The Beatles played their last paid concert on August 29, 1966. It wasn’t supposed to be their last concert when the tour started, but after the tour from Hell, they called it quits. The Fab Four were not thrilled with the tour from the beginning. Their studio work had evolved, but concerts in outdoor arenas did not allow their musicianship to show. The songs from their latest album “Revolver” could not be played live. Back then amps were not powerful enough to overcome the size of the stadiums and the screams of the girls. It was hard to hear yourself playing and it resulted in sloppy playing and boredom. It was so bad that Ringo had to keep time by looking at the butts wiggling in front of him. The fans didn’t care that they couldn’t hear the lyrics. “If I wanted to hear their music, I would buy the album,” said a fan. Lennon would have fun by singing “I Wanna Hold Your Gland”. No one could tell. But the boredom was joined by fear after Lennon made his famous crack about the Beatles being “bigger than Jesus” before the tour began. It was part of a comment about Christianity being doomed. This did not go over well in the fundamentalist South. Albums were burned, songs were boycotted, and death threats were made. In Memphis, a firecracker during the concert caused the other three to look at John to see if he was still standing. In St. Louis, the quartet risked electrocution playing in a rainstorm. In the second to last show in Los Angeles, fans rushed the stage and were met by club-wielding cops. 25 were arrested and dozens were injured. The band had to leave in an armored car. The next day was the last concert, in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. By that time, they had unanimously agreed it would be their swan song. When they arrived, the gates were locked. They had to drive around chased by fans. There were 25,000 fans who paid $4.50-6.50 for tickets. 7,000 tickets went unsold. There were FOUR opening acts: the Remains, Bobby Hebb (“Sunny”), the Cyrkle (“Red Rubber Ball”), and Beatles’ favorites The Ronettes (but not with Veronica Bennett because her boyfriend Phil Spector was jealous of Paul). The Beatles played 11 songs for 33 minutes. They opened with Chuck Berry’s “Rock n’ Roll Music” and ended with Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally”. They did not play their current single “Eleanor Rigby / Yellow Submarine”. Knowing it was their last show, they asked press agent Tony Barrow to tape it on his cassette recorder. Unfortunately, it was 30 minutes on a side and he didn’t flip it so only part of the last song was taped.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/remembering-beatles-final-concert-247497/
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