Saturday, Aug. 28 Marks 45th Anniversary of The Beatles' San Diego Appearance

Photograph courtesy of San Diego Historical Society/The San Diego Union Tribune Collection.

It was 45 years  ago today...

Well, Saturday, to be specific. That's when on Aug. 28, 1965, the four young Liverpudlians somehow made it down to a sleepy Navy town named San Diego to give their one and only local appearance. Yep, it was the only time that John, Paul, George and Ringo came to San Diego together and took the stage at now-demolished Balboa Stadium in front of some 17,000 screaming fans. Hard to believe that in 1965, the Beatles, at the height of Beatlemania, were still viewed as a mere curiosity by the establishment, although the kids thought they were just Fab. Even more amazing was that the show wasn't even a sell-out at a mere $4.50-5.50 per ticket.

By all accounts, the performance was none-too-memorable - the Beatles played their standard 30-minute set. Ah, but that's all hindsight - who knew the Beatles would end up creating the world's most memorable and timeless rock music ever, and that their influence on popular culture still resonates. Back then, they were seen as just cute and lovable and sang neat songs, a novelty to most adults.

I was a bit too young to go to the show, but my two older sisters were of prime screaming teen age and did go to the show. One of them believes she still has the ticket stub somewhere - but what they do have  a whole lot of memories. Oh, yes, and we still have the glorious music.

Some interesting facts about the appearance, according to an interesting article in the Union-Tribune:

• Tickets cost $3.50, $4.50 and $5.50 each.
• While 27,014 tickets were available for The Beatles' concert here, only 17,013 fans turned out for the show. The band's pay? $50,135.17, just $135.17 more than the $50,000 the group was guaranteed for the performance.
• The Beatles performed 12 songs at Balboa Stadium: Twist and Shout," "She's a Woman," "I Feel Fine," "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," "Ticket to Ride," "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Baby's in Black," "I Wanna Be Your Man," "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!" and "I'm Down."
• The Beatles requested, and received: four cots and sets of clean sheets; five 1-gallon bottles of water; 10 dozen paper cups; two cases of soda pop; two tubs of fried chicken; 24 assorted sandwiches; three portable TV sets; and a rented piano. Total cost for backstage food: a whopping $33.96.

Not exactly a demanding rider from the biggest band that the world has ever seen. Certainly, a different time and era.  J-Lo, they are not.

Read the entire Union-Tribune article about the 45th Anniversary of the Beatles in San Diego  by George Varga here.

For an historical account of The Beatles' lone San Diego appearance, check out this article from the San Diego Historical Society (PDF download).

Reminisce about the the Beatles appearance in San Diego on this fan site.