THIS WEEK IN BEATLES HISTORY: FEBRUARY 7, 1964. The Beatles didn’t want to come to the states until they had a Number One Song! Well, not only did they have the #1 song, I Want To Hold Your Hand, but She Loves You was #2 and Please Please Me wasn’t too far behind! They arrived at the newly named JFK Airport in New York City to thousands of screaming teenagers, who played hooky from school on that Friday early afternoon. It was pandemonium on the streets outside the Plaza Hotel. The city had never seen anything like it! John, Paul & Ringo had a rehearsal and did a photo shoot in Central Park on Saturday, while George stayed back because he was sick. His sister Louise took care of him and he was all set for the Sunday performances. It is not an exaggeration to say that almost the entire country tuned in to the Ed Sullivan Show, on February 9th at 8PM EST to watch these 4 Lads from Liverpool who called themselves THE BEATLES! The world changed at that moment. From the first notes of All My Loving, we knew these guys were for real. 73 million people tuned, in which by percentage was the largest TV audience in history! They had their first U.S. Concert in Washington, DC two nights later and had to take the train down from NYC because of a snowstorm. This concert was shown in movie theatres a few weeks later. The next day they were back in NYC for two performances at Carnegie Hall on Lincoln’s Birthday holiday (at the time). The next day they flew down to Miami Beach for their second live appearance and a bit of much needed R & R. For all of us who lived through it, we can not ever forget how exciting it was. For younger fans, go watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan DVD or even A Hard Day’s Night to best see what was happening in early 1964!!
The Original & Longest Running Beatles Celebration, Since 1974!
He absolutely is. Technical skill be dmaend, he has changed the face of rock drummer, just in more subtle ways. I’ve heard him dismissed by several drums, but I still hear his drum solos being played by others every once in a while. Having seen him myself and I can tell you he is absolutely unique.