The Beatles’ second and final visit to Ipswich in Suffolk was the 18th date of their 1964 British tour. They had previously performed at the same venue, the Gaumont Cinema, on 22 May 1963 as part of their tour with Roy Orbison.
The Beatles performed two concerts each night on the tour, for which they were paid £850. Their set contained 10 songs: ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’, ‘I Should Have Known Better’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’.
The support acts on the tour were The Rustiks, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam, The Remo Four, Tommy Quickly, and Mary Wells, and the compère was Bob Bain. The evening’s two shows began at 6pm and 8.30pm.
I have a photo I took at that concert (probably the 6pm one) shortly before they tried to confiscate my camera. Is there a way to post it here?
Not directly, but you can mail it to me (joe at beatlesbible dot com) and I’ll add it to the article.
Edit: the image can now be seen above. Thanks Jacky!
I queued all night in July with my friend Charlotte & hundreds of others to be in with a chance at the box office next morning. At the actual concert 3 months later we recognised a lot from the queue. We were both dressed in Beatle caps, sashes, armbands, badges and beetle tights (uh huh). We were 5 rows back, and I remember feeling really impatient sitting through the other acts, even though Mary Wells & Tommy Quickly in particular were very good. When the Beatles finally appeared I screamed myself stupid along with everyone else – it was completely unpremeditated – you just wanted desperately to attract their attention (John’s, in my case) – it was overwhelming to actually be in the same space with them. It didn’t matter that much that the music was somewhat drowned out, as we knew every note of every song by heart. At one point John threw his harmonica into the middle aisle. War practically broke out in the scuffle to grab it (I wonder who has it?). As I said, shortly after I took the photo, security people tried to confiscate my camera, but I passed it down the row out of their reach. I was just 14. It was, and remains, one of the high points in my memory. Afterwards it felt as if we’d all been swept along in a tidal wave and dumped exhausted on the shore.
5 (?) years later I found myself being introduced to John and Yoko outside Rochester Cathedral – I was almost overcome, and couldn’t speak – the usual thing.
Is it George’s guitar in John’s hands?
Yes it is – Harrison’s Rickenbacker 425.
I was 14 and I was there by default.
My older brother had queued overnight to get two tickets but had a booking that night for his own local beat
group and chose to play instead.
(He had of course seen them the year before on their first national tour.)
So it was that my younger sister and I found ourselves at the concert.
The memory has now all but faded over the last 50 years, so I recall very little but I distinctly remember being overwhelmed as part of a thousand strong audience.
Also, I think the group had problems trying to get to the venue in their helicopter, I didn’t hear very much music at all
over the non-stop screaming of pre-pubescent girls and there was the then de rigueur fusillade of jelly babies aimed
in their direction.
But, I WAS THERE, a small witness to musical history.
Ha ha ha (or should that be Yeah yeah yeah?) … I have 2 ticket stubs for that concert 🙂 My Mum Jessie, Sister Sheila and Grandma Sara went to it. I was supposed to go myself but gave my ticket to Grandma as I said I’d have plenty of time to see them at a later date (I was 10 years old) I never did get another chance to see them live.