August 29th, 1966, The Beatles play their final paid concert. Now we say the final paid concert because they also did their very famous rooftop concert that came after this date. They didn’t get paid for that. So this show, August 29th, 1966, happens at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. At the stadium, there are thousands of unsold seats that remain empty during the performance. The company that actually promoted it, the production company, lost money. Now, The Beatles knew that this was going to be their final show. At least three of the four did. Ringo Starr said he wasn’t 100% sure, but he knew that John was pushing because he really wasn’t happy with the way the touring was going. But they smuggle a camera out on stage with them, and John and Paul are taking pictures of each other. They take a group picture. Paul McCartney gave a cassette to somebody and asked them to record the show. Here’s the problem. It was a 60-minute cassette. 27 after opening acts like The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Circle and the Ronettes, their set went just over 30 minutes. So in the middle of their final song, they did 11 songs in the middle of the last one, “Long Tall Sally”, the tape cut off. Now, there were only two copies of that cassette. There was Paul’s and then the guy who made the recording made a copy for himself. They swear that both of them kept it under lock and key for all these years. But somehow through the years, the show has been very often bootlegged.
We take a look at today’s calendar. We also find a rock birthday on it. Born today in East Meadow, New York, Sterling Morrison from the Velvet Underground.
