Seven ages of rock - a history of rock music over the past 50 years

Beatles At Shea Stadium

15 August 1965

At the peak of Beatlemania the Beatles embarked on their second tour of the US and one of expected highlights was going to be the performance at Shea Stadium on 15 August 1965. It was the first time a band had played at a major outdoor stadium and the promoter Sid Berstein had made what he thought were careful preparations. They had specially designed amps made by VOX to boost the sound and 2000 security staff were drafted in to look after the 55,000 people who had bought tickets for the event. It turned out that the amps weren't loud enough (because of the screaming of the fans) and they were forced into using the house amplification system normally used for baseball games. As a result neither the audience nor more crucially the Beatles could hear what they were playing. The crowd control didn't work either, at several points during the show the frenzied crowd broke through the security and charged towards the stage. It was both a groundbreaking and record breaking performance but one that would be remembered for what went wrong rather than what went right.