Seeing The Beatles Live on Stage!

At the height of Beatlemania Beatles fans would dream of getting a ticket to see them on stage. Our blogger was one of the lucky ones to see the Fab Four live in concert

Writing my piece today about Liverpool's role as European City of Culture in 2008, and mentioning the Beatles Story down at Albert Dock, took me back to 1964 – when I saw the Beatles play live on stage at the Liverpool Empire.

Beatlemania was at its peak, and getting tickets to see the Fab Four play in concert was something you could only dream about. Luckily they decided to play this concert at the Liverpool Empire exclusively for members of the Beatles Fan Club. I'd joined the Fan Club as soon as it was formed, and I was lucky enough to get two tickets. I gave one to a friend from school, and we set off on the bus from my home town of St Helens into the big city – Liverpool.

We were two of very few males in the audience, as the Empire Theatre was filled with screaming female fans. It was the 8th of November, 1964, as I found out by checking this Beatles website. You can find out almost everything the Beatles did at every hour of every day, somewhere on the internet or in a book. Guests on the Beatles package tour were a Liverpool singer named Tommy Quickly, The Remo Four, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam (who he?) and the fabulous American singer Mary Wells, who had a big hit with My Guy.

I can say that I saw the Beatles live on stage, but I can't say that I heard them. I can still remember the atmosphere. Girl fans were screaming throughout the show, just at the thought that the Beatles were in the building somewhere. Of course the compere and the other acts would wind them up, and encourage more screaming.

When the Fab Four finally emerged, the screams almost took the roof off the theatre. You couldn't hear the vocals at all – amps in those days had nothing like the power of today. You could hardly even hear the guitars and drums, and sometimes had to guess what songs the Beatles were singing. I can't remember the set list, except that they closed the show as they always did at that time with Twist and Shout.

Hearing Beatles music isn't usually what takes me back to that screaming Sunday night in Liverpool. It's when I hear the Mary Wells record of My Guy on the radio that the memory time-travels me back to the night when I saw John, Paul, Ringo and George on stage in Liverpool.

Click here to time-travel back to the present and the future, and read what's happening as Liverpool prepares to be the 2008 European City of Culture.