I went to see The Beatles in Maple Leaf Gardens in 1966. I enjoyed the show and went to the King Edward Hotel afterwards because I knew The Beatles were staying there.  I milled about in the lobby for awhile until a tall man with blonde hair and glasses approached me and asked me if I wanted to meet The Beatles.  I said I did, so he took me upstairs, right past the guards and into the Beatles’ suite, which was on the 7^th or 8^th floor.  I was nervous and almost fainted when I entered the living room of the suite and there were Ringo, John and George watching television with some friends.  Everyone was so friendly and normal; it was like sitting around with a group of friends at home.  Ringo was funny—he kept making funny remarks about the movie on the telly.
I had a drink and talked with the man who brought me upstairs.  His name was Mal and he was very kind to me.  He took me over to one of the windows and we looked outside at all the people down in the street below.  What a sight!
George had some relatives visiting him…an aunt and uncle, I believe.  His uncle was a jolly man who liked to tip a few drinks of whatever George wasn’t drinking.  John seemed to enjoy himself but was kind of quiet.  I guess he was a little weary from touring so much and having ot explain about that Jesus quote everyone kept nagging him about!  Poor John…When I think back now, it must have taken a lot of courage for him to face the whole of America, knowing the rage of the religious fanatics were in!
John went to bed, and after awhile I went into another room with Mal and we talked until 2 a.m.  IT was time for bed, so I left The Beatles’ suite and took a taxi home.  My parents were not happy with me getting home so late.  I was still a teenager then.  They couldn’t believe that I had been sitting around with The Beatles all evening –and my friends my friends at school couldn’t, either.  I had a special photo of them that Mal gave me to prove that I had been there!  I’ll never forget it…and the memory of what good people the Beatles really seemed to be!
--Sharon M.

August 17, 1966 was absolutely the last time The Beatles appeared as a band in Canada.  We stayed on the 7^th floor.  The Beatles were on the 8^th floor.  If you were staying in the hotel you were allowed to walk on their floor anytime.  We did not quite have the nerve to knock on the doors.  We did see an open door and a suit like they wore that night was lying on the bed when we walked past.  “Summer in the City” was playing in the room.
A bellhop told us he got all four of their autographs and sold them for $10.  He thought he had made an immense profit.
The Beatles arrived at the King Edward at 3:00a.m.  There was an enormous crowd to greet them.  It was so busy in the area that it looked more like a weekday than the middle of the night.
A small boy whose name was John Lennon was taken up to see The Beatle, John Lennon.
Ringo’s drumming during “Paperback Writer” drew a special ovation from the audience.
Bo Diddley was playing at a small bar in Toronto  while The Beatles were there.
--Lance 

I to went to see the Beatles in concert in Toronto Canada (which my older sister and I won at a store promotion in buffalo n.y.) We’re we are from. I remember spending that day getting ready wearing a granny mini dress and my first pair of fishnet stockings I even got to shave my legs with my older sisters electric shaver, just trying to look older then a mere 13 now when I think of it my sister was all behind this so I would look older so she could say to her friends she wasn’t taking her little sister. During the concert I remember the screams and after every song the beatles preformed the would bow down cool. After the concert on every corner there were crying girls and ambulances all around never seen anything like it. – Mary
 

When I saw the Racetrack location on The Beatles schedule in 16 magazine, I asked a friend, who not only had his driving license but had his own car.  My uncle had a beach resort near the Racetrack.
We asked his parents if we could drive from Connecticut to Massachusetts for a weekend at this resort and see The Beatles.  His mother said okay!
The next step was to ask my relatives to try to get tickets.  After bugging him for a week, my uncle called them.  A few days later I heard that they had gotten tickets!  Soon, two tickets to see The Beatles arrived in the mail.  I couldn’t believe my luck!  Two ticket, second row yet!
When we got to the concert and sat in our second row seats, I looked around in totally anticipation … girls, girls and more girls.  It must have been 9 to 1.
The set up was odd, I thought.  We were sitting in bleacher-type seats with a fence in front of us, then the racetrack, and on the other side, maybe 50-75 feet away, was a wooden makeshift stage.  We were really close.
DJs came and introduced groups such as The Remains and The Ronettes.  While they were priming the crowd for The Beatles, I’ll never forget looking to the left of the stage and seeing light reflecting off something shiny and moving.  It was one of those real moments in life.  I noticed some figures, then John, then George, Paul and Ringo.  And even though the noise grew to some incredible level, as they came into my full focus, bouncing up the stairs and onto the stage, I heard nothing—I froze.  There they were.  Holy shit, it’s The Beatles, holy shit!
When I came back to some sort of consciousness, the crowd was wild and I picked up my 8mm movie camera and tried to film as the crowd shoved and screamed.
How cool they looked in to suits.  I tried to memorize what I was feeling forever!  And, I did.  I think I even wrote down the song list.  Then, in such a short time, it was over.  A limo pulled up to the stage, they got in quickly, and the car pulled out on the track and drove right by us.  And, for a fleeting second or two, there was John’s face, looking out the window and waving.  Again, holy shit!  Girls were crying; it was such a weird feeling as they drove away.
I had the film developed, but never having used the camera before; I didn’t know there was a filter over the lens.  I still have these films; they’re not very good, but I can see something in them no one else can!
--Mike 

I was there with four friends and had front row tickets. The girls were screaming so loud and it  was hard to hear the music. A few girls hyperventilated and passed out behind us. A couple of people jumped the fence between the track and the seats and got to the stage but not quite to them. At 14 years old it was quite something. I had no idea why it was so crazy but I loved the Beatles and knew all their songs and words back then.  – Ken

I was there too. It was hard to hear them, but I think the sound system was not appropriate, inasmuch as I don’t believe a concert was ever played there. Plus, all the screaming did not help at all. I was 15 and could not believe I was even in the same arena as the Beatles. I lived 2 streets up from the race track. I didn’t have a ticket but knew how and where to jump the fence. So, I can say, I saw them when. – Mary Jane

 I remember 6 things distinctly:
1. It was very hot and very humid, made worse by the crowd surging all around us, mostly surging towards different limos on the infield that folks thought the Beatles were in.
2. I remember Barry and the Remains, Bobby Hebb, and Cyrcle did “Red Rubber Ball” very well.
3. I remember decoy limos, not 4 limos, until the Beatles all jumped out if the same car.4. The sound was very poor due to clipping of overdriven amps, small speakers, and lack of on-stage monitors. Technology simply had not caught up to the new paradigm of large venues and increased attendance.5. Girls were hyperventilating and passing out, and the crowds were passing the girls to the rails where the cops would lay them down on the track, giving them some fresh air. Some enterprising young ladies feigned illness, hit the track, and headed for the stage.6. The most poignant moment: during the Beatles performance, a fan made it to the stage and was trying to just touch one of the four, I believe it was Paul. I was on the rail at that time because one of our girls was laying on the track from the heat, so I was pretty close to the stage. I remember how petrified they all looked. Great memory, my first concert   - Dana

 The way I remember it, all the opening acts came out of limos from the front. When it was time for the Beatles to play, four limos pulled up in front of the stage and the crowd went crazy and some fans touched the limos. The Beatles were not really in the limos. The cars were decoys. While everyone was focused on the cars and the melee, the Beatles were all of a sudden on the stage. I always suspected the helicopter that had landed on the field behind the stage. The girls were crazy loud but I heard all the songs. Great show!  - Ted

 I was in the lower section and right behind me were the grandstands," he said. "They were pretty good seats because the grandstands were a bit further away. So I felt fortunate to be that close, but we were probably still a couple hundred feet.  I think they played for like 25 minutes and that's seems to be in line with other people's remembrance of the show," he said. "And I was like, 'That's it?' So I was a little disappointed because I would've liked to have seen them for an hour. But the bigger disappointment is just not being able to hear them. I would've loved to have heard at least half of it and not away from where they were playing."    --Ron

In August 1966, I was living in Springfield, MA.  My birthday  wasn’t until November, but I remember my mother buying me a ticket to see the Beatles in Boston.  She came home with a special she had seen advertised which included round-trip tickets to Boston on Peter Pan bus lines and a ticket to the Beatles show all for $12.75!  I had been a Beatle fan from the first time of exposure, and this was the best thing that could have happened to me.   All of my friends who were going to meet at the bus station.   To our surprise, there were four buses in the group.  Some were decorated with “Beatles or bust” banners on the sides.  Inside, the bus was pure energy.  Everyone was signing songs and passing Beatles magazines.  Finally, we got to Suffolk Downs in Boston at 7:30pm.  People were all over the place selling souvenirs, buttons, banners, newspapers, Beatles cookies and Lennonaid.  After buying one of everything and getting inside, I bought my program and found my seat.  It was too far back, so I decided to get closer.  Impossible!  The show started at 8pm, but it was past that now and every time a limo pulled into the race track near where the stage was, the screams became unbearable.   The first act was Bobby Hebb singing “Sunny.”  Next were the Cyrkle, then the Ronettes, one of my favorites at the time.  When they finished, the tension grew.  And when The Beatles were announced, the place went crazy.   I couldn’t see too well, but I was standing right next to one of the P.A. speakers and even could hear them talking to themselves onstage.   I remember Paul telling George that a girl in the audience looked like him.  They were making all kinds of wisecracks but unfortunately, I can’t remember them.  Their portion of the show as over all too quickly. They did all the songs that are on the Tokyo video.  George Harrison became my favorite, as I got the closest to the group while he was singing “If I needed someone.”  I remember saying to everyone that he was “so cool.”   We all then headed back to our buses – girls crying and guys talking about forming groups. -- Harold
 

We went to the afternoon show.  They didn’t fill the Mid-South Coliseum.  We enjoyed Bobby Hebb, one of the openers who had a popular song, ”Sunny.”
When it was time for The Beatles to come on, they suddenly appeared from behind their amplifiers.  Remember, this was the advent of the giant Vox amps.  The audience was both surprised and amused by this.  During the evening concert, someone threw a cherry bomb which sounded like a gun going off.  A friend of mine happened to be watching Paul McCartney through binoculars.   McCartney’s face froze and his eyes darted about, but the band played on.
The lighting at the Coliseum was low, but somewhat illuminated, as opposed to dark with a spotlight on the band.  In hindsight, I wonder if keeping the lights up was a way to help with crowd control.   -Shomer

I was at the night show on August 19 at the Mid-South Coliseum. Contrary to what many people say, the cherry bomb was not thrown on the stage. I had center seats near the stage, and when the cherry bomb exploded I looked to my left and the cops were hauling away some guy about 75 feet or so from the stage. All I remember is that the Beatles seemed to duck in time and did not miss a beat on If I Needed Someone. Great show. -  Joe

 I was there.  Two concerts in August 66.  Just got my driver’s License.  I remember the KKK was outside the coliseum for the afternoon performance that I attended.  It was right after the more popular than Jesus comment by John.  The southern parents upset but that never stopped us.  Great show over the screams.  – Daniel

 For the afternoon show, I sat directly behind the stage. I was leaning over the rail, begging Ringo for a drumstick, but a security guard ordered me to stay seated. After a song, Paul turned. My hand shot up in a wave, and he waved back. I had made contact with a god. – Donati

 I was at both concerts. The screaming took care of any sounds of fireworks, but scary looks from all four! Southern Baptists had called for an 'album burning' that day, and now I wonder how many wish they still had those albums they trashed! No cameras were allowed inside and since I was only 16 I was afraid to test security. Would not trade living in the 60s for anything. Lived, breathed Beatles!  -- LuvlyRita

 The stage was backed up to the wall in the old coliseum at the fairgrounds in Memphis. Security was tight and there was a Jesus rally going on at the city auditorium in protest of The Beatles being in town.
There was a chain link fence around the stage with space for policemen to walk between the fence and the stage.
My girlfriend, whom I married two years later, and I were on row 16 on the floor. She sat and held her ears the entire evening. She was into church and classical music, and only there to humor me.
The Beatles were escorted directly from the airport and directly back when the concert ended. They marched onto the stage and took their bows and immediately began songs back to back. I think they performed every hit of theirs that was on the market at that time, plus a few selected American rock and roll hits of their choosing. Everyone rose to their feet, and on the floor, we had to stand in our chairs – except my girlfriend, Sandra.
They played and sang without a break for about one hour. They did not miss a beat even after someone set off a cherry bomb in the balcony seats behind me and to my left. They ducked, but did not stop the performance. Of course, there was fear that it was a gunshot.
Police surrounded the culprit and took him and his friends out. There was no further disturbance that I know about.
With a press pass, I was able to go to the stage and shoot two rolls of film. There were only a few of us photographers. The Beatles were gracious and clowned sometimes for the cameras.
I have been a photographer for more than these 40 years and this is one of the most profound memories personally and professionally, including Woodstock a few years later and many concerts since.  – Nathan

 Having loved and lived all my live in south Memphis growing up there as a peddlers son and just returning from my first tour in Vietnam as a paratrooper in the band of brothers 101st Airborne on leave to see my sick father and having a chance to break the sickness of war for only a night in the coliseum on that August night was a thing never to forget.
Then the uniform was khaki pants and shirt and highly polished jump boots with my new combat infantry badge and jump wings and a few ribbons of honor to show I've been somewhere. Most of the security I knew since I peddled the streets around Peabody and Harbert with my father for many years, so getting backstage wasn't a problem. And my cousin was just a young cop too, at that time, making some extra dough.
I just tried to stay out of the way backstage as I was told to do when they arrived, but for some reason, I stood out like a war trophy in those spit-shined boots. John Lennon was the only Beatle who wanted to chat the most. It seems now in my memories of that night, we spoke of the war in Vietnam.
He seemed interested in all the people dying, which at that time were mostly civilians in small villages in the central highlands who had little, even clothes, and just a few Viet Cong killed in small battles that we had been in in the mountains. He was touched by my presence, I think, and ask me to be right beside the stage when they performed. I felt 10 feet high that night and he gave me a wink when playing. He wanted my autograph and I had, at one time, all of theirs with some special notes from each, but lost them in the jungles a long way from Memphis many nights later to the weather.
Oh yes, I didn't even have to pay for a ticket that night, just a rookie trooper. Went back for two more years in combat and won a few more ribbons, but not ever forgetting that night in my home town with The Fab Four back stage.
Oh, what a night.  – Thomas

 I was 14 years old and could not believe it when I heard they were coming to Memphis. We had tickets for the 4 p.m. concert so I headed to Memphis in my grooviest purple and white polka-dotted dress.
My friends and I screamed all the way through the first concert and could not believe how great they sounded – just like on their records. I could not get enough of them and, since I have the best mother ever, I talked her into getting us tickets for the 8:30 p.m. concert, also.
Although we sat behind them, the sound and the frenzy was the same, and they even turned around to look at us a couple of times.
My friend and I sat through both concerts in total awe of how good they sounded and what an amazing show they delivered.
The moment that will never be forgotten came at the end of the first concert as they ended the show. I ran down to the stairs that were directly above the side of the stage where they were walking to go backstage.
I screamed to Paul at the top of my lungs and he looked up directly at me and smiled, then waved – AT ME!
Of course, all my friends never believed it but Paul and I knew it. For a young teenage girl in the '60s, it just didn't get any better than that.  – Shelia

 It was the summer of 1966 and I was 14 years old. I had been literally “worshipping” The Beatles for over two years and just had to go to their concert in Memphis.
I lived in Holly Springs. The first concert, scheduled for 8:30 p.m., was quickly selling out. However, my best friend, Judy Newsom, and I were able to get two tickets for the second show, which was scheduled once the promoters saw the need for it. The tickets cost $5.50, $5 for the actual ticket and a handling charge of 50 cents. We were ecstatic. We were true Beatles fanatics and had been for a long time.
We made posters for our favorite Beatle, Paul. They said “I love you Paul.”After dressing in our finest, we headed for the concert. Of course, we could not drive and had my parents, along with my 4-year-old little brother, take us to the Coliseum in plenty of time for the afternoon concert.
Of course, my parents were nervous about just dropping us off and we received many pieces of advice about being careful, etc. We took our posters with us (you could not do that today) and took our places in our seats – on the eighth row! We simply could not believe we were actually there.
The opening act sang a song about “a red rubber ball.” No groups have opening acts today. Then the most wonderful rock and roll band ever came on stage. There they were Paul, George, Ringo and John. The security guards were taking cameras away from the audience because there was a “law” there were to be no pictures taken. I decided to put mine back in my purse. It was a Brownie camera by Kodak.
It was unbelievable, we were actually there and I was staring right at Paul and screaming his name the whole time they were on stage. I was waving my poster and I believe he looked right at me.
John was on stage wearing those “granny” glasses of his and not really acknowledging anyone yelling at him. We got the sense that he was really ready to leave the group. Ringo and George, like Paul, seemed pleased to be adored by so many people. It was awesome and one of my best memories ever.
They played for a short 25 minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime, not like the two-hour concerts you get for $75 or so today. Here was a really famous group that we were actually a few feet from and they were real! They were not just pictures in the many newspapers and magazines we collected and faces seen on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” They were really singing to us in the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tenn., and a part of me believed that Paul was singing just to me! I will never forget it, for it seems like it was “Yesterday.”  -  Carey

Once John (my favorite), Paul, George and Ringo took the stage, all of the females in the seats surrounding ours jumped up and began to scream. It practically scared me to death! Then I realized that this must be how you should behave at concerts. So my friend and I jumped up and began to scream, too. I don't believe we sat down the entire concert. However, I got tired of screaming and just tried to listen to the music. I especially liked listening to them speak with their British accent.
Even though the Beatles were not my favorite music group during my high school years, I'll never forget the excitement of my first concert and the memories it provided for a young, 13-year-old Mississippi girl.
-          Jo Ann