The Beatles – Detta hände den 2 april 1963

Live: Azena Ballroom, Sheffield, Yorkshire

Denna tisdag blevThe Beatles tredje konsert i Sheffield, Yorkshire. De framförde två set i the Azena Ballroom på White Lane, Gleadless.

Huruvida denna konsert ägde rum denna dag – den 2 april 1963 – eller den 12 februari 1963 har varit föremål för diskussion.

Beatlesförfattaren Mark Lewisohn har vid sina undersökningar kommit fram till följande:

A) Spelningen på The Azena Ballroom ägde inte rum på det tidigare antagna datumet – den 12 februari. Det ägde de facto rum den 2 april.
B) Detta i sin tur innebär att nedanstående poster är en förfalskning, vilket också det längre ’T:et” avslöjar i ordet Beatles.
C) Listan med alla låtar är skriven med Paul McCartneys handstil. inte John Lennons, som också har påståtts. Det innebär ändå att det kan ha varit John Lennon som hade slängt iväg låtlistan, som plockades upp bakom scenen efter konserten av trummisen Mike Stone i bandet The Aidens, som var ett av förbanden denna kväll.
D) Lewisohn är dock förbryllad över att inte låtarna Thank You Girl och Twist And Shout är med på spellistan.

The Beatles var bokade av Sheffieldpromotorn Peter Stringfellow (1940-2018), som senare blev en välkänd nattklubbsägare i London. Stringfield hade enligt citat låtit boka gruppen för £65. Brian Epstein försökte i efterskott att höja priset till £90 med hänvisning till gruppens succé med albumet Please Please Me. Till slut kom de överens om att The Beatles skulle få £85 i gage för denna spelning.

Från början var det sagt att The Betles skulle spela i Stringfellows Black Cat Club, i St Aidens Church Hall på Sheffield’s City Road, men polismyndigheten avrådde från detta med hänvisning till den stora publikskara som var att vänta. Kostnaden för att hyra The Azena denna kväll var på £29.

Stringfellow sålde inte mindre än 2 000 biljetter till showen, långt över det antal personer som fick plats i the Azena, vilket var 500 åskådare.

Som man kunde vänta sig uppstod kaotiska scener både inne och utanför konsertlokalen, då ett antal av människorna utanför fick vända. Från början kostade biljetterna 4 shillings styck, men gick upp till fem shillings dagarna innan själva konserten.

The Beatles påstås ha skrivit sina autografer på en vägg bakom scenen, vilka fortfarande lär vara kvar i byggnaden som har gjorts om till en supermarket (Co-op).

Nedan följer kommentarer från några personer som var med denna kväll när The Beatles besökte Azena Ballroom.

David Bowler: I was at the Azena for the beatles concert and I remember paying 6s 6d for a ticket on the black market outside, the original price was 5s 6d and someone opened the firedoor and hundreds poured in till the police restored order, I recall standing on a chair on a table. The Azena was called after the owners Arnold & Zena Fidler, Zena died this year (2003).

Timbuck: Yes the beatles did play at the azena, co’s i was there, the gig was moved there after the Stringfellow Bro’s found they were selling to many tickets and their place wasn’t big enough…I think they got the Fab Four because they booked them just before they became famous, and the beatles honoured all bookings taken, and The Stringfellows got them for about £65 Quid. My mate ”John Bealy” was the singer in the support band at this gig and Paul Macartney borrowed his Bass players gear that night later on that bass amp and speaker became mine. From what i remember all the songs were ”Chuck Berries” except for ”Love me do”. But the Azena will always be the place for ”Dave berry and the Cruisers” for me.

Tofty: I had the pleasure of being at their first performance at the Azena in Gleadless and I must say it was total chaos. People that had paid for tickets just couldn’t get through the door. At the time I was working at Wilson Pecks who were the booking agents for the City Hall and I was fortunate enough to get a job as a programme seller when they appeared at the City Hall on the Roy Orbison concert the same year. I even got backstage and met them and Roy Orbison and still have the autographed progamme to this day.

crucible77: I used to work with a man nearly 20 years ago who was the drummer in the support band at this show ”Mike Stone and the Aidens”. He told me the story of how he remembered being sat backstage with John Lennon as he just discarded a Beatles Parlophone postcard on which he had written down the evenings setlist. Luckily he picked up the card and kept it.

He told me he had played with a lot of bands in the 60s and kept the odd item. As I collected anything Beatle related at the time I asked him to go through his box of stuff and sure enough one morning he brought it into work for me to see. Thankfully I got a photo copy of it (front and back) as well as a cutting from a newspaper for the show.

I remember him saying it was the first time it had been out for years and he was putting it back, so I guess he will have never have let it go. I don’t know if he ever thought of it being valuable really.”

Crookesey: It was ’Love Me Do’, (I think), and as I recall, from a conversation with Geoff, the fee was something in the order of £400. My mate Alan Walsh, a local DJ went to a party with them after the performance, I belive it was in Frecheville.

Switchblade: Sorry mate the fee was nothing like £400 only well estabilshed starts were on that kind of money. Stringfellow booked them on the showing of ’Love Me Do’ when they were an unknown band outside Liverpool in the UK. By the time they came to the Azena they’d had a major hit with ’Please Please Me’ Stringfellow came down to the skating ring at Attercliffe where we were appearing with a Liverpool group (band) called ’Lee Castle & The Barons’ and told us about the forthcoming events, he then tossed up between our group and Mark Stone & The Adens, we lost. £80/5 was the fee I can assure you which the beatles honoured although by that time they were commanding much higher fees.”