Help! I Need Somebody
In this case, that somebody didn't attend a Beatles concert.
Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. You can read this fact any time at all, whether you’re in a yellow submarine, holding your hand, or in the sky with diamonds.
During the Beatles’ North American tours in 1964 and 1965, they sold out every show except the one at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Denver.
I’m writing this installment of Fun Fact Friyay while at the airport, en route to Denver. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s a flight delay. Who could have predicted this?
On the plus side, now I have the time to listen to more Beatles songs while I wait. The band’s first North American tour happened right around this time in 1964: August 19 to September 20. A whopping 32 shows and 24 cities across 31 days.
Surely, the Beatles would sell out every show. Remember that chaotic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show?
For the most part, the Beatles did reach that sell out achievement. 31 of those shows sold 100% of the tickets. Their show at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Denver was about 2,000 short.
Red Rocks has become one of the pinnacles of live music around the U.S. It’s a gorgeous mountain view with nice acoustics. Performers get to take a hunk from the titular rocks with them after the play. How fun!
But back in 1964, it was a bit more difficult to get to the venue. It didn’t help that tickets cost $6, double (or more) than what most other shows at the time cost to attend.
So, Red Rocks only sold 5,000 tickets, despite having a capacity of 7,000.
When they returned to North America in 1965, the Beatles again sold out every show. That makes Red Rocks the only venue to not sell all their tickets during the entirety of their North American visits.
Historian G. Brown claims that although this technically wasn’t a sellout, plenty of folks found a way to witness John, Paul, George, and Ringo in action.
“But look at any photos of that (Beatles) show, and people are spilling out over the rocks,” Brown said. “They sold 7,000 tickets, and there’s 10,000 people, no doubt about it. This is before concert security. Every high school student in the metro area knew you could sneak in there. And they did.”
Whether or not it was a sold out show, it must have been super cool to see the Beatles live. I was still decades away from being born, so I’ll just have to relive the glory days via YouTube.
Or, we’d incorporate “Till There Was You” in a high school English project and get an A-minus on it. But that’s a story for another day. A day in the life, if you will.