Memories of Toronto

I was 15 when I saw the Beatles at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto August 1965. The place was overheated, a/c not working, the Beatles were late, a lot late, so when the paparazzi started flashing pictures behind the curtain we could see the Beatles silhouettes. The crowd exploded. There was no sound other than screaming and some faint high notes from the stage. We were all a mess afterward. We choked on our screams. Stood on our chairs. Waving and wanting to touch them. I saved the gum I was chewing, the flashbulbs from my Brownie camera, the film negatives, the photos of which none were recognizable. It was one of the highlights of my almost 64 years.  – Annoymous

I was there in 65, up in the nosebleed seats waaaaay at the opposite end to the stage. I was so annoyed that with all the screaming you couldn't hear the music! And with nonstop flashes going off from the photographs, I couldn't see clearly either. But after a while I gave in and screamed my head off with the rest of them. I still would have preferred to just sit and listen to their music!  -- Wendy

I did attended the raucous concert at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on Aug. 17, 1965. It was a memorable experience. It was the beginning of a cultural revolution for young people like me. I was 15 years old. The Toronto concert marked my first real date with a really cute young lady who I met at the roller skating rink. The Gardens went wild. Girls were fainting all over the place and the Beatles were having to duck and cover to avoid all the candies that were being tossed up on stage by their delirious fans. The concert ticket cost $5.50 but the experience was worth a million. -   Paul A.

I could barely sit still in my parents’ living room while watching the Ed Sullivan “Shoe” on their 17-inch black-and-white TV set, but when the Beatles came to Toronto in August 1965, I was actually in the green seating section at Maple Leaf Gardens. My ticket cost $5 and watching them perform was a thrill. Actually, very few fans were sitting during the performance as there was constant screaming from fans, not to mention the hootin’ and hollering created.

For more than 35 years I carried that $5 ticket stub as a memento in the back of my wallet, but I gave it away to someone else who was a more devoted fan than myself. Paul McCartney was my favourite — no doubt about that.  – Sandra

A great time to be into music 1965. It was Beatles, Beatles, Beatles. I was living in Trenton, Ont., at that time and got a tour ticket for the Aug. 17, 1965, early show at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

The return ticket cost was $10 for the tour bus and show leaving from Belleville, about 180 km to Toronto.  I think my friend Glenn and I were the only two guys on the bus. The girls screamed almost all the way to Toronto and crying most of the show. I still have fond memories on that time. Still have all my original Beatle LPs and 45s and my show program. (Cost $1)  I carried my ticket stub in my wallet for many years until tucking it away (somewhere) and still looking for it.  But one of my most prized possessions of that time is a photo from the press conference taken by Belleville’s CJBQ radio DJ, Dave Charles, who gave it to me a week after the show.  – John S.