This was The Beatles’ only appearance at this venue in Chester. They performed seven songs: ‘Some Other Guy’, ‘Thank You Girl’, ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’, ‘Please Please Me’, ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, and ‘From Me To You’.
The performances of ‘Some Other Guy’ and ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’ are notable as, while they had been part of The Beatles’ repertoire for some time, they had not yet been recorded, let alone released on the Please Please Me album.
‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’ was recorded, for With The Beatles later in 1963, but ‘Some Other Guy’ was only taped for radio sessions. It is tempting to wonder whether the group was considering a studio version around this time.
The Royalty Theatre, which stood on Chester’s City Road, was demolished in 2001 and later replaced with a hotel.
Following the concert, Paul McCartney drove the other Beatles back to Liverpool. At around 11.40pm he was stopped by Police Constable Powell on the New Chester Road. McCartney had been driving at 60mph and was unable to provide his licence and insurance.
PC Powell let him go after McCartney promised to produce his driving documents at Allerton Police Station within five days. He failed to do so, and on 15 July was fined £15 at Birkenhead Magistrates’ Court for speeding, plus a further £2 for failure to produce the documents.
It was McCartney’s second driving offence. After the first, on 8 March 1963. he was fined £5, after having been caught speeding.
McCartney temporarily lost his driving licence later in the year. On 14 June he drove the other Beatles back to Liverpool, following a Mersey Beat Showcase at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton. He was pulled over at 11.45pm, and on 26 August was fined £25 plus a further £3 for failing two summonses to produce his licence and insurance documents. He had his licence suspended for nearly a year.
My Dad Paul Kelly was actually on the bill that night and has many a Beatle’s tale to tell being that he was the Dj and The Compare at The Aintree institute in the early sixties. He also deputised as drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes when Ringo left to join the Beatles. I do have a scan of the programe if I could upload it.
Do please ask him to leave his memories here – I love having people’s recollections of Beatles shows and encounters here.
If you want to send me a scan of the programme, my address is joe at beatlesbible.com.
I’ve got a copy of the program here so I could do a scan of the listing of the Night 🙂