THE small advert, in the Glasgow entertainments page that day - October 21, 1964 - looks incongruous, sandwiched between the Gregory Peck/Omar Sharif/Anthony Quinn film, Behold A Pale Horse, at La Scala, and Sink the Bismark, at the Classic. But there it is: Odeon Renfield Street, tonight at 6.15 and 9, presented by Arthur Howes and Brian Epstein: THE BEATLES. “All seats sold,” it added, a trifle unnecessarily.
The previous night, the world’s biggest group had played two concerts to 6,000 fans at Dundee’s Caird Hall, where “several swooning girls were assisted”. The sheer noise, this newspaper noted, “transcended their welcome of a year ago and not a note of their performance was audible even from the front seats.” In the audience was the Countess of Strathmore, who had “motored from Glamis” to meet the musicians.
As the concert time neared at the Odeon, mounted police kept a close eye on hundreds of fans, not all of whom had tickets. The police had their hands full, with four cars being overturned and shop windows being smashed. Eight teenagers and a man of 21 were arrested during disturbances. Drink had been taken in more than a few cases.
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Herald DiaryTwo teenagers seen shouting and struggling in Bath Street had ignored a police warning to move, and began fighting each other. “Perhaps,” the fiscal told Glasgow Central Police Court, “their excitement was caused by the visit of the Beatles.”
Lord Provost Peter Meldrum said the fans who smashed windows and overturned cars needed to be taught a “sharp lesson.” But the Odeon itself saw almost no litter, and slight damage to only one seat. The cleaners’ verdict? The cinema was a lot tidier than it had been during the run of the 007 film, Goldfinger.
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