|
Post by sayne on Feb 10, 2013 2:37:57 GMT -5
Found this nice footage. Don't know how many of you have seen it, but I thought it was a revelation. Not often that we get to see the opening acts, too. It sounds pretty good, the band is pretty tight and rockin', the vocals are in tune and the harmonies are good. Another example of how good the Beatles could be live. A good record of a typical Beatles' show during this time.
|
|
|
Post by winstonoboogie on Feb 10, 2013 11:42:20 GMT -5
Cool! Thanks, sayne!
|
|
|
Post by sayne on Feb 10, 2013 15:29:26 GMT -5
I like the playful nose thing George and Paul did at the 1:03:30is mark.
|
|
|
Post by John S. Damm on Feb 11, 2013 23:46:59 GMT -5
Oh darn, the film footage for "'Til There Was Spew" was cut! Great concert until that song....zzzzzzzzz
George Harrison was cooking as a guitarist in 1964. He rocks in this concert. By mid-1965, George really gets into the sitar and by his own admission really didn't play the guitar much except in recording sessions until 1968 when he got back into his six string.
But in 1964 George is rocking and in some ways I wish he never would have gotten so deep into the sitar. He could have done both.
The Beatles are at the top of their live game in 1964 in my opinion. Yeah John may say Hamburg or the Cavern but in many 1964 clips(Washington, D.C., Paris and here), The Beatles are polished for sure but still absolutely kick ass. They start getting ragged by 1965.
This was excellent.
|
|
lowbasso
A Hard Day's Knight
Posts: 2,776
|
Post by lowbasso on Feb 12, 2013 0:29:08 GMT -5
Oh darn, the film footage for "'Til There Was Spew" was cut! Great concert until that song....zzzzzzzzz George Harrison was cooking as a guitarist in 1964. He rocks in this concert. By mid-1965, George really gets into the sitar and by his own admission really didn't play the guitar much except in recording sessions until 1968 when he got back into his six string. But in 1964 George is rocking and in some ways I wish he never would have gotten so deep into the sitar. He could have done both. The Beatles are at the top of their live game in 1964 in my opinion. Yeah John may say Hamburg or the Cavern but in many 1964 clips(Washington, D.C., Paris and here), The Beatles are polished for sure but still absolutely kick ass. They start getting ragged by 1965. This was excellent. I don't know if I would agree the band was at the top of their live game in 1964. The '64 concerts were so short in duration, thanks to Brian, and the repertoire was the same, over, and over, and over again. The band could never really get into the concerts like bands do today that play for 2-3 hours in a concert, and play so many more songs than just a short set of sometimes less than ten of the same songs. John (and George) may have been right that Hamburg or The Cavern were their best days as a live band, when they played for hours, and dozens of songs. Just imagine had Brian allowed the band to play their US tours like they did in Hamburg. 2 hour concerts with dozens of songs, which would have included many cover versions of other artists songs they loved. Those would have been really great concerts, even with the crappy sound system they were forced to play through in those days. They began to feel like robots in the '64-'66 period. Aside the the Beatlmania screaming, they were still playing songs from '64 on their '66 tours, becasue they could not re-produce the newer songs they were creating in the studio. No wonder they gave up touring in '66. Brian was stifling them under the structure of those concerts from 1964-66.
|
|
|
Post by John S. Damm on Feb 12, 2013 1:18:57 GMT -5
I like 1964 live Beatles best because:
1. We have more evidence of it than those mythical earlier periods. The "Some Other Guy" footage from the Cavern is cool but no more exciting than Melbourne.
2. I like the the sharp dressed Beatles of 1964 much better than the leather clad greasy Beatles of earlier days. Give me that polish, give me those perfectly cut Beatles haircuts!
3. The Lennon/McCartney songs were much better by 1964 and were about non-existent in Hamburg or at least in the first two trips there so the band did a vast majority of covers. The Cavern was better in that regard but the Lennon/McCartney songbook was cooking by very late 1963, 1964.
4. George may have been at his live guitar best in 1964, he was peaking only to then self-abdicate from the guitar by 1965/1966.
5. The Beatles enjoyed their American and international fame in 1964 and you hear it in all of their performances from Paris to Indianapolis to Melbourne. I bet there were Hamburg shows where The Beatles felt like shit, didn't give a shit and thus played like shit. I think unsentimental John got too sentimental about Hamburg as far as the music went.
I still think 1964 was a peak for Beatles as to their looks, their live musicianship, their enthusiasm with much bigger crowds and they were playing better written original music. 1964 was a joyous year for The Beatles in all aspects but especially live and it was because of that joy that made the live performances better. The Beatles were having fun.
|
|