Beatlemania

The world hasn't seen anything like Beatlemania. Every time, the Beatles took to the stage, they were greeted by screaming fans. They couldn't even hear themselves play. This, combined with some security scares and the endless traveling, persuaded the band to stop touring. Their last official live concert was the Beatles Candlestick Park performance in San Francisco in August 1966.

The 24,000 fans in the stadium that day, did not realise that they were witnessing an historical event. The Beatles had not announced their imminent retirement from live shows. Because of their inability to hear what they were playing on stage, the performances had become shorter and shorter. In fact, this last Beatles Candlestick Park concert only lasted, just over thirty minutes.

The park had opened in 1960 and was more used to sporting events. Today, it's the home ground for the NFL San Francisco 49ers. On that day in August, the stadium rang to the sound of some of the band's most popular songs. Their set included She's a Woman, Day Tripper, I Feel Fine and Yesterday. They also went back to their rock and roll roots and sang Long Tall Sally.

There is quite a bit of merchandise attached to the legendary gig. The band's publicity agent taped the concert on a cassette recorder and bootleg recordings of this are available. There is also a market in posters, advertising the Beatles Candlestick Park gig, and in tickets from the show.

It was thought, for a long time, that there wasn't any moving footage of the concert. This was until some footage turned up that was shot by a young American fan, who was present that day. Some of this was shown in a BBC television documentary. DVDs are now for sale with footage from the Beatles Candlestick Park event. If it had happened today, it probably would have been a carefully marketed event with the entire concert, captured for posterity.

The only occasion when The Beatles got together for a live performance after the Beatles Candlestick Park show was when they made an unannounced appearance on top of a London rooftop. This was filmed for the Let It Be film. It was an exciting journey from the damp cellar of the Cavern club in Liverpool to Candlestick Park. They were the first band to perform in sports stadiums but it's commonplace now. After they stopped touring, the band spent their time in the recording studio, making the classic albums that are still so popular today.