Magical History Tour: Hear every Beatles song from 1962-1970 with expert Kevin Howlett

Don’t miss ‘The Magical History Tour’ on The Beatles Channel (Ch. 18) starting Friday, May 25 at 5pm ET through Tuesday, May 28 at 3am ET.

magical history tour beatles

Take a listening journey through the ’60s with The Beatles all weekend long!

Join Beatles historian and documentarian Kevin Howlett for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, The Magical History Tour , as he plays all of the songs released by the Fab Four – from 1962 to 1970 – in the order they were recorded.

Don’t miss The Magical History Tour on The Beatles Channel (Ch. 18) starting Friday, May 25 at 5pm ET through Tuesday, May 28 at 3am ET.

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Exhibits Development Group

THE MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR | A BEATLES MEMORABILIA EXHIBITION

There are few musicians in recent history who have influenced pop culture and the music industry as much as The Beatles did.

This collection of Beatles artifacts, the most comprehensive collection ever displayed under one roof, takes visitors on a highly interactive journey through the history of one of the world’s most beloved musical groups, from the band’s genesis to its final days and beyond.

Popular culture has yet to experience another worldwide phenomenon on the scale of the Beatles since Beatlemania took the world by storm. The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition allows visitors to explore the entire Beatles story through an inspirational journey of creativity, curiosity, and love. This one-of-a-kind experience will present the most exhaustive Beatles exhibition ever assembled: an immersive and educational retrospective driven by the music and the culture that the Fab Four produced.

The Beatles and their story continue to change and inspire the world today.

The Magical History Tour fosters historical, cultural, artistic, and musical learning for all ages in both the museum and the classroom, all while maintaining a fun and engaging atmosphere.

Come along, join the international tour, and trace the steps of the lads of Liverpool from the genesis of the Beatles, to their break up and beyond.

EXHIBITION INCLUDES: • Hundreds of artifacts, including personal items, letters, pivotal documentation, instruments and equipment • Four sections with immersive environments: Beginnings, Influences and Life in Liverpool; Life on the Road; Innovation in the Studio; and The Decade of the Break-up • Rare photographs from the Beatle’s touring years including many never-before-seen by the public • A vast collection of Beatles memorabilia • Marketing and PR kits • Retail/merchandise program

EXHIBITION SIZE: 7,500 square feet (750 square meters)

LOGISTICS: Shipping domestic: 5 trucks Installation: approx. 15 working days Deinstallation: approx. 10 working days

STOPLIGHT METHOD CLASSIFICATION: • Moderately interactive

Moderately interactive symbol

The exhibition is made possible with the valuable support of and collaboration with: Peter Miniaci & Associates

This Exhibition is not endorsed by, sponsored by, associated with, or otherwise affiliated with The Beatles, Apple Corps Ltd., or any member of The Beatles or their representatives.

magical history tour beatles

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For beatle fans old and new, an exhibition that promises an astounding collection of rare beatle artifacts, photographs, and never before seen historical items that tell the fab four's story... , upcoming city: rochester, mn at the historic chateau theatre fall 2019.

There are few musicians in recent history who have influenced pop culture and the music industry as much as The Beatles did. This collection of Beatles artifacts, the most comprehensive collection ever displayed under one roof, takes visitors on a highly interactive journey through the history of one of the world’s most beloved musical groups, from the band’s genesis to its final days and beyond. 

Popular culture has yet to experience another worldwide phenomenon on the scale of the Beatles since Beatlemania took the world by storm. The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorobilia Exhibition allows visitors to explore the entire Beatles story through an inspirational journey of creativity, curiosity, and love. This one-of-a-kind experience will present the most exhaustive Beatles exhibition ever assembled: an immersive and educational retrospective driven by the music and the culture that the Fab Four produced. 

The Beatles and their story continues to change and inspire the world today . The Magical History Tour fosters historical, cultural, artistic, and musical learning for all ages in both the museum and the classroom, all while maintaining a fun and engaging atmosphere.

Come along, join the international tour, and trace the steps of the lads of Liverpool , to the genesis of the Beatles, to their break up and beyond.

This Exhibition is not endorsed by, sponsored by, associated with, or otherwise affiliated with The Beatles, Apple Corps Ltd., or any member of The Beatles or their representatives.

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Magical mystery tour.

Release date: 27 November 1967

"It was like we were in another phase of our career you know we'd done all the live stuff and that was marvellous, now we were into being more artists. We got more freedom to be artists." PAUL
"If you think it was good, keep it, if you don't, scrap it." JOHN
"You have success with something that might have seemed like a far out idea, people had said wow this is great and so when we'd come back again George would be really quite keen to try, what other ideas have you got?" GEORGE
"And now we are going to play a track from Magical Mystery Tour which is one of my favourite albums because it was so weird I Am The Walrus, one of my favourite tracks because I did it of course but also cos it's one of those that has enough little bitties going to keep you interested even a hundred years later." JOHN
"The Beatles songs had started to sound more individual from Revolver onwards or even before then." GEORGE MARTIN

Magical Mystery Tour album cover

The Beatles devised, wrote and directed a television film called Magical Mystery Tour which was broadcast on BBC Television at Christmas, 1967

Even before Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, had hit the shops, the idea of the programme had been born and work had commenced on the title track.

The Beatles in Magical Mystery Tour

It was decided that the soundtrack for the programme would be released on two seven inch discs which would be packaged with a booklet in a gatefold sleeve. The booklet contained stills from the show along with a comic strip telling the story. A lyric sheet was also stapled into the centrespread of the booklet. The EP was a runaway success and reached no. 2 in the UK singles chart, held off the top spot by their own single... "Hello, Goodbye".

In the US, the double-EP format was not considered viable so instead, Capitol Records created an album by placing the six songs from the EP on side one of an album and drawing side two from the titles that had appeared on singles in 1967. These titles were "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", "All You Need Is Love" - their anthem that had been broadcast around the world via Satellite in June. "Baby, You're A Rich Man" and their current single, "Hello, Goodbye". The US release made # 1 in early January 1968 and stayed there for eight weeks. Its initial chart run lasted 59 weeks.

The Beatles in Magical Mystery Tour

1967 had certainly been a year of great achievement but it was also tinged with sadness. Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager since 1961 passed away on 27th August, 1967 at the age of 32.

The US configuration for Magical Mystery Tour was later adopted by many other countries (including the UK in 1976). When the Beatles catalogue was first issued on Compact Disc in 1987, Magical Mystery Tour joined the core list of titles.

John Paul and Ringo in Magical Mystery Tour

If they aren't already planning so, the Beatles should start planning their next full-length film immediately. After watching a rough cut of their 'Magical Mystery Tour', which BBC viewers can see on Boxing Day. I am convinced they are extremely capable of writing and directing a major movie for release on one of the major cinema circuits. The film sequences for the musical numbers are extremely clever. For 'Blue Jay Way' George is seen sitting cross-legged in a sweating mist which materialises into a variety of shapes and patterns. It's a pity that most TV viewers will be able to see it only in black and white. 'I Am The Walrus' has four of them togged up in animal costumes switching at times to them bobbing across the screen as egg-men. A special word of praise for Ringo, who more than the others comes over very, very funnily. But praise to all of them for making a most entertaining film. I only wish they would now put out a sequel made up from the parts they left on the cutting-room floor. NME July 20, 1967

Teo

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The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition

The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition Claimed

Exhibition overview, the magical history tour: a beatles memorabilia exhibition, description, the magical history tour | a beatles memorabilia exhibition.

There are few musicians in recent history who have influenced pop culture and the music industry as much as The Beatles did.

This collection of Beatles artifacts, the most comprehensive collection ever displayed under one roof, takes visitors on a highly interactive journey through the history of one of the world’s most beloved musical groups, from the band’s genesis to its final days and beyond.

Popular culture has yet to experience another worldwide phenomenon on the scale of the Beatles since Beatlemania took the world by storm. The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition allows visitors to explore the entire Beatles story through an inspirational journey of creativity, curiosity, and love. This one-of-a-kind experience will present the most exhaustive Beatles exhibition ever assembled: an immersive and educational retrospective driven by the music and the culture that the Fab Four produced.

EXHIBITOR RESOURCES

The Beatles and their story continue to change and inspire the world today.

The Magical History Tour fosters historical, cultural, artistic, and musical learning for all ages in both the museum and the classroom, all while maintaining a fun and engaging atmosphere.

Come along, join the international tour, and trace the steps of the lads of Liverpool from the genesis of the Beatles, to their break up and beyond.

EXHIBITION INCLUDES:

• Hundreds of artifacts, including personal items, letters, pivotal documentation, instruments and equipment

• Four sections with immersive environments: Beginnings, Influences and Life in Liverpool; Life on the Road; Innovation in the Studio; and The Decade of the Break-up

• Rare photographs from the Beatle’s touring years including many never-before-seen by the public

• A vast collection of Beatles memorabilia

• Marketing and PR kits

• Retail/merchandise program

EXHIBITION SIZE:

7,500 square feet (750 square meters)

Shipping domestic: 5 trucks

Installation: approx. 15 working days

Deinstallation: approx. 10 working days

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Behind the scenes of the beatles' 'magical mystery tour'.

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David Bianculli

magical history tour beatles

The Beatles look out of the Magical Mystery Tour coach skylight, on location in England in September 1967. Apple Films Ltd/Channel Thirteen hide caption

The Beatles look out of the Magical Mystery Tour coach skylight, on location in England in September 1967.

On Friday night on PBS, Great Performances presents a documentary about the making of a Beatles TV special from 1967 — Magical Mystery Tour — then shows a restored version of that special . Magical Mystery Tour has the music from the U.S. album of the same name, but it's not the album. It's a musical comedy fantasy about the Beatles and a busload of tourists taking a trip to unknown destinations.

It was written and produced in 1967, which was an incredibly fertile period for the Beatles. "Strawberry Fields Forever" came out that year, as well as "Penny Lane" and the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. That was followed, a month later, by the live TV premiere of "All You Need is Love," broadcast globally. The Beatles, it seemed, could do no wrong. And then they did Magical Mystery Tour, which was televised by the BBC the day after Christmas — on Boxing Day — as a holiday special. A quarter of the British population watched it — and many of those hated it.

Back then, the 53-minute program was filmed in color but wasn't broadcast that way. Imagine the Sgt. Pepper cover in black and white, and you can imagine how much was lost in the translation. Reception to the TV special was so poor that the show wasn't even picked up in the United States — just the soundtrack. Eventually, the special was syndicated to some local TV stations and toured the college film circuit along with Reefer Madness. That's when I first saw it. But on a national level, Magical Mystery Tour has never been televised in the United States — until now.

On Friday — as always, check local listings — Magical Mystery Tour will be preceded by the new one-hour companion documentary , Magical Mystery Tour Revisited. This may be the first case on record in which a documentary about a film is longer than the film itself — but it's worth it.

The documentary, produced by Jonathan Clyde of Apple Films and directed by Francis Hanly, is wonderfully thorough. It explains how the idea for Magical Mystery Tour came about, and how Paul McCartney originally drew the concept as a pie chart — then shows the chart. It covers the origins of each number written specifically for the show, from the title song and "The Fool on the Hill" to "I Am the Walrus" and "Your Mother Should Know." It presents lots of outtakes and new interviews with McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Martin Scorsese, Terry Gilliam and Peter Fonda. It also includes a vintage interview with George Harrison, whose assessment of the 1967 TV special is as unfiltered as the program itself.

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It's a fine documentary — better, to be honest, than Magical Mystery Tour itself. But Magical Mystery Tour is so much fun to watch if you're a Beatles fan, that it serves up one joy after another. John Lennon serving shovels of spaghetti as a waiter in a dream sequence. John and George in a strip club, watching the house band singing a song called "Death Cab for Cutie" — which, incidentally, inspired the name of a much more recent rock band. And the closing production number, "Your Mother Should Know," which has the Beatles in white suits, dancing in unison down a giant staircase.

In addition to the PBS double feature, Magical Mystery Tour is also now available as a deluxe boxed set from Apple. It includes Blu-ray and DVD versions of the original special, a vastly shortened version of the documentary, and lots of extras, including outtakes and complete scenes that were cut out of the program before its 1967 premiere. These extras are every bit as entertaining as Magical Mystery Tour, and one segment is a minor revelation: singer-songwriter Ivor Cutler, seated at an ornate white organ in the middle of the English countryside, performing his composition "I'm Going in a Field." It must have been hypnotically bizarre then. It's hypnotically bizarre now .

It's no secret that I'm almost ridiculous in my enthusiasm for the Beatles. But for me, all this new Magical Mystery Tour material -- the restored TV special, the documentary, the boxed set — is like a perfectly timed holiday gift. The boxed set is expensive — but the Great Performances double feature is free. All you need is ... a TV set.

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The Magical History Tour Brings Beatles Memorabilia to Michigan

The producers of an extensive new Beatles exhibit are hoping fans will say yeah, yeah, yeah -- even if the Beatles' camp has not -- when it debuts in the U.S. debut this week in Michigan.

By Gary Graff

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The Beatles 2016

The producers of an extensive new Beatles exhibit are hoping fans will say yeah, yeah, yeah — even if the Beatles’ camp has not — when it debuts in the U.S. tomorrow (April 30) in Michigan. 

Produced by St. Paul, Minn.-based Exhibits Development Group (EDG), The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition begins a 21-week run at The Henry Ford museum in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn on Saturday. It features 10,000 square feet and more than 150 artifacts from the collection of Peter Miniaci & Associates, a Beatles memorabilia specialty firm, and includes interactive displays designed to give visitors a taste of what Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were up to before, during and after their tenure as the Fab Four.

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“We wanted to find a unique approach to the story,” EDG’s London-based exhibit designer Geoffrey Curley tells Billboard. “We felt the most unique and, in our opinion, the most dynamic discussion about the Beatles is to explore the excitement and the challenges of being in the center of this phenomena that was swarming around these young men. They were just kids wanting to play music and have a good time. We wanted to bring this moment in time into the world of the exhibition — the styles of the ’50s and ’60s, of Liverpool streets and the roundabout of the touring days, the color and industrial feel of Abbey Road Studio, the world of the music in the mind’s eye and the ethereal post-Beatles world.”

And even though the Beatles and their Apple Corps Ltd. did not sanction or get involved with the exhibit, they’re not standing it its way, either. “They basically, for all intents and purposes, said ‘Good luck,'” says EDG’s Will Peterson. “So we picked up what they were putting down and went ahead and planned an exhibition that is sensitive to their copyrights, and we’re certainly not trying to be at conflict with anything that the Beatles are doing. We’re just trying to tell the story in a unique and different way.”

The Magical History Tour includes a couple of sober items for Beatles fans. One is the typed 1970 letter from John Lennon, also signed by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, informing Paul McCartney that they did not want his father-in-law, Lee Eastman, to manage the band, preferring instead to stay with Allen Klein. The most chilling artifact, meanwhile, is the copy of Double Fantasy , Lennon’s 1980 comeback album with wife Yoko Ono, that he signed on Dec. 8 of that year for Mark David Chapman — the man who shot him to death outside his New York City apartment building a few hours later.

Peterson says the album was found by one of Lennon’s neighbors on a concrete planter outside the building, where Chapman left it when he fired at Lennon. The neighbor turned it into police as evidence, then retrieved it after Chapman was committed. “She said, ‘Well, could I have it back?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, we don’t see why not,'” Peterson says. “You can see the evidence log number written on it, and it’s confirmed to be the one Chapman held because his fingerprints are on it. It has sort of an eerie presence, this album.”

Other highlights of the exhibit include a replication of the stage at Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club using actual bricks from the building, a drum kit from the pre-Beatles group the Quarrymen, the guitar a teenage McCartney learned to play on, stage wear, personal letters and photographs, memorabilia and souvenirs such as trading cards, board games, and a set of photos from the Beatles’ 1964 U.S. tour by Curt Gunther that have never been on public display before. John Lennon’s famous psychedelic Rolls Royce is also part of The Magical History Tour but will not be part of The Henry Ford display because it’s already been shown at the museum.

“The objects that share a pivotal moment or untold story are the ones I like the most,” says exhibit Curley. Among those are collectibles such as swatches of bed sheets the group members slept under while on tour that were subsequently sold to fans. “It truly shows how radical fans became, placing the Beatles on a pedestal similar to deities,” Curley explains. “People would ask the Beatles to touch their ailing kids to cure them. That is how far Beatlemania went. Could you imagine being a young rock musician playing pop music and being asked to heal a child? It’s a little beyond my comprehension, so having those sorts of objects helps me understand what this phenomenon must have been like.”

The Magical History Tour also includes displays that allows fans to pose with mannequins sporting vintage Beatles outfits, and to try mixing sounds like the Beatles and George Martin did at London’s Abbey Road Studio via a hands-on demonstration.

The exhibit runs through Sept. 18 at The Henry Ford and is next slated for the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa starting March 9. Peterson says there’s interest from other museums both before and after that — as well as a desire to take The Magical History Tour to Europe — but nothing has been finalized yet.

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  • The Beatles’ albums in order – complete list!

Magical Mystery Tour

Released as a six-song double EP in the United Kingdom and an 11-song album in the US and elsewhere, Magical Mystery Tour was the soundtrack to the television film of the same name, which was first broadcast by the BBC on 26 December 1967 .

In the wake of the death of Brian Epstein on 27 August 1967 , The Beatles found themselves suddenly without direction. Whereas since 1962 they had been carefully guided by their manager, at the peak of their career they were unused to making their own business decisions or having absolute autonomy over their future.

On 1 September 1967 , five days after Epstein’s body was discovered in his London home, The Beatles met at Paul McCartney ’s house at 7 Cavendish Avenue in St John’s Wood, London. The previous day an announcement had been issued stating that the band would continue to be managed by NEMS Enterprises – now under the guidance of Epstein’s brother Clive – until further notice.

During the 1 September meeting The Beatles agreed to continue with Magical Mystery Tour , a project begun in April shortly after the completion of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band . Crucially, this was a time when McCartney began steering many of the group’s decisions, encouraging them to continue during a period in which they might easily have collapsed amid a lack of direction.

I was still under a false impression. I still felt every now and then that Brian would come in and say, ‘It’s time to record,’ or, ‘Time to do this.’ And Paul started doing that: ‘Now we’re going to make a movie. Now we’re going to make a record.’ And he assumed that if he didn’t call us, nobody would ever make a record. Paul would say, well, now he felt like it – and suddenly I’d have to whip out twenty songs. He’d come in with about twenty good songs and say, ‘We’re recording.’ And I suddenly had to write a fucking stack of songs.

McCartney’s concept for Magical Mystery Tour was to produce a television special about a group of ordinary people taking a mystery trip on a coach. The film would take in various locations in England and France, and would be mostly improvised and take advantage of the encounters they had on the road.

Magical Mystery Tour was Paul’s idea. It was a good way to work. Paul had a great piece of paper – just a blank piece of white paper with a circle on it. The plan was: ‘We start here – and we’ve got to do something here…’ We filled it in as we went along. We rented a bus and off we went. There was some planning: John would always want a midget or two around, and we had to get an aircraft hangar to put the set in. We’d do the music, of course. They were the finest videos, and it was a lot of fun. To get the actors we looked through the actors’ directory, Spotlight: ‘Oh, we need someone like this, and someone like that.’ We needed a large lady to play my auntie. So we found a large lady.

Latest Comments

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Absolutely underrated in so many ways.

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Problem is… it’s not really an album. Just a collection of songs already recorded

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But isn’t that what the definition of an album is? A collection of songs already recorded?

Kind of hard to make an album if none of the songs have been recorded already.

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The idea is that if you for example compare it to Sgt. Peppers, there is no feeling of a “string” guiding you through the album. MMT seems very convoluted to me. Side 1 & 2 seem to me like they are from different albums and mindsets. In almost every album theres a definite feel of “This is their idea of music at this point”. This doesn’t happen for me in Magical Mystery Tour.

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best beatle album a collection of hits Such a master piece, along with revolver, rubber soul, sgt pepper, and white album

and help. and a hard days night and well all beatle music.

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The only Capitol release that improved upon a British release. (Or even equalled it, for that matter, since the UK “Pepper” was ever-so slightly better than the US version, which excluded the inner-groove gibberish and for-dogs-only tone.)

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Yep, I agree that Capitol finally did the Beatles right by adding all those wonderful 1967 singles. For once they didn’t butcher the EP, (like all the previous LP’s) they just added to it. But I also really love the EP for what it is. Never saw it growing up in Canada until I finally got my own UK EP import.

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How can you not love MMT? It gives me a warm, magical, mysterious feeling just thinking about it. The only downer is Blue Jay Way which is tough to get all the way through. They should have put “It’s All Too Much” on this instead of Yellow Submarine. Then it would be spotless!

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Yellow Submarine isn’t on Magical Mystery Tour. Did you mean Blue Jay Way?

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I think he means they shoud have put the song It’s All Too Much on the album MMT istead of the album Yellow Submarine.

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I agree with you about MMT being a supreme beatles album , but i dont agree about blue jay way … when you consider how hari wrote it , he was took out to a friends house in (america i think) by whoever and the friend was not at home so george waited at the house entrance while (whoever) went to look for the friend or a phone …. it was getting towards dusk a little dark and george being on his own in the unfamiliar surroundings of a foreign country got a little scared and the lane/road was called Blue Jay Way and the song was born…. you might say written with the help of fear !!!

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Blue Jay Way was not meant to be a Top 40 hit. It was first & foremost a vehicle to tell us the story of Paul’s death, and its video was likewise a vehicle to show you quick flashes of his corpse, his damaged face after the accident, and even his displaced jawbone flying around. These grisly images are presented against a busy background of people dancing & darting across the scene, so you must freeze frames to see them. But they are all there to tell the story as The Beatles intended.

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Pure bullocks. George told the story many times as to what this song is about. You simply haven’t a clue I’m afraid.

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Just another fool on the hill.

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Is it the EP you’re referring to? Blue Jay Way although lengthy is a significant Harrison piece, instrumentation-wise, which I find quite soothing when listened to. You don’t have a complete MMT experience without this song.

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I love all the Beatle albums, but between this one and Beatles for sale, they are my least favorite.I find it suprising that John Lennon said it was his favorite.I heard that in the Anthology DVD and I assumed it was from an interview at the time of MMT’s release but on here it says from a Rolling Stone 1974 interview.I am the Walrus is definetly one of Lennons best works, but the album as a whole just doesnt stand up there for me.It’s still a great record, just not one of their better ones in my opinion.

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In the states, MMT was a Christmas release, 6 months after Sgt. P. It was seen as the next Beatles album, when in fact it was an extension of Sgt. P. That the White Album was in fact the next Beatles album has been lost on the American public’s consciousness.

One has to wonder what might have happened if they didn’t feel the need or succumb to the pressure to churn out album after album in the wake of Brian’s death. The massive White Album, then 5 months later convening for Get BAck/Let It Be… then Abbey Road right after. Bands today could never maintain the pace of recording/movies/business pressures as did the Beatles. Perhaps, if… they might have… oh well. There are a lot of “perhaps’ ” in the history of the Beatles.

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Yeah, it’s UNCANNY (and terribly stupid on their part) that less than ONE MONTH AND A HALF after releasing the White Album, these crazy workaholics should convene again for the drudgery of more recording AND filming. Even without the alleged “tensions” attending the recording of The Beatles, any four human beings should have been exhausted after such strenuous work. Why not wait at least until spring/early summer to resume work, have a good rest of writing/rehearsing/recording (and putting up with each other!), and then “get back” with renewed energy? I’m sure The Beatles wouldn’t have split up if they had respected themselves a little bit more. They seemed to have gotten caught up into a masochistic groove: what sense does it make to play LIVE in the middle of the winter on a windswept rooftop in London!!!? That, despite all the odds, that performance should have been SO good is yet another proof of how great The Beatles were, but they simply seem to have stretched human nature too far…. What a waste!

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The band had a very work a day attitude to what they did. Essentially they saw being recording artists the same way as being a Teacher,Nurse,Engineer, Postman or any other job. You went to work everyday and had some days off for weekends or holidays. Paul particularly had this attitude. Although their hours of work were unusual they were more like shift workers working a backshift.

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It continued after they split up as well. After recording TWO Albums in 1969, they immediately dived into solo singles and albums.

Ringo releasing 2 albums in 1970, Paul 1 in 1970 and 2 in 1971, George a triple album in 1970, John releasing albums in 1970 and 1971.

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The Beatles got it right. They split up while they were a YOUNG band & will always be remembered as such……Unlike the rolling stones.

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It is very simple why they did so much work in November 1966 to August 1969 in the studio. They were not touring and could spend the time recording as much material as they could release.

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I live in the US and close to 40 years ago read that the White Album was meant as a follow-up to Sgt. Pepper’s, with the stark cover and relative simplicity of the songs countering the extravagance and complexity of Pepper.

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well, bear in mind that side 2 was mostly songs that had gotten lots of radio play during the year before, so even in the U.S. it was clear to me, as an 11 year old, that it included a lot of re-packaged material. Compared to my experience of the White Album which was like getting this amazing toy chest, every single song was unfamiliar, the whole thing had a vibe, and what a treat to discover them all from scratch. And there was an obvious difference between the fun but ultimately kind of commercial comic book in MMT and the much more interesting packaging of the White Album and Sgt Pepper. Kind of the same thing with Let It Be…when I got THAT for Christmas it was exciting to have a new bit of Beatles product and i gleaned pleasure from various tracks. But every single thing about it signaled that it wasn’t a major work in the canon. Starting with the banal packaging.

I concur wholeheartedly. The albums’ and singles’ releasing frequency was imo also a bad business decision altogether on part of the parts involved. It sort of unnecessarily saturated the Fab4 market, with the exception of the hardcore fans worldwide.

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This album has its similarities to the white album not pepper think about it The Fool On The Hill and Mother Natures Son or Flying and Wild Honey Pie, Strawberry Fields Forever and Glass Onion, Baby Your A Rich Man and Happiness Is A Warm Gun!!

strawberry fields forever was originally wrote for pepper penny lane also but the big wigs moneymen who all but owned the Beatles were impatient pepper took so long to make that they demanded a release so EMI released SFF/PL so it does have similarities to pepper. the information can be found in the “complete abbey road recordings” which was put out by EMI/HAMLIN.

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I saw ‘MMT’, the color version, in a small ‘art’ theatre in my city in early 1968…I was quite intrigued as it had a dreamlike and slightly ‘down’ air about it, quite different from ‘HDN’ & ‘Help’.

I can only imagine what the UK Boxing Day audience who saw the black & white version thought.

Very ‘surrealistic’ and way ahead of later MTV rubbish.

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MMT was not distributed in North America until late 1968-early 1969 in small theatres with Eric Anderson doing a short concert as well as introducing the movie.

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The MMT movie best moment is definettly Jonh serving sppaghetti to the big lady! That’s so genius!. I like the album very very much! Except for “Hello Goodbye”(I hate it, but fits the purposes of the movie/album I guess), all the songs are great and fit within The Beatles best work!

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Outstanding album; really better than other higher-profile albums like SPLHCB.

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This has to be said: MMT is NOT a Beatles album. It is an American COMPILATION of Beatles music. Nothing to do with them apart from that. Since its entry to the “official canon” the attitude seems to have grown that it should be considered as if one of the UK albums that they put so much thought and effort into. Comparing it to those albums is just wrong. I love the album. It is one the great COMPILATION albums – but to see how the group wanted the music on it presented at the time, look to the UK double-ep (which is a fantastic package) and the relevant singles. However much I love it as an album, one of my big disappointments is that it made the original CD reissue series in the ’80s. That gave the impression there were 13 albums instead of 12. What would Mark have done? I would have had “Past Masters” live up to its job description – to collect ALL recordings not featured on the 12 albums they recorded and released as they envisioned them. You could then have a “Past Masters” that made sense, instead of having a big 1967-shaped hole at its centre. And if anyone’s wondering, it would easily fit. “Past Masters” is about 94 minutes, MMT 36, giving a “Past Masters” that would be around 130 minutes. Volume/Disc 1: 1962-66, Volume/Disc 2: 1967-70 (think I’ve heard that split somewhere before). A later release of MMT could have been done later, as has happened with other Capitol albums. Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t dislike the album or anything, I just dislike it’s elevated status alongside the 12 albums they did record. I dread the day when I come across a comment telling me that The Beatles never recorded a better album than “1”!

It’s a nice idea. However, having MMT incorporated into Past Masters may have meant we didn’t get the MMT artwork – the booklet is really worth having. Personally I’m glad they kept it as a standalone release, but it’s all personal preference. I do think there’s quite a big hole in PM because MMT hoovered up all the amazing 1967 singles.

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True it’s technically not a Beatles album although I believe Parlophone did decide to start pressing copies of it in the U.K. at some point like it was a Beatles album. It’s a great companion album to Sgt. Pepper since those two albums basically give you 99% of their 67 output.

I totally agree, it was an EP and should have gone down in history as an EP. When they released the new 2014 mono LP set, they should included the EP and put the remaining singles Past Masters.

No I think they got it right releasing it as an album when it came time to standardise the albums throughout the world as there was packaging especially for it, and for once Capitol got it right in putting all the 1967 singles on the second side, It would have left Past/Mono Masters as lop sided from 1965 onwards with the 11 songs that are on the album.

However i do agree that they could release Magical Mystery Tour as a stand alone Double EP in both stereo and mono, and maybe release it as a twelve inch singles as well in stereo and mono. So you could have four options in which to buy it.

It’s an album. It exists today as an album because that’s what it is. So, in other words: The Beatles were wrong and Capitol was right. They knew it was an album, and it is!

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Another detail to clarify who wore which animal suit…look for the wristwatch.

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I got this album in June 1980. It is great that the songs on the British EP and the1967 singles and Bsides could be included on one album. It compliments Sgt Pepper in that regard. I Am The Walrus is one of my favorite songs of all time and a great example of John Lennons offbeat genius. And for that matter The Fool On The Hill is one of McCartneys finest. And then you have other masterpieces like All You Need Is Love, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever on side two. Thats not to forget Baby Youre A Rich Man.

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Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane belong on Sgt Pepper, but as usual EMI couldn’t wait and needed a single before Pepper was finished. and the Beatles didn’t put their singles on albums to that point.The iconic album would have been truly awesome with.their best two songs of 1967

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Agreed, what I have done is make my own albums, So Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane are on my version of Pepper, likewise I added Rain to Revolver and removed Yellow Submarine.

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I’ve done the same. Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine get spliced together as the great psychedelic afterbirth that follows Sergeant P. My version runs: Magical Mystery Tour, Baby You’re a Rich Man, Only a Northern Song, Hello Goodbye, All You Need Is Love, Flying, Your Mother Should Know, The Inner Light, Hey Bulldog, Blue Jay Way, All Together Now, I Am the Walrus, The Fool on the Hill and It’s All Too Much. I was inspired by the great article “Playing God” by Todd Burns and have similarly chopped and changed all the albums to include singles from each period. I’ve only just noticed that You Know My Name (LUTN) is missing. That might go last. I’m interested in hearing about other versions or improvements!

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Havent seen the mmt movie, but excluding hello goodbye, & blue jay way its great back to back

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I have the original 1967 MMT EMI in mint condition, can some one tell me the value of this record? Thanks!

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Check around a little bit but I have seen a quote of up to $750 on moneymusic.com

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If we allow that MMT is indeed a Beatles album, then it clearly is in their very top-most in the canon. It has at least 5 of what would be considered universally accepted of the top 25 Beatles songs of all time. SFF, AYNIL, IATW, PL, and FOTH

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The first Beatle album I ever owned at the age of 13 and for that it will also have a nostalgic place in my heart.

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It is fabulous. Just brilliant. Frankly, it should be seen for what it is, very serious music. Because “Strawberry Fields Forever” is so good, I really think that this is the best album of all, well, I suppose, along with “Sgt. Pepper”. “I Am the Walrus” and “Fool on the Hill’ are so good that I find myself playing this more than any other of their albums. Yes, I prefer the old vinyl one though I also have the CD and I believe the EP somewhere as well. If it is serious music you want, and not necessarily pop entertainment, then this one really stands out. Forget about the costumes, the movie, the inside information, and just focus on the 11 songs. I have no problem with any of the songs that people who have commented on dislike. It’s all great. The album version stated here to not be released was everywhere in the U. K., yes, everywhere as soon as 1968 and all through the 70’s. Import? That’s silly, since it’s their album. The cover maybe, perhaps, but certainly not the music. It’s a bit like saying an American printing of a Shakespeare play is American when the play isn’t. As for the reason I find this to be their best, well it certainly has nothing to do with the film. I’ve never seen it and that’s all right. It’s all about the brilliant music herein. Cheers!

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Yeah but my question is, where are the costumes and masks today? Were they donated or does the current Beatle members have it?

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A lot of you guys doesn’t have a clue about MMT. The US album was fully supported by The Beatles. Before 1967 they couldn’t do anything about Capitol’s releases, but by renewing their contract with EMI, one of their demands was that they could control releases overseas. If the Beatles had put their foot down before Capitol, the US album would not have happend. They did not.

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The whole movie was a rent party. The bus, the sets, actors, costumes; all rented.Only the music was bought and paid for…by the fans. And we (Americans) didn’t even get to see the movie.

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Nigel – the movie did play here in the states but probably in sporadic and random theaters. I saw it somewhere in Connecticut in the 70’s.

I was totally nuts about “I Am The Walrus” when it came out and it’s still a favorite. But beyond that I feel that the other songs from the movie (Side “A” of the US album) are collectively about the weakest material the Beatles ever put out. It feels to me as though they wanted to keep the innovation and magic of Sergeant Pepper going but were just trying too hard. Also I wonder if Brian Epstein’s death and resulting lack of “grown up” direction didn’t contribute to the muddle.

Instead of “Magical Mystery Tour” I refer to this album as “Whoa! Way Too Much Acid!”.

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Did anyone know that in magical mystery tour Paul is wherein a flashers coat during the song fool on the hill and you can actually see for a fleeting moment his junk.

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This was thought to be as one could not tell due to the quality of the VHS tapes .Now its on Blu ray and DVDone can tell that this information is wrong.

Really like the sound of this album. Sounds a bit like Pepper in style, without all the psychedelic organs that makes Pepper sound a bit dated. Only song I’m not a huge fan of is “Blue Jay Way” which to me, drones on a bit too long.

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this, in my opinion, is the only US release that was better than the UK version! Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane and I am the Walrus all on the same album!

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For most of us Americans under 60, this is an album. It starts with MMT and ends with All You Need is Love. I discovered this album as an 11 year old and didnt learn until my mid 20’s that I had the compiled American release. I decided to keep my original thoughts to it. Its the MMT album! They all evoke a 1967 feel to it; psychadelia (dark & positive), wit, nostalgia, & love. It feels like a concept album (all 11 songs). Lets not put this in the same category as the Hey Jude compilation Album that includes songs from years past. Whenever i have been asked if Pepper was the best Beatles album, i often jokingly respond that its not even the best album of ’67. I love MMT.

But the point i want to remind people of are the small magical pieces between songs. They are enjoyable little treats. You could make the point that this pattern continues on side 2 with the short snippets after Hello Goodbye & Strawberry Fields Forever. That is another reason why the two sides hold nicely together.

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I’m in my 70s now and I guess that’s why it’s not an album to me, just mainly a collection of songs. The fact is that by the fall of 1967 we had heard the non-film songs lots on the radio and they were completely familiar when MMT was released. The film songs (except “I Am The Walrus”) did not seem in the same league musically with the singles and therefore the whole effort seemed like a weird mashing together of unrelated elements, very much the opposite of the Beatles’ normal way of doing things. Of course I bought the album though! But when I had first heard that the Beatles would follow up Sgt. Pepper with something called “Magical Mystery Tour,” just the name conjured images of an even deeper dive into psychedelia and therefore MMT was rather a flat disappointment in that regard.

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The reason John said, “The Walrus was Paul” was not because Paul was in the Walrus costume. It was because he had a mo-ped accident and grew a moustache to hide the scar. The others said he looked like a walrus, but also grew moustaches in solidarity.

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No one has mentioned that US Capitol, in making MMT a full album, copied UK Parlophone’s method for their earlier soundtrack LP’s, with all the movie songs on Side 1 and all the non-movie songs from the same time-frame on Side 2.

That is interesting, but seeing as side one was the same as the British release, this could be a coincidence? But there’s equal chance it was deliberate.

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In my opinion, “Magical Mystery Tour” was The Beatles at the zenith of their psychedelic phase and some of the sessions happened to coincide with the Summer of Love. John and George went into their keyboardist mode during the sessions for MMT and both of them began to write keyboard-led songs during this period, so it clearly gave them a fantastic opportunity to develop their own keyboard techniques – George went into the organ and John clearly developed a fondness for pianos, mellotrons and organs – but neither fully abandoned playing their guitars altogether. Conversely, Paul’s bass never took a back seat to guitars or keyboards, since he was easily able to overdub it whenever he needed to or if he wished to rerecord them for the final mixes. Here’s a bit of trivia: in the video for “All You Need is Love”, the mystery drummer using brushes on Ringo’s hi-hats is Keith Moon. During the psychedelic period, John, Paul and George repainted their Gibson J-160E, Rickenbacker bass and Fender Stratocaster (nicknamed Rocky) respectively in psychedelic finish and Ringo used a red front head on the bass drum of his Ludwig drum kit. So yes, it is very interesting to know what instruments were used during these creative recording sessions.

What’s not to love about this LP. The only Capitol LP that outperforms the EP.

Great write up Joe. Always enjoy your site. Truly the best Beatles Forum out there!

That’s true for a number of reasons: a) Capitol compromised by merely expanding the EP into album format by including all six tracks from the EP on side one and filling out side 2 with their singles from 1967 (“Hello Goodbye”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Penny Lane”, “Baby You’re a Rich Man” and “All You Need is Love”) on side two, so this was clearly some compensation over the omission of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” from “Sgt. Pepper”. b) The album was a popular import into the UK and it eventually got a British release in 1976. c) It was the officially adopted CD version in 1987 and 2009 plus it got remastered for vinyl in 2012.

I have always considered the “Magical Mystery Tour” LP a special case and the exception to the rule among the pre-Sgt. Pepper Capitol releases that The Beatles clearly disliked.

Perhaps the running order for the album version of “Magical Mystery Tour” had some influence on Simon and Garfunkel finalizing the running order for their 1968 album “Bookends”, as side one on that album was a song cycle (not a concept album, per se) and side 2 had the duo’s 1966-1967 singles and songs written by Paul Simon for the film “The Graduate”, most notably “Mrs. Robinson”.

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Hairsplitting aside as to it’s official album status -this is my favorite Beatles album. There’s at least 5 masterpieces on it. It has the band at their psychedelic peak . Blue Jay Way is the only weak track but that’s made up for by the increasing fondness I have for Baby You’re a Rich Man. 5/5

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Ringo’s new Beatles book is magical history tour of his Ludwig drums and iconic attire

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Sixty years ago this month, a boy named Gary Astridge knew nothing about The Beatles .

The 7-year-old was celebrating his grandmom’s birthday with his family in Buffalo, New York, when someone realized it was almost 8 o’clock. They dutifully crammed into the family room, turned on the TV to CBS and waited for “The Ed Sullivan Show” to begin. The Beatles had arrived .

Some 73 million of their fellow citizens joined them that night watching The Beatles’ debut in America on Feb. 9, 1964.

Astridge slowly got into the music as the camera zoomed in on the drummer. There was Ringo Starr, wailing away on his Ludwig Downbeat oyster black pearl drum kit . “It changed me,” Astridge recalled. “He was my guy. That moment in time made me a Beatles fan and I wanted to be a drummer.”

What Astridge became was an historian on all things related to Starr’s Beatles drum kits , launching a website devoted to them and collaborating with Starr on various drum projects.

Their latest effort is a new, 312-page limited-edition book called “Beats & Threads.” It combines essays and close-up photos of the five main drum kits Starr used during his Beatles career for his beats.

As for his threads? Well, they’ve been going in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile . And while his clothes bore many different labels, the only name on Starr’s drums — then and now — is Ludwig.

The venerable company was founded in Chicago in 1909. Forty years ago in 1984, Ludwig relocated to Monroe, where just east of Charlotte it continues to manufacture its iconic drums for Starr, other pro drummers and drum enthusiasts around the world.

Drums for Ringo Starr are only made in this small NC town. See how they do it.

While Starr was unavailable for comment, The Charlotte Observer recently spoke with Astridge about the book, his decades of research and Starr’s time-tested affinity for Ludwig Drums.

Astridge had long mulled a book project about the history of Starr’s drums, but didn’t want to appear like he was taking advantage of their friendship. Then Starr’s personal assistant came up with the idea to combine Starr’s drums and fashion sense into one book project. Comments have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Q. Can you talk about the significance of the Ludwig drums to the overall Beatles sound?

Ringo has told me many times he just loves Ludwig drums. He loves the fact that they’re made in America. He loves the sound — and he’s still playing them. I think he has a 1940 Ludwig drum set in his home studio (in LA). He wanted one from the same year of his birth.

Q. How many of his drum kits from The Beatles era still survive?

He had five (main ones) that he actually played. One was auctioned off (in 2015, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay paid $2.2 million for Starr’s 1963 Ludwig oyster pearl drum kit) and he still has four.

Q. In the book, you noted there was some storage problem with the kits in England, in a building with faulty climate control.

Yes, it was an unfortunate situation and the maple kit (used from 1968-70) suffered a lot of damage from the weather. If the timing wasn’t what it was to retrieve and restore it, the kit would have been beyond repair. We’re talking about historical artifacts that were poorly kept. But everything’s in the States now, in a highly secure location and well protected.

Q. Well, that’s good. When you said Ringo used the hi hat (a pair of foot-operated cymbals forming part of a drum kit) for a “wash sound” that was important for The Beatles’ early sound, what did you mean by that?

When closed, hi hats create a sound that is short and crisp. The way Ringo played his hi hat early on created something unique and distinctive. When he used them partially open, his hats were loud and bright. They cut through the music. Great examples are: “ All My Loving ,” “ She Loves You ,” “ Tell Me Why ” and “ A Hard Day’s Night .”

He’s a minimalist. That’s his comfort zone. He says, “This is all I need: a snare, floor tom, bass drum, cymbals, hi hats.” And when you listen to The Beatles’ catalog, he was able to get a number of different sounds from the sets he had.

Q. Do you have a favorite among his drum kits?

No, they all have important benchmarks, whether it’s the kit that Ringo played at Shea Stadium or the drum kit that Ringo did the “Let It Be” and “Abbey Road” albums on. They’re all so over-the-top and monumental. Like, how do you pick?

Q. So how did you all narrow down the fashion to include in the book?

Ringo has a massive collection of his original clothes, and everything was archived. It reached the point of, how much do we want to put in here? But they all had a story to tell. Then (he took) the Sgt. Pepper jacket out, and put it on, and it still fit him. It was amazing.

Q. I loved some of those pictures where you see Ringo wearing his vintage clothes with those old drum kits.

He was like a little kid, just putting it on and cracking jokes. O ne of the people in the video lighting crew, when they were finished shooting (the book-related video), said, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I got to see Ringo playing drums.” I said, “You saw more than that. You saw him playing his Beatles kits, and probably for the last time.” A nd that went through my head that night. God am I blessed, you know, to experience that.

Q. What’s a drum question you had for Ringo that stood out?

One that comes to mind was about his Ludwig maple kit, the one you see him playing on the roof (i.e. the roof concert at their London headquarters in 1969, which became the “Let It Be” album and film, and was later seen in the recent Peter Jackson Beatles documentary, “The Beatles: Get Back.”) So he starts talking about how he puts a tea towel over a few of the drums and the kind of sound that he would get out of it.

You know what else was interesting? How none of the Beatles read music. It’s a funny little side note when you think about they put out so much material. Ringo just did it all by feel. So you hear even something simple, like his little drum fill in “ With a Little Help from My Friends .” It’s like, boom, boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Even if you heard a few beats, you’ll just know that’s right. He gives the drums a musical hook, and it’s just so different. It’s not anything formally structured, it’s just what comes out of him. That’s what makes it amazing.

Q. What do you hope that people will take away from this book?

First of all, for the fans who like myself always wondered how many drums did he have, all that’s laid out in detail. The photos show so many different angles of the drums that people may have never seen. It’s also talking about some backstories that are (newly) documented (such as divergent tales of how The Beatles’ “Drop-T” logo on the drums came about.) So the book is presenting Ringo’s drum kits in a historical fashion; and getting people to see and understand who Ringo really is and what the drums were all about; and matching that up with his wardrobe.

Q. Anything else you want to add about working with Ringo?

People will ask me, “What’s Ringo like?” And being totally honest based on my experience with him, (the answer) is that he knows his place in history. He’s funny. He’s extremely intelligent. He’s very caring. I mean, the things that he’s done for me are a perfect example. This book. It’s like, who would ever get this opportunity? And it’s just because if he trusts you and if he loves you. Those are two key components.

Four fab details from ‘Beats & Threads’

▪ After The Beatles played an outdoor show in Lancashire, England, on Aug. 5, 1963, a local man swiped Starr’s drum key and later displayed it in a cabinet for years. After he died in 2015, a relative sent the key to Astridge, explained the story and asked that it be returned to Starr a half century after it was stolen.

▪ The cherry red vinyl raincoat that Starr wore for filming “Let It Be” on the Apple Studios rooftop Jan. 30, 1969, belonged to his then wife, Maureen. He’d borrowed it because of bad weather in London that day.

▪ On Sept. 5, 1964, The Beatles were playing a gig in Chicago, the then-hometown of Ludwig Drums. Before the show, Ludwig leaders presented Starr with a gold-plated Super Sensitive snare drum to show their appreciation. And why not? After the nation glimpsed the Ludwig name on Starr’s drums during “The Ed Sullivan Show,” production shot up from an eight-hour day five days a week to 24 hours a day six day a week.

▪ Perhaps Ringo’s most famous outfit was his psychedelic pink satin military tunic and flat-top hat for the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Starr thought the suit was lost to history. But one day, he and his wife, Barbara Bach, went to their bank and retrieved a case holding her wedding dress. When they opened the case on the pavement outside the bank, there was the Sgt. Pepper outfit laying next to the dress.

‘Beats & Threads’

Where to order: store.juliensauctions.com .

Prices: Hardback, $80; limited edition signed by Ringo Starr, $500; limited edition signed by Starr with video, $750.

Proceeds: Benefit The Lotus Foundation , a foundation that Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach launched to support charitable projects aimed at advancing social welfare in diverse areas.

More arts coverage

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The Meaning Behind “Magical Mystery Tour” by The Beatles and the Subtext Running Just Beneath the Surface

by Jim Beviglia February 27, 2024, 8:00 am

Four individual movies about the four Beatles due in 2027? Sounds like a fascinating project, just like the one the Fab Four embarked on when they made the film Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. Although the film served as fodder for critics, the title track delivered a jolt of psychedelic energy and still stands as one of The Beatles ‘ most strikingly original singles.

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What does this song mean? What exactly is a “Magical Mystery Tour”? And why was the film that contained it one of the few artistic endeavors by The Beatles met with less than universal acclaim? Let’s take a look at the origin and meaning of this classic.

“Tour” of Duty

It’s a common misconception that The Beatles made the Magical Mystery Tour film because they insisted on pressing on with some project following the death of their manager Brian Epstein . In truth, the “Magical Mystery Tour” song sessions took place months before Epstein’s death in September 1967, and filming for the movie was already underway when he died.

In any case, Paul McCartney did indeed push for the band to continue a busy pace in 1967, perhaps to stave off the lethargy that might have accompanied their lack of touring. Hence, the sessions for “Magical Mystery Tour” took place just days after the group had put a bow on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band . McCartney explained in the Barry Miles’ book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now what inspired the song:

“John and I remembered mystery tours, and we always thought this was a fascinating idea: getting on a bus and not knowing where you were going. Rather romantic and slightly surreal! All these old dears with the blue rinses going off to mysterious places. Generally there’s a crate of ale in the boot of the coach and you sing lots of songs. It’s a charabanc trip. So we took that idea and used it as a basis for a song and the film.”

John Lennon and McCartney wrote the song from that basic idea. The recording manages to sound both refreshingly old-fashioned, thanks to the bright, shiny brass, and eerily forward-looking, courtesy of the somewhat unsettling coda. It was yet another example of The Beatles’ ability to meld different music styles, all while keeping things undeniably catchy. The group released the song as a single in the United Kingdom to precede the film’s release, and it went to No. 2 in the British charts.

As for the film, The Beatles created a surreal pastiche that felt less like a coherent film and more like a collection of skits. Its avant-garde silliness isn’t all that unlike what Monty Python would do in the coming years. But at the time, viewers and critics were baffled. The Fab Four had to endure some of the first negative reviews of their career. The music, which included beauties like the title track, “The Fool on the Hill,” and “I Am the Walrus,” proved that they were certainly on top of their game in that department.

The Meaning of “Magical Mystery Tour”

Taken at face value, “Magical Mystery Tour” does indeed refer to a bus trip. But there’s a subtext running just below the surface that isn’t too hard to realize. The year 1967, when the song was released, stood out as a time in history when drug experimentation was running rampant through the culture. The Beatles had already used a few of their songs to promote psychedelia, including when they sang, I’d love to turn you on at the end of “A Day in the Life” to close out Sgt. Pepper’s .

That idea seems to be working its way through “Magical Mystery Tour.” McCartney, who sings the lead vocal, takes on the role of a barker trying to get crowds of people to join the traveling circus: Roll up for the magical mystery tour / Step right this way . You can certainly take it literally if you wish. But the idea of a mystery trip that’s going to take you away certainly could refer to tripping on acid or some other recreational drug.

Perhaps that’s why the movie failed. It attempted to put definitive visuals on a mind-altering journey. But it couldn’t quite capture the flights of fancy conjured by the song “Magical Mystery Tour,” which gives you the perfect soundtrack for the movie in your mind.

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The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition

The Magical History Tour

The Magical History Tour Brings the Beatles to Central New York

Syracuse, New York welcomes  A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition for a limited time only at the new Muzium in Destiny USA. 

Destiny USA’s latest attraction located on the third floor, The Muzium, opens up for the first time with the largest collection of Beatles memorabilia.

The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition will be open from November until January, telling the infamous story of the Beatles and their long-lasting impact on the music industry, as well as history.

The collection will take fans and visitors back to Liverpool in the late 50s, and through the formative years of the Fab Four. They will be able to experience the screaming fans, quirky fashion trends, traveling the world on tour, and most importantly, the revolutionary music making.

“After more than 50 years, the greatest cultural force the world has ever seen is back in Syracuse to amaze guests all over again,” said Destiny USA’s Marketing Director Aiden McGuire in a press release. “We are excited for our guests from all over the world to experience the Beatles’ incredible musical career through the most comprehensive collection of artifacts and memorabilia ever seen in this one-of-a-kind exhibition at The Muzium,” he added.

The exhibit is broken down into galleries, including:

  • Beginnings, Influence and Life in Liverpool
  • Life on the Road
  • Innovation in the Studio
  • The Decade of the Break-up

Visitors will have the opportunity to read personal documents and letters, take a photo at Abbey Road, admire the band’s early instruments, mix their own Beatles music, experience one of their legendary concerts, explore the entertaining fashion and merchandise, and fully immerse themselves into the Beatles culture.

Paul Davie, executive director of BeatleCuse Productions, Inc., said, “from their days growing up in Liverpool, UK to ‘invading’ America on the Ed Sullivan Show and Shea Stadium, and all the way through Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road and the rooftop, this exhibit is a Beatles fan’s dream come true!”

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The exhibit’s grand opening will take place on Friday, November 10th from 6 to 8PM at the Muzium on the third floor of Destiny USA. Following a free concert featuring Paul Davie & the BeatleCuse All-Stars.

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Welcome to the award-winning The Beatles Story Museum, Liverpool's leading attraction telling the story of the lives and times of The Beatles.

Welcome to the award-winning The Beatles Story Museum, Liverpool's leading attraction telling the immersive story of the lives and times of The Beatles.

Located in the Fab Four's hometown of Liverpool on the stunning waterfront at the Royal Albert Dock, The Beatles Story Museum takes visitors on an immersive, atmospheric journey through the story of the lives, times, culture and music of The Beatles.

magical history tour beatles

Enjoy a self-guided magical history tour and see how four young lads from Liverpool were propelled from humble childhood beginnings to the dizzy heights of worldwide fame and fortune to become the greatest band of all time.

magical history tour beatles

Find out how the Fab Four met and walk through recreations of key locations and moments from the band’s career including Hamburg, The Cavern Club, Abbey Road Studios, America and much, much more. With a rolling programme of special exhibitions, you can visit time and time again and always discover something new.

magical history tour beatles

A must for any music fan, The Beatles Story Museum Liverpool features an impressive collection of fascinating authentic memorabilia including original instruments, clothing, John Lennon’s spectacles, Ringo Starr’s drum kit, rare album sleeves, never-before-seen photography and original handwritten lyrics.

magical history tour beatles

Multimedia guides are included and are available in twelve different languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Polish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Korean). These exclusive guides are packed with information, imagery, video interviews, beautifully narrated by John Lennon’s sister, Julia Baird.

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The Magical History Tour Member Preview

A beatles memorabilia exhibition, special event at henry ford museum of american innovation®.

  • April 29, 2016

This members-only event is FREE. Just enter the museum and show your membership card at the flex gallery.

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Be the first to see this exciting new exhibition!

The Beatles changed pop culture and the world of music forever. Were you an original Beatlemaniac? Or are you simply inspired by their music today? Either way, you’ll have the chance to experience the creativity, love and curiosity of the Fab Four firsthand as The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition makes its U.S. premiere at The Henry Ford. Don’t miss the most comprehensive Beatles exhibition ever assembled, featuring instruments, clothing, rare original photos and many never-before-displayed artifacts!

Follow the Beatles' iconic story from the very beginning, through the throes of Beatlemania, to the years of experimentation and dissention, and finally to their far-reaching inspiration today. This amazing story is told from the perspective of the Beatles, and visitors will experience pivotal points in their lives through this exhibition.

Your experience includes

Instruments, equipment and other personal belongings, including the original Quarrymen drum kit.

Letters, memos and pivotal documentation of the Beatles’ career, including the official “break-up letter” typed by John to Paul's lawyer and signed by John, George and Ringo.

Rare photographs from the Beatles’ touring years, including many that have never before been seen.

A vast collection of Beatles merchandise and memorabilia, including the album signed by John Lennon to his eventual killer hours before his death.

Variety named the Beatles the Icons of the 20th Century . Experience why in this immersive, educational and fun exhibit — only at The Henry Ford.

This members-only event is FREE!

No need for members to register in advance. Just enter the museum and show your membership card at the flex gallery.

Event brought to you by our Sponsors:

Ford Motor Company Fund

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THE BEATLES MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR

THE LIVERPOOL BEATLES MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR

If you want to make the most of your trip to Liverpool, and absorb more than just the Beatles’ history, then take our Liverpool Beatles Magical History Tour.

As well as seeing the famous Beatles sites, like Penny Lane, Strawberry Field, The Beatles homes and The Cavern, we will show you the history of Liverpool, which became a town in 1207, so we are over 800 years old! Take a guided trip on the famous Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey as we show you why Liverpool was named the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

This 5 hour tour which show you the best that Liverpool has to offer!

  • Highlights of The Beatles’ Liverpool tour
  • Penny Lane, Strawberry Field and The Beatles’ houses as standard
  • Follow the history of Liverpool through art, architecture and the historic waterfront
  • A ticket to the Beatles Story

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Magical History Tour: Of Beatles And Ballparks

February 3, 2024 by Frank Jackson · Leave a Comment  

Beatles at Shea Stadium

That’s a good way to check of a lot of boxes but I imagine it would be exhausting – frustrating too. While one might not want to linger in Detroit, other cities invite exploration which can’t be done on a bus tour with a tight schedule.

Even more exhausting would be the itinerary of a rock band. You might have seen people wearing T-shirts that list the dates and cities of such-and-such band’s American tour, European tour, world tour or whatever. I doubt that the musicians on such tours are attempting to visit every major league ballpark in America, but if they are so inclined, such tours give them a head start. Consider the Beatles, who toured America in 1964, 1965, and 1966, and began the tradition of rock bands playing at ballparks.

In February 1964 the Beatles appeared live on Ed Sullivan’s Sunday night variety show . Teens had become aware of the British combo so the ratings that night were boffo and the appetite of American youth was whetted for a tour. Fun Fact: contrary to popular belief, the Beatles’ appearance on the Sullivan show was not their first on American TV, as they had already appeared on Jack Paar’s late-night talk show on January 3 rd . They were not there in person, however. Paar had filmed them on a visit to London and showed the footage on his show (today Paar is largely remembered as Johnny Carson’s predecessor).

The 1964 Beatles tour was mostly at indoor arenas. Beginning on August 19 th in San Francisco at the Cow Palace (where the Republicans had nominated Barry Goldwater for President a month earlier), the 31-day tour was comprised of 25 cities and 32 shows. The outdoor venues included the Hollywood Bowl (capacity 17,500) and Forest Hills Stadium (capacity 14,000) in Queens, which hosted the US National Tennis Championships (n/k/a the US Open) a few days after the Beatles’ August 28 and 29 shows.

Of all the outdoor venues where the Beatles performed in 1964, the largest was the Gator Bowl (62,000 capacity) in Jacksonville. The first (and in 1964 the only) major league ballpark they played was Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. Hard to believe, but it was Charlie Finley’s doing. September 17 was originally an off day for the Beatles but Finley made them an offer ($150,000) they couldn’t refuse, roughly three times their regular fee.

Though 35,000 tickets went on sale, only a little more than 20,000 were sold. Finley lost a lot of money on the deal, but his main motivation was public relations. His advertising slogan for the concert was “Today’s Beatles Fans Are Tomorrow’s Baseball Fans.”  Obviously, it didn’t work, as the A’s lit out for Oakland after the 1967 season.

Although the Beatles played Philadelphia, they did not play at Connie Mack Stadium. Their appearance at the Convention Center on September 2 nd , however, did have a bearing on a game played at Connie Mack Stadium that evening.

At the beginning of September 1964, the Houston Colt .45s (with a record of 57-75) were going nowhere, and they were going to Philadelphia, which some cynics would assert amounts to the same thing. Actually, for better or worse, Philadelphia was a happening place at that time. A late summer race riot had ripped through North Philadelphia, where Connie Mack Stadium was located, but the Phillies appeared to be on a glide path towards their first National League pennant since the 1950 Whiz Kids. The pennant was theirs to lose…and they did just that, thanks to a ten-game losing streak in late September.

The Phillies were not the talk of the town on September 1 st , however, because the Beatles concert was scheduled for the next day. The concert promoters were worried about getting the Beatles into the Convention Center. A ruse was devised by the Deputy Police Commissioner, one Frank Rizzo, who would later gain fame/notoriety as Police Commissioner as well as Mayor.

The plan was to sneak the Beatles into the Convention Center directly from Atlantic City, their last concert venue. A decoy motorcade traveled the 60-mile trip to Philadelphia on the White Horse Pike while the Fab Four were traversing the parallel Black Horse Pike inside a Hackney’s Seafood truck which delivered the boys to the food service entrance at the Convention Center.

It was a clever idea since Hackney’s was a legendary boardwalk institution, allegedly the biggest (seating for 3,200) seafood restaurant in the world. Denizens of Philadelphia had seen the trucks before so they would not suspect anything. But Quaker City Beatlemaniacs should have known something was fishy. It was almost a year to the day since the restaurant had burned down!  So what would one of their trucks be doing in Philadelphia?  Or anywhere else?

Meanwhile, rumors abounded as to which Philadelphia hotel was housing the fab four. On September 1 st , crowds gathered outside all the major hotels in center city. Surely, the moptops must be housed at one of them. Nope, foiled again!  The Beatles stayed at the home of Hy Lit, a famous Philadelphia disc jockey who had organized the concert.

Unfortunately, the Houston Colts were staying in center city, as did all the visiting major league teams. A rumor passed on by a local radio personality the day before the concert hinted that the Beatles were staying at the same hotel where the Colts were lodged. Yes, even back then we had media misinformation. As a result, the short trip to Connie Mack Stadium took the Colts much longer but they managed to get there by game time. They might have wished they hadn’t, as they lost 4-3 thanks to four Phillies solo home runs (struck by Johnny Callison, Wes Covington, Frank Thomas, and Dick Allen).

The following evening (September 2 nd ) the Phillies-Colts game outdrew the Beatles concert (12,616 to 12,037). I’m assuming the Beatles were warmly welcomed, but if they were booed anywhere in North America, it was probably in Philadelphia.

The Beatles wrapped up their American tour at New York’s Paramount Theater on September 20 th . The next day the Phillies began that infamous 10-game losing streak.

Speaking of the Houston Colts, Colt Stadium, the team’s temporary home while the Astrodome was being built, was rejected as being too capacious for a concert, even though it wasn’t that much bigger than Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. What about Buffalo Stadium (14,000 capacity), the old minor league home of the Houston Buffaloes (more commonly referred to as the Buffs)?

Whoops!  That was torn down the year before. So Buffless Houston was rebuffed by the Beatles!  Instead, the September 18 th slot on the tour was given to Dallas. Playing second fiddle to Big D is not acceptable in the Bayou City, so one wonders why some big bucks oilman didn’t step up a la Charlie Finley.

For the record, the largest venue the Beatles played in 1964 was the Gator Bowl (62,000 capacity) in Jacksonville on September 11 th . Unfortunately, a recent hurricane had damaged the area and around 9,000 of the 32,000 ticketholders could not get to the stadium.

By 1965 the demand for Beatles concert tickets was even greater so large outdoor venues were more popular. The second Beatles tour started August 15 th at Shea Stadium, home of the Mets, and adjacent to the New York World’s Fair. The crowd of 55,600 was not only the largest attendance at any Beatles performance, it was the largest at any concert performance. Shea was also the largest venue on the 1965 tour. FUN FACT: The all-time attendance record was broken by Led Zeppelin at Tampa Stadium on May 5, 1973.

After two shows in Toronto, the Beatles flew to Atlanta where they performed at Atlanta Stadium (later known as Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium) the next day. This was the home of the Braves…sort of. The Milwaukee Braves had already arranged to move to Atlanta. They played an exhibition game against the Tigers at just-completed Atlanta Stadium on April 9 th on their way north to Milwaukee after breaking camp in West Palm Beach, but that was their only appearance in Atlanta in 1965.

After going through the motions in their final season in Milwaukee, the Braves made Atlanta Stadium their full-time home in 1966. When the Beatles performed there in 1965 it was the home field of the Atlanta Crackers in their final minor league season.

Other ballparks on the tour were Comiskey Park on August 20 th (two shows: 25,000 in the afternoon, 35,000 at night) and Metropolitan Stadium (25,000) in Bloomington, Minnesota the following night. The home park of the Twins, it would host the World Series a little more than six weeks later.

Unlike 1964, the Beatles scheduled Houston for a concert. Now you might be thinking that the Astrodome, which had opened a several months earlier, was the ideal venue for them since it had a climate-controlled capacity of 54,816 (62,439 in its football configuration). Unfortunately, the venue selected was the Sam Houston Coliseum (two shows attracted a grand total of 22,000), best known for professional wrestling. Now you might assume the Astros were scheduled that night.

Nope, it was an off day, and the Astros embarked on a long road trip the next day. So the Dome was available and there was plenty of time for post-concert clean-up.  A pity that Beatles fans in Space City were denied the opportunity to see the Fab Four complemented by the animated scoreboard of the Astrodome. Perhaps Judge Roy Hofheinz, head honcho of the Houston Sports Association, the governing body of the Astros and the Dome, was not a music lover.

By 1966 large outdoor venues were the norm for the Beatles tour. The crowd of 30,000 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium on August 14 was less than half the facility’s capacity but it was a mob scene compared to a typical Indians crowd (11,153/game in 1966).

The next day the Beatles moved on to D.C. (later known as RFK) Stadium and performed before 32,164 fans. This would have been a small crowd for a Washington Redskins game but by the standards of the Senators (who averaged 7,249/game that season) it was enormous.

August 21 st must have been a grueling day, as the Beatles did two shows, a matinee at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field (to make up for a rainout the previous evening) in front of 15,000, and an evening concert with 23,000 in attendance at St. Louis’ Busch Memorial Stadium, which had only been open for business a few months.

On August 23 rd the Beatles returned to Shea Stadium, where they played before 44,600 fans. FUN FACT: Paul McCartney appeared at Shea Stadium in 2008 for Last Play at Shea. He was one of various artists (the others were Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Roger Daltrey, John Mayer, John Mellencamp and Steven Tyler) who performed in front of a full house of 55,000 during the stadium’s final year.

The Beatles capped off their 1966 tour by playing in front of 45,000 at Dodger Stadium on August 28 th , and 25,000 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29 th . The fans at the latter venue saw not just the last concert on the tour but the last public appearance of the Beatles in concert.

Given the Beatles’ appearances at so many baseball parks in 1966, it is ironic that the largest venue of the 1966 tour was Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, which was then the annual home of the Army-Navy game and had a seating capacity of 102,000. Only 60,000 seats were available for the concert, however.

During their three tours, the Beatles performed at 11 home parks of the 20 major league teams. Not bad for a quartet that probably never heard of the infield fly rule or hitting the cutoff man.

For those of you keeping score at home, the Beatles missed out on four classic ballparks (Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Tiger Stadium), as well as Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, County Stadium in Milwaukee, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, Colt Stadium and the Astrodome in Houston, and Anaheim Stadium, which came on line in April of 1966. Of all the big-league cities the Beatles visited, no matter the venue, the only one they bypassed was Milwaukee. It was a classic case of adding insult to injury: Not only did Milwaukee lose the Braves, they never got the Beatles!

I think it’s safe to say that the Beatles led the Rock and Roll League in ballparks at the end of their 1966 tour. This, of course, leads to the question of the current leader. My guess would be the Beatles’ old British Invasion compatriots, the Rolling Stones. Like the Beatles, their first American tour was in 1964. Unlike the Beatles, they continued to tour after 1966. They kept it up through the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s, and the 2020s. In fact, they have a concert scheduled for later this year. Appropriately enough, the tour is sponsored by AARP.

So the Stones have more than likely performed at more major league ballparks than the Beatles (or any other band) simply because they have had more opportunities.

But that is a research topic for another day. Not sure I’m up to it, but if you’re intrigued, have at it.

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The Magical History Tour

Angie and daughter Ruth McCartney have been Beatles insiders from 1964 onwards, when Angie married Sir Paul’s father Jim in November of that year. Their walk down the long and winding road of the biggest music phenomena that the world has ever seen, is quite simply the only private glimpse of the Fab Four on tour today.

The Magical History Tour combines the intimate feeling of “An Evening With…” together with live musical performances by a McCartney-approved Beatles tribute band, personal stories from Angie and Ruth, and multimedia video vignettes of their family pictures, Liverpool, the Swinging 60’s, the Zeitgeist of fashion and the history of these 6 incredible years from ’63 to ’69.

Angie, who at 84 is the only living Beatles step-parent, will also conduct a book /merchandise signing and Q&A following the performance and pose for pictures with the fans.

VIP backstage receptions also available.

Running times available: 90 minutes. Produced by Martin Nethercutt .

Angie and Ruth will donate a portion of their fee to the Linda McCartney Breast Cancer research fund .

View a short trailer about The Magical History Tour

Sounds interesting? Here’s how you can book the show.

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  1. The Beatles Liverpool: A Magical History Tour (2006)

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  2. Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

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  3. A Magical History Tour

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  5. Beatles Ultra Rare Alternate Magical Mystery Tour LP Vinyl

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  6. Magical Mystery Tour: The Beatles, The Beatles: Amazon.ca: Music

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    Take a listening journey through the '60s with The Beatles all weekend long! Join Beatles historian and documentarian Kevin Howlett for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, The Magical History Tour, as he plays all of the songs released by the Fab Four - from 1962 to 1970 - in the order they were recorded. Don't miss The Magical History Tour on The Beatles Channel (Ch. 18) starting Friday ...

  2. The Magical History Tour

    The Magical History Tour fosters historical, cultural, artistic, and musical learning for all ages in both the museum and the classroom, all while maintaining a fun and engaging atmosphere. Come along, join the international tour, and trace the steps of the lads of Liverpool from the genesis of the Beatles, to their break up and beyond.

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  6. Magical Mystery Tour

    Magical Mystery Tour is a record by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. It includes the soundtrack to the 1967 television film of the same name.The EP was issued in the UK on 8 December 1967 on the Parlophone label, while the Capitol Records LP release in the US and Canada occurred on 27 November and features ...

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    The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition Lands at Henry Ford Museum April 30 - September 18, 2016 (Dearborn, Mich. - Feb. 02, 2016) Get ready for the British Invasion at Henry Ford Museum. Beginning April 30, 2016, The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition will take visitors on an unprecedented journey of the Fab Four's ground-breaking career that's ...

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    What Astridge became was an historian on all things related to Starr's Beatles drum kits, launching a website devoted to them and collaborating with Starr on various drum projects.. Their latest effort is a new, 312-page limited-edition book called "Beats & Threads." It combines essays and close-up photos of the five main drum kits Starr used during his Beatles career for his beats.

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    Consider the Beatles, who toured America in 1964, 1965, and 1966, and began the tradition of rock bands playing at ballparks. In February 1964 the Beatles appeared live on Ed Sullivan's Sunday night variety show. Teens had become aware of the British combo so the ratings that night were boffo and the appetite of American youth was whetted for ...

  24. The Magical History Tour

    The Magical History Tour combines the intimate feeling of "An Evening With…" together with live musical performances by a McCartney-approved Beatles tribute band, personal stories from Angie and Ruth, and multimedia video vignettes of their family pictures, Liverpool, the Swinging 60's, the Zeitgeist of fashion and the history of these ...