Boring," knock it off" — Terry McCann.
"In the middle of one of the songs George and Paul put on a coat and went to Foxtrot together with the audience, while the remaining members struggled and continued to play for them and a handful of spectators. We were fooling around throughout the second half of the performance. John and Paul deliberately played wrong chords and notes, and added the words to the songs, which never happened in the original texts" — Pete best.
"You can imagine what it was like for The Beatles to see about four dancers and six pathetic individuals standing along the edge... they did everything They could, but it was useless. They Packed up around 9:30 PM. Then Sam put the beer under the feet on the floor turned out to be the bingo balls: Liverpool in comparison with Aldershot" Terry McCann.
"I often wonder what happens when these young people are now talking about the night The Beatles came to Aldershot and almost nobody came to see them. I can hear only this: "Oh, we were there, all the 18 people watching The Beatles on stage and we called them for an encore"" — Sam Leach.
Keywords: The Beatles | Concert | Music