Every Moment Has A Song

(via Sports Illustrated)

by Peter King

The last Beatles concert of all time was at Candlestick Park some 47-plus years ago, on Aug. 29, 1966. Tickets were $4.50 and $6.50, and only 25,000 of 43,000 tickets to the show were sold. The Beatles told no one this was the last show ever, but they knew it. They played 11 songs, including, “I Feel Fine,” “Nowhere Man,” “Yesterday,” and “Paperback Writer.” They finished, nondescriptly enough, with “Long Tall Sally.”

“Long Tall Sally.” Last song ever played by John, Paul, George and Ringo in concert. Now that’s … a letdown.

After the concert, the Beatles were driven to San Francisco International Airport and flew to London. The end.

The North American leg of their final tour was rather amazing. They performed 14 shows in 18 days. The first eight days, the Beatles played a show a night—in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, Philadelphia, Toronto, Boston (at the Suffolk Downs Race Track) and Memphis. They were supposed to play on a ninth straight night, in Cincinnati. But it rained so hard and the electrical equipment couldn’t be totally shielded from the rain at Crosley Field that night, so the promoter postponed the show. But 35,000 fans wanted to see the Beatles, and so the show went on the next day—at noon. It had to be at noon, because the Beatles had a show that night in St. Louis, 360 miles away. So when the show was over, around 1:30, the stuff was packed up and loaded onto an airplane, along with the Beatles, and they flew to St. Louis, where the Beatles played that night at 8:30 at the old Busch Stadium.

The Beatles played a doubleheader. In two baseball cities 360 miles apart. On the same day.

A site called Beatlesbible.com claims that was the day Paul McCartney was convinced the band should stop touring. It rained hard again in St. Louis that night, and who knows how safe it was, so the boys just thought the touring business was crazy (well, maybe they could have had a saner schedule and not fried themselves), and that tour was it.

So tonight, when the 49ers play their 350th games at the old ballyard, and you hear the poetic waxings about what great history happened in the place, you’ll know there was no greater history—not even The Catch—in the place than the night the Beatles played their final concert in the foggy chill of Candlestick Park.

Source: http://mmqb.si.com/2013/12/23/peyton-manning-cam-newton-week-16/4/