Aug. 19, 1964 - The Beatles hurriedly left San Francisco tonight after giving 16,000 viewers exactly 29 minutes of their time. It came to $3,103 per minutes — for a total of $90,000.
They left 13 schoolgirls so overcome that first aid was necessary.
Another reason for their hasty departure might have been suggested by a former Beatle fan who said: “I paid $6.50 for two hours of Beatles, and look what we got!”
Those of the Beatle backlash were probably in the minority among the 16,000 teenagers — and some confused-looking adults — who filled the Cow Palace to capacity for the first stop on the second American tour by the four youngsters from Liverpool.
Tonight’s audience should properly be regarded as viewers, not listeners, because only rarely could the catchy songs known as the “Mersey Sound” be heard over the incredible noise of shrieking females.
Although it was publicized as music, all that was heard was something like a jet engine shrieking through a summer lightning storm because of the yelling fans.
It had no mercy, and afterward everyone still capable of speech took note of a ringing in the ears which lasted for as long as the Beatles had played.
Girls in the audience stood on their chairs, waved their hands, stamped their feet, burst into tears, shrieked words of love, and tried — without much success — to mob the stage.
“You can figure it this way,” shouted a deputy sheriff with a smile on his weary face. “That’s 16,000 kids who aren’t out stealing hubcaps.”
Jelly beans peppered the stage despite a pre-performance request from Ringo Starr, the drummer. “It’s dangerous,” he said, in the only serious statement of a shouting press conference.
A school psychologist who saw the show with his wife said he had observed many cases of mass hysteria. “This beats anything I’ve seen,” he remarked.
The Beatles opened their show, they said, with a tune called “Twist and Shout.”
They continued, according to the lipreaders, with “You Can’t Do That,” “All My Loving,” “She Loves You,” “Till There Was You,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “If I Fell,” “Boys,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” and the finale, “Long Tall Sally.” There were no encores.
Mary Murphy, 15, of 88 Lake Forest St., San Francisco, searched for the right word to describe her reaction. “It was traumatic,” she said. “Spell it right.”
After the show, the Beatles left for Las Vegas, their second stop on a five-week tour of 24 cities in the U.S. and Canada. They hit Seattle on Friday.
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