International Amphitheatre, Chicago, USA

The Beatles flew into the United States from London Airport on August 11th, landing at Boston and switching planes there within minutes for Chicago. That evening they hosted their usual one-a-city press conference,  this one relieved of its usual monotony by a resolution of the "We're more popular than Jesus" now, in which John, supported by the three Beatles, tried to placate the American public about his famous statement. Naturally, the Beatles' press conferences were usually filmed and recorded by local radio and TV stations, but this one carried additional worldwide interest so extracts were screened in news rograms around the world. In the US, the three TV networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC, all screened special programs in the evening.

The Beatles began their 14-date final tour with a concert at Chicago's International Amphitheater, a venue they had previously played in September 1964.

They played two shows, at 3pm and 7.30pm, each of which was seen by 13,000 people. Support acts for the entire tour were The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes.

The Beatles' standard set throughout the tour 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 I'm Down. During the tour they occasionally substituted the final song with Long Tall Sally.

The International Amphitheatre stood at 42nd Street and South Halsted. It became unable to attract enough large events during the 1970s and 1980s and suffered a decline. The venue was demolished in August 1999.

The Beatles Interview at London Airport - August 10, 1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7rC5cm7kR8

Birmingham disc jockeys Tommy Charles, left, and Doug Layton of Radio Station WAQY rip and break materials representing the British singing group the “Beatles” on August 8, 1966. The broadcasters started a “Ban the Beatles” campaign after Beatle John Lennon was quoted as saying his group is more popular than Jesus. Charles took exception to the statement as “absurd and sacrilegious.”

The Beatles taking a break before the US tour.

Brian Epstein held a press conference the day before.

In an attempt to defuse the controversy surrounding John Lennon's comments that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus", the group's manager Brian Epstein held a special press conference.

Despite suffering from glandular fever, in the morning he had cut short his holiday in Portmeirion, north Wales, and flown from England to the US.

Epstein was fearful that The Beatles' imminent US tour might have to be cancelled, as by this point public outcry had grown to the extent that 30 US radio stations had banned The Beatles' records.

The press conference was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan, New York. Epstein began by reading a statement approved by Lennon, before taking questions from the press.

The quote which John Lennon made to a London columnist nearly three months ago has been quoted and misrepresented entirely out of context of the article, which was in fact highly complimentary to Lennon as a person and was understood by him to be exclusive to the Evening Standard. It was not anticipated that it would be displayed out of context and in such a manner as it was in an American teenage magazine.

Lennon didn't mean to boast about the Beatles' fame. He meant to point out that the Beatles' effect appeared to be a more immediate one upon, certainly, the younger generation. John is deeply concerned and regrets that people with certain religious beliefs should have been offended.

Q: We're wondering whether you're going to change the itinerary of The Beatles to avoid areas where the radio stations are now burning their records and their pictures?

This is highly unlikely. I've spoken to many of the promoters this morning. When I leave here, I have a meeting with several of the promoters who are anxious that the concerts should not be cancelled, at all. Actually, if any of the promoters were so concerned and wish that the concerts be cancelled, I wouldn't, in fact, stand in their way.

Cavendish Ave. London

The Granada Television documentary "The Music Of Lennon & Paul McCartney" had been a celebration of the pair's songwriting, a number of their compositions being performed by a range of artists in the TV studio. Now, nine months later, John and Paul were involved in a similar production for BBC radio, a one-hour programme entitled "The Lennon and McCartney Songbook", the only difference between this and the TV show being that the two Beatles cast their critical eye over 15 recorded and already released versions of their handiwork, by such artists as Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, the Mamas and the Papas and, remarkably, the Band of the Irish Guards (which had issued "She Loves You").

Although set to have been recorded at John's house in Weybridge, Surrey, the location was switched beforehand to Paul's in St. John's Wood, north London, to where BBC producer Derek Chinnery and the interviewer Keith Fordyce traveled. Taping took place from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, interrupted only by the arrival of tea and the whining of Paul's newly acquired sheepdog puppy, Martha. The production was broadcast by the Light Programme between 4:30 and 5:30 pm on "bank holiday", Monday, August 29th, while the Beatles were in America about to give their last concert performance.

The programme was also pressed onto disc and distributed to subscribing overseas radio stations by the BBC's Transcription Service. Here, without the music, it lasted just 13 minutes and was renamed Songwriters Extraordinary - Lennon And McCartney.

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn

August 5, 1966: The Beatles Get Psychedelic With 'Revolver'

“Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.”

The sixties were about to get an injection of psychedelia with The Beatles’ Revolver. These lyrics from “Tomorrow Never Knows” are the perfect primer for an album that changed the course of Beatles history, and rock and roll, forever.

The acid-influenced masterpiece spawned hits such as “Yellow Submarine,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Got to Get You Into My Life,” all of which cracked the top-20 of the Billboard Charts.

Coming off the heels of Rubber Soul, a turning point for The Beatles had been reached. Soul started to introduce some folk rock themes while keeping a pop rock tune. Then Revolver took those changes and ran with them.

“Their ideas now were beginning to become much more potent in the studio,” said producer George Martin in a documentary, “and they would start telling me what they wanted, and they would start pressing me for more ideas and more ways for translating those ideas into reality.”

Experimentation fueled the Fab Four’s creativity. Many Beatleologists call this album their “acid album” while Rubber Soul was their “weed” album. They even started experimenting with backwards guitar solos and Indian-flavored tunes and instruments.

“That’s the first record with backwards music on it,” said Lennon in the same documentary. “Before Hendrix, before The Who, before any f*ckers.”

Revolver was certified 5x platinum by RIAA and spent six weeks atop the Billboard charts.Rolling Stone ranked it as the No. 3 album of all-time in their “500 Greatest Albums” list, and it was their second-best selling album at the time behind its predecessor Rubber Soul.

Through the years, Revolver has stood the test of time as one of the most innovative albums in history. It seemed impossible for The Beatles to be able to replicate the success and creativity of that album...until they replicated the success and creativity of that album less than a year later with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Getting ready for the US Tour.

Getting ready for the tour