Blakeview: The Beatles played New Orleans 60 years ago this week

Their concert lasted only 30 minutes, but the Beatles’ one and only visit to New Orleans 60 years ago this month still brings vivid memories to many. On Sept. 16, 1964, the Beatles played their sold-out concert at City Park Stadium, later renamed Tad Gormley Stadium. It was one of 24 stops on their 32-day North American tour.

Beatlemania hit New Orleans just before 3 a.m. that day, when the chartered plane carrying the Fab Four — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — touched down at the airport in Kenner. Like most everywhere they went, the band was mobbed by fans when they arrived at the Congress Inn, a motel on Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans East. They held a press conference, where Mayor Victor Schiro presented them with keys to the city, proclaimed it Beatles Day and made them honorary citizens.

At the Beatles’ request, they were visited that night at the stadium by Fats Domino, who met them in their trailer. Meanwhile 12,000 frenzied fans grew impatient during the opening acts, which included Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Jackie DeShannon, the Bill Black Combo and the Exciters. By the time the stars took the stage, the crowd was hysterical and hundreds of teenagers poured out of their seats and onto the field.

“Policemen had to physically tackle some of the youths — mostly girls... It took 225 New Orleans policemen and special patrol guards more than 20 minutes to restore order,” reporter Clarence Doucet wrote in the next day’s Times-Picayune. “Police Supt. Joseph I. Giarrusso… called the episode one ‘that was both amusing and tragic at the same time.’”

Source: Blake Pontchartrain/nola.com

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