What were the biggest concerts The Beatles ever played?
The Beatles had started by playing church halls, coffee halls and even private homes. Their Ed Sullivan appearance in February 1964 opened a huge new market had opened only confined by size of concert venues available.
Sid Bernstein booked Carnegie Hall for two nights only to be swamped with demand big enough to fill concerts for several months. It was at this point that large outdoor venue became the most lucrative option, even those these were not designed for live music.
1. May 15th, 1965 - Shea Stadium
Officially, the opening concert of The Beatles 1965 US tour at Shea Stadium, New York on the 15th August was the largest they would ever do in terms of box office returns. It was the first time a major sports area was used as a music venue.
55,000 tickets sold out in seventeen minutes. They returned to Shea Stadium in August 1966, but ironically the main news story was that ticket sales were down to 45,000, around 10,000 below the previous year.
2. July 4th, 1966, Rizal Stadium, Manila
On their world tours they did play to bigger crowds, though these were not alway entirely made up of paying customers. In July 1966 they were booked to play two gigs in The Philippines, at the Rizal Stadium, Manila.
They were told that 30,000 tickets had been sold for the afternoon show and 50,000 for the second.
To their horror, however, they discovered that these figures did not remotely reflect the numbers packed in to the stadium. As George puts it in Anthology:
To their horror, however, they discovered that these figures did not remotely reflect the numbers packed in to the stadium. As George puts it in Anthology:
...when we got there it was like the Monterrey Pop Festival. There were about 200,000 people on the site.
