Live: Winter Gardens Theatre, Bournemouth

This was The Beatles’ only appearance at Bournemouth’s Winter Gardens Theatre, although they performed at the town’s Gaumont Cinema on eight other occasions.

16 November was the 13th stop on The Beatles’ 1963 Autumn Tour. Their setlist throughout contained 10 songs: ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘From Me To You’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Boys’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ and ‘Twist And Shout’.

The Winter Gardens opened in 1937 as an indoor bowling green. It was later converted into a concert hall, and was subsequently also used as a theatre. In 2007 Bournemouth council took the decision to demolish it, despite campaigns from local residents.

With news of Beatlemania having spread to the United States, three camera crews – from ABC, CBS and NBC – filmed parts of the group’s concert at the Winter Gardens Theatre. CBS’s John Darsa also briefly interviewed John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

A photographer from Life magazine, Terence Spencer, and his assistant were invited to the Branksome Towers hotel where The Beatles were staying. However, The Beatles failed to turn up for the shoot, effectively turning down what would have been the 13 January 1964 cover of Life. Spencer later remarked that “The Beatles must be the only people in showbiz ever to have turned down a Life cover.”