Happy birthday John Lennon

[lucky penny]

Did anyone see Lennon, Harrison or Beatles live?

I did: 8/23/1966 at Shea Stadium, 6 days before their final concert.

In 1965 I won 2 tickets to a Beatles concert on their US tour that summer. Datebook magazine had a contest & my entry was some poems about Paul. I had a choice of concerts & picked Toronto, the closest to home, but it turned out that by summer I was nowhere near Toronto & couldn't make it. The good news is that the next summer I was in NYC, the Beatles were touring again, so I saw them after all. The amazing thing is how easy it was to get tickets, due to the backlash after John's comment that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus"; there were actual bonfires of people burning Beatles records. My ticket to the Shea concert cost $5.75 & there were 10,000 empty seats! No one could imagine it was so close to the end. The concert was thrilling, though you could barely hear the music because of the screaming fans. 30 minutes & 11 songs, starting with "Rock and Roll Music" & "She's a Woman," ending with "Paperback Writer" & "Long Tall Sally." Unforgettable.

More good news: the Datebook editor traveling with the Beatles in '65 showed my book of poems to Paul; I have a photo of Paul reading the book; & on the first page he wrote a sweet note that started "No wonder you won what you won, no wonder" & he illustrated it with a drawing of flowers. Sigh...

 

[steelyman]

I did: 8/23/1966 at Shea Stadium, 6 days before their final concert.

In 1965 I won 2 tickets to a Beatles concert on their US tour that summer. Datebook magazine had a contest & my entry was some poems about Paul. I had a choice of concerts & picked Toronto, the closest to home, but it turned out that by summer I was nowhere near Toronto & couldn't make it. The good news is that the next summer I was in NYC, the Beatles were touring again, so I saw them after all. The amazing thing is how easy it was to get tickets, due to the backlash after John's comment that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus"; there were actual bonfires of people burning Beatles records. My ticket to the Shea concert cost $5.75 & there were 10,000 empty seats! No one could imagine it was so close to the end. The concert was thrilling, though you could barely hear the music because of the screaming fans. 30 minutes & 11 songs, starting with "Rock and Roll Music" & "She's a Woman," ending with "Paperback Writer" & "Long Tall Sally." Unforgettable.

More good news: the Datebook editor traveling with the Beatles in '65 showed my book of poems to Paul; I have a photo of Paul reading the book; & on the first page he wrote a sweet note that started "No wonder you won what you won, no wonder" & he illustrated it with a drawing of flowers. Sigh...

Great story! My mom and two older siblings were at your Shea concert (I was deemed too young… argh!). They said the same things.

That note you got sounds like something a lyricist would come up with, a play on words. Very nice and thoughtful. [emoji4]

 

[Koolau]

My Big Sis got to "interview" them when she was an intern at (IIRC) a Chicago newspaper. (Actually, she got one question and her paper gave her a by-line on the story and it had a picture of the Beatles during the interview - but no picture of Big Sis.) Still got that picture someplace. Amazing times to be alive.

 

[MarieIG]

Looks like I have the same birthday as John every year.

Happy Birthday!

 

[Koolau]

Looks like I have the same birthday as John every year.

Happy birthday - from the Beatles (heh, heh, someone took some liberties putting this video together, but I wanted something that looked "live.")

 

[aja8888]

Thanks for all the birthday wishes today!