The Beatles’ penultimate live concert took place at the Dodger Stadium at Elysian Park Avenue in Los Angeles, California. It took place the day before their final show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
A number of the concerts on The Beatles’ final tour had failed to sell out, in a marked contrast with their previous visits to America. In an attempt to counter press criticism of the group’s commercial clout, the group’s manager Brian Epstein released a statement.
This tour compares phenomenally well with last year’s. It’s much better all round this year, from the point of view of increased interest and we are actually playing to bigger audiences. Here in Los Angeles, for example, 36,000 people saw The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. Today’s concert at Dodger Stadium is attracting 10,000 more. People have been saying things about diminishing popularity, but all one can go by is attendances, which are absolutely huge. By the time we leave, 400,000 people will have seen this series of shows, and Sid Bernstein has already delivered his formal invitation to The Beatles to return to Shea Stadium for him in the summer of 1967.
A press conference was held before the concert, in which John Lennon’s controversial comments that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” once again dominated proceedings. He repeated the remark once again but, unlike at prior press conferences on the tour, chose not to apologise.
The Beatles performed before 45,000 people in Los Angeles. Tickets were priced at $3, $4.50, $5.50 and $6. The cheapest were reserved for members of the US Army.
The support acts for the concert were The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes. The Beatles performed a set consisted of 11 songs: ‘Rock And Roll Music’, ‘She’s A Woman’, ‘If I Needed Someone’, ‘Day Tripper’, ‘Baby’s In Black’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Yesterday’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘Nowhere Man’, ‘Paperback Writer’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’.
In 1966 the road was getting pretty boring and it was also coming to the end for me. Nobody was listening at the shows. That was OK at the beginning, but it got that we were playing really bad, and the reason I joined The Beatles was because they were the best band in Liverpool. I always wanted to play with good players. That was what it was all about. First and foremost, we were musicians: singers, writers, performers. Where we ended up on a huge crazy pedestal was not really in my plan. My plan was to keep playing great music. But it was obvious to us that the touring had to end soon, because it wasn’t working any more.On the last tour of America the most exciting thing was meeting people who came to the shows, not the shows themselves. We’d played the stadiums, we’d played to the big crowds, and still we were only doing our thirty-minute show!
The concert promoter had arranged only 102 security staff for the Dodger Stadium, and dozens were hurt and 25 arrested when fans clashed with police during a rush for the main gates as the concert ended. The Beatles’ limousine was forced to turn back after fans climbed over it, and they retreated to the offices beneath the grandstand.
Police used clubs to keep people at bay, and the gates were charged by fans wielding wooden barricades. Bottles and sticks were thrown at police before control could be restored. Crowds remained in the stadium for some time after The Beatles left the stage.
We were driven to the stadium in an armoured car that was parked immediately behind the stage. At this late point in the tour I suspect that the fans’ grapevine had circulated full detail of the boys’ act, giving everyone prior warning of the songs that would end the set. Even before the group started Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally’, hundreds of fans invaded the field and surrounded our getaway car. By the time The Beatles left the stage and we were ready to pull away, many hundreds if not thousands more had positioned themselves across our path. Our driver yelled: ‘Hold very tight, folks!’ Then he slammed his gears into reverse and we sped backwards across the field at breakneck speed. Panic-stricken fans flung themselves out of our way. I was amazed that we didn’t smash into anyone. The trick failed to clear a path for our escape and the driver gave up. At high speed he headed for a dugout at the far side of the field and we hurriedly raced underground out of sight of the noisy hordes of fans. For two hours we were imprisoned in a team dressing room for our own safety while extra cops came in to start clearing the hysterically boisterous crowd. The getaway car we hoped to use was severely damaged and put out of action. Two girls even ran off with the ignition key as a souvenir! All four boys were on the point of despair and we were discussing the possibility that our party might have to stay cooped up at the stadium overnight. Ringo broke the ensuing silence by saying in a small voice: ‘Can I please go home to my mummy now, please can I?’ Two further unsuccessful attempts were made to get us out using decoy limousines and the third try was equally disastrous. We were put into an ambulance that managed to crash into a heap of broken fencing, after which it couldn’t be driven any further. Extra squads of police from the sheriff’s department eventually escorted us away to safety in an armoured car. Silently to ourselves we repeated Ringo’s heartfelt plea. We wanted to go home now. Please, could we?
John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me
The group eventually left in an armoured van from the opposite side of the venue. They returned to their rented home at 7665 Carson Road, Beverly Hills, before flying to San Francisco at 4pm on 29 August 1966.
Also on this day...
- 2010: John Lennon’s toilet sells for £9,500
- 2001: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, Woodinville
- 1998: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Salle Des Etoiles, Monte Carlo
- 1992: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Waterloo Village, Stanhope
- 1969: George and Pattie Harrison travel to the Isle of Wight to see Bob Dylan
- 1969: Apple holds a launch party for Radha Krsna Temple
- 1969: Mary McCartney is born
- 1968: Recording: Dear Prudence
- 1965: The Beatles live: Balboa Stadium, San Diego
- 1964: Bob Dylan turns The Beatles on to cannabis
- 1964: The Beatles live: Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, New York
- 1963: The Beatles live: Odeon Cinema, Southport
- 1963: Television: The Mersey Sound
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1960: The Beatles live: Indra Club, Hamburg
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
I attended the Beatles’ 1966 Dodger Stadium concert just 3 weeks before my 15th birthday. The year before, I had listened to a local AM (no FM rock stations in those days)rock station’s coverage (KRLA) of the group’s 1965 Hollywood Bowl concerts, and vowed not to miss them if they ever returned to L.A. for another show. When KRLA disc jockey Bob Eubanks announced he had again booked the Beatles, this time to play Dodger Stadium, I made sure that I had a ticket. It was unforgettable. I still have the ticket stub for my seat in Dodger Stadium’s Club Box level.
What a night…an unforgettable memory.
I attended that concert that day with my girlfriend it was totally awesome i wish i would of kept my ticket it memorable i sat in the stands but was there so many people screaming yelling i was one of them
I was there! I couldn’t believe my parents let me go. I was 13 and couldn’t stop crying. Of course we couldn’t hear them but it was just surreal! I’ll always love them (I’m 64 years young).
I always say I saw the Beatles because the screaming and crying was so loud I never heard a note! My girlfriend cried and broke about two dozen #2 pencils yelling for Ringo!
I was stationed at Vandenberg, AFB and my friends and I went to see them. It was a great show, I gave my ticked stubs to my granddaughter who is now a huge Beatle fan.
I was their with you, Larry! Great show and great memories.
I was there that night, also. I was stationed at Twentynine Palms. I took a girl. The ticket pricing was ridiculous. That had only a few rows at the most-expensive prices. Everything after that (above the first few rows of the boxes) were expensive. I think the last three rows in the “nose-bleed” section were the lowest priced. Anything beneath them was very expensive. I remember that had a section in the left-field bleacher reserved for a ground of blind kids. Still, glad I saw them.
I was there too. One of my fondest memories. The sister of one of my friends worked at a radio station in Southern California and she got us free tickets.
I like your post. I was 13. this was my first concert. My mom worked in the LA advertising business and got us four free tickets. I went with my younger brother and two of our young female relatives. Happy I found this Beatles Bible website… Fun to share this great memory !
Unbelievable… I too was at this Amazing Concert… I was 12… how awesome you saved your stub?
I was there that night too!! I just turned 15 and had heard the announcement on KRLA..”send a self addressed stamped envelope and 3.50 to get your ticket, I was so excited I ran to my dad asked him to get a money order for 3.50 and sent it on it’s way…only I only ordered 1 ticket!!! I couldn’t go alone my mom said…none of my friends either had the money for a ticket, or they didn’t like the Beatles…so mom said find someone to go with you or you don’t go!!! thank God the concert wasn’t sold out!!! the day of the show, I asked a neighborhood friend down the street…Arthur if he would go just so I could go, i’d even buy his ticket, he said sure! thanks to my frined Arthur I got to see the Beatles that night!!! I don’t think anyone who is still on this earth who was there that night can ever forget how magical it was…I sure won’t!!!
Agree! One of the best moments of my life.
I was there too! I was 14 and in 8th grade. My best friend’s parents took 4 of us girls. We were quite young and remember being so surprised that so many girls were charging the stage and taking their clothes off! It was a night to remember. Then a couple years ago my husband and I got to see Paul McCartney at Petco park. He was as good as ever!
My least fav of all 3 years of concerts in LA – they were sooooo far away from where we all sat with the stage on 2nd base. They looked like ants. The sound was really poor. It had been much better (despite all the screaming fans) at the Hollywood Bowl the 2 years previous. There was little way to pump the sound off the stage at Dodger Stadium then but to funnel it into the PA system that mainly relied on little tin speakers mounted on poles around the seating areas. The big field speakers put too much echo into the sound and they were not used. But after all, we were not that as much to hear them as we were to see them and be in their presence!
There’s an error in the text here — The Beatles stayed in a rented home in the Hollywood Hills (not Beverly Hills on this trip), just a stone throw away from my home at the time. The rented home they were at in ’66 in LA was at 7655 Curson Terrace, Los Angeles. It was just up from Hollywood Blvd and just east into the next canyon from my home at the time. That same home they rented for their ’66 stay is the home used in Lee Marvin’s film Point Blank – it’s the home where Marvin meets up with Carol O’Conner. The home is still there today.
This is correct and I’ve been to that house for a party once. It has a full recording studio with a big pool between the studio and the main house.
You have another goof in this article – Bobby Hebb was not one of the opening acts that night – it was just The Ronettes, The Remains and The Cyrkle
I was there with my cousins. Bobby Hebb was indeed there. It was a bit comical because at the end of his hit song, he kept saying, “One more time” and the band would modulate, would break into ANOTHER round of “Sunny – yesterday my life was filled with pain.” It happened so many times my cousins and I started yelling, “NO! Not again! We want the Beatles!” It was memorable. I remember clearly. Bobby Hebb definitely sang that night.
Bobby Hebb was there and he sang Sonny, 100%. Witnessed it personally.
Bobby Hebb was indeed there. I remember his blue denim outfit.
I was there also. My step dad Jim Wood DJ’ed for KRLA. I was 9 years old and was on the field in front of the stage. Couldn’t hear a word thay sang hardly from the screaming. I wasn’t aware of all the after show caios. A couple years later I meet Ronnie Specter at the house of another DJ and I went with her to her and Phils Beverly Hills mansion in her Royles Phantom.
I was also there at dodger Stadium I was 16, years old, I’m 68 years old now, tickets from KR LA were $5.50 and the house they stayed in on curson Terrace, my cousin and I climbed over every fence through the neighborhood to get to the front gate where the Beatles arrived and left as the police had the roads blocked off but we were not to be denied and yes Bobby Hebb was there. Beatles forever
Who was the MC that night? The greatest concert I ever saw. “Day Tripper” was so phenomenal it was worth screaming over. I could hear the music above the screams. The announcer / MC was Peter Asher, right?. He sat in our row and I watched as he went back and forth from the stage.I was only 7 but my dad knew him and pointed him out. Can anybody confirm?
46k at Dodger Stadium. This is a big Beatles event yet it barely gets remembered in Beatles history for some reason. Never saw many pics or film of it.
I was there at the concert. I was 13 years old and I remember how everyone was screaming so loudly and I was just wishing I could hear them! It was my first concert and of course I still love the Beatles to this day. I feel very lucky to have seen them live as the next concert was their last touring concert.
I was there I was 11 years old lived in Hawthorn Calif. our neighbor was a usher and got 2 txs for his daughter and myself. Do you remember the group the Circles nor spelled correctly,but I remember them signing Red rubber ball and the background was the sun red as ever
August 28th, my 17th birthday. My friend Curtis had bought tickets as a gift. I think we arrived late as I don’t remember the earlier acts. My friend Curtis had a knack for being late—to everything—but I am grateful for having had the experience of hearing the Beatles live. I played in a band called the Hollybeats and covered some Beatles’ tunes so I knew their music and loved it. For me, experiencing the Beatles live—despite the screaming fans was incredible. I recall they opened with Paperback Writer, but perhaps not. I still have my KRLA $5.50 ticket. We just watched Ron Howard’s film “Eight Days A Week”, which prompted my discovery of this site. Glad to have shared this experience with 45,000 fans.
Just purchased an original Beatles program with the ticket stub, field box F, aisle 49, seat 17, parking ticket # 061385 for the Dodger Stadium Concert August 28, 1966. Who ever this belonged to must have put it away for many years because it’s as if brand new. The ticket and parking pass are stapled n the inside of the front cover. Just thought I’d share this info as it was so interesting reading the previous comments.
I was at this concert as a guest of my Cousin Dave Hull – He was a DJ with KRLA along with Bob Eubanks
and I believe Sam Riddle
My brother parents and I were fortunate to sit in the Dodgers – Dugout Box seats – We were in folding chairs next to Chad and Jeremy in front of Sonny and Cher –
The concert was so loud that it was next to impossible to hear the music – An incredible experience
The KRLA DJ’s were back and forth from the stage near the mound and the dugouts with the celebrity guests
The Beatles left the concert in a vehicle parked behind the stage in a bright covered tarp and drove out the center field fence.
Highlight of the show and their entrance was they came out of the Dodgers Clubhouse and were literally feet away from our seats as they walked on the field and out to the stage.
Amazing show – A memory for life – Visual and Hearing overload.
Bobby Hebb was definitely there.
I was at the concert too. I was 15. Dave Hull was my favorite DJ. I was a member of his fan club.
Check out the YouTube clip of Vin Scully describing their getaway! It’s classic.
We had just. moved to CA, and our local supermarket had a drawing for two tickets to see the Beatles at Dodger Stadium. I won! My sister and I attended while our poor dad sat in the parking lot.
About all I can remember of that night is wishing all those idiotic girls would stop screaming so I could hear the BEATLES!
I was there. Just turned 16. My parents let me drive all my friends! We’re they nuts? Have my ticket stup and my program
This was my first concert, I was 13 and 1/2. I went with my younger brother and two friends. My mother worked at an LA advertising company and got us four free tickets. I was thirteen years old. It’s fun to read other’s memories, like “Paperback Writer” and “Day Tripper.” The song I remember the most from that show is “Eight Days a Week.” – Thanks again for this website!
I don’t think the Beatles ever played “Eight Days A Week” live in concert, certainly not during any of their U.S. tours. The group really didn’t like the song and always spoke disparagingly about it, but it’s one of my favorites from their early period. It has a really catchy tune and although the lyrics are simplistic they’re really not any more so than most of the early hits. It’s a shame they didn’t include it in their sets.
Great reading all of the personal experiences. I was 5 years old and could not go but I was aware of the Beatles. It’s hard to explain but I liked them at that age, perhaps because of the cartoon but they just sounded like something different.