by For the most part, being in The Beatles was probably pretty glamorous.
Who wouldn’t want to change the face of popular music and popular culture for the better? Or, give yourself the freedom to try anything you like artistically and break every record available to you in the process? Star in multiple movies, earn more than multiple millions and make the masses fall in love with you wherever you go?
But then, on the other hand, being a Beatle could probably get pretty tedious at times, too.
It doesn’t really get more dizzying than the heights the Fab Four reached, and being at the centre of all that Beatlemania must have had its fair share of ‘downs’ along with all those incredible ‘ups’. Like, not being able to go wherever you wanted without being mobbed in the streets; every music industry executive wanting to push and pull you from pillar to post in order to squeeze a little more financial reward out of you for their own pockets, having to deal with each of your songs that don’t hit the top of the charts being declared a flop (not a common problem for them, admittedly) and, one night in 1966, getting stuck inside the dressing room for hours after a show had ended by a baying mob of fans.
During their final concert tour, a 19-date stint across North America, the Liverpool four-piece had been driven to each of the shows in the back of an armoured car, which would park up as close to the back of the stage as possible. Considering the controversy that had surrounded their recent trip around Japan, including credible death threats, and following from the (largely manufactured) Stateside outrage in response to John Lennon’s now infamous “we’re more popular than Jesus now” comments, it’s no wonder their security was tightened as their fame and notoriety heightened.
But at their penultimate show, at LA’s Dodger Stadium on August 28th, it was the far more familiar problem of over-exuberant fans which would cause them issues at the end of their hard day’s night.
By now in the tour, their adoring fans had cottoned on to the car that brought the Beatles to the stage, and where it was being parked. Before they’d even finished the final number, hordes of fans had pushed their way through security and surrounded the vehicle. To help control the 45,000 fans inside the stadium, the promoters had booked a little over 100 security personnel, or roughly one security person for every 450 members of the audience. With numbers like those, it’s no wonder that 7,000 Beatlemaniacs made it through the fencing around the stage and surrounded the car.
In his autobiography, John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me, The Beatles’ publicist Tony Barrow remembered being stuck inside the armoured automobile at the end of the gig with the stars of the show. “Our driver yelled, ‘hold very tight, folks!’ Then he slammed his gears into reverse and we sped backwards across the field at breakneck speed. Panic-stricken fans flung themselves out of our way. I was amazed that we didn’t smash into anyone. The trick failed to clear a path for our escape and the driver gave up. At high speed he headed for a dugout at the far side of the field and we hurriedly raced underground out of sight of the noisy hordes of fans”.
“For two hours we were imprisoned in a team dressing room for our own safety while extra cops came in to start clearing the hysterically boisterous crowd,” he added. “The getaway car we hoped to use was severely damaged and put out of action. Two girls even ran off with the ignition key as a souvenir! All four boys were on the point of despair and we were discussing the possibility that our party might have to stay cooped up at the stadium overnight.”
“Two further unsuccessful attempts were made to get us out using decoy limousines and the third try was equally disastrous. We were put into an ambulance that managed to crash into a heap of broken fencing, after which it couldn’t be driven any further. Extra squads of police from the sheriff’s department eventually escorted us away to safety in an armoured car”.
