It all feels like Yesterday to the countless fans who screamed their hearts out. The Beatles visited Leeds four times in total in the early 1960s. The Fab Four first took to the stage in the city at the Queen’s Hall in 1963, on the same bill as Acker Bilk. They returned in June 1963 and on that occasion, dozens of police were employed for crowd control. The Beatles also appeared at the Leeds Odeon in November 1963 and October 1964. Were you among the audience? READ MORE: 10 loved and lost Leeds nightclubs from the 1960s and 1970s LOVE LEEDS? LOVE NOSTALGIA? Join Leeds Retro on facebook YEP RETRO NEWSLETTER: Sign up for our free monthly email digest of Leeds nostalgia
7. The Beatles in Leeds
When the Beatles appeared in 1963 your YEP carried a report which said fans screamed so loud it was virtually impossible to hear the band playing. Photo: West Yorkshire Archive Service
8. The Beatles to Leeds
The review in the YEP read: “For 27 ear-splitting minutes, I tried to listen to The Beatles during the first performance of their one-night stand at The Odeon. But as soon as the group appeared on stage it was mass hysteria from the 2,500 capacity audience. Even the powerful amplifiers could not pierce the non-stop screaming. Constant appeals from members of the group for the audience to ‘shut up’ met with even more screaming. How well they sang is anybody’s guess." Photo: Third Party
9. The Beatles in Leeds
Apparently, the group’s last number, Twist and Shout, brought pandemonium as scores of girls rose from their seats and surged forward toward the stage. Usherettes were lost in a seething mass of waving arms and legs. The review added: “It was as if the whole audience had been sprayed with an infectious screaming virus. Three minutes after the curtain fell, they were still yelling.” Photo: Michael Webb/Getty
10. The Beatles in Leeds
However, comments on the event just days later, members of the band said it was nothing out of the ordinary. John Lennon said: “The Leeds audience was no noisier than we have had anywhere else, apart from Glasgow.” Photo: Edward Wing
11. The Beatles in Leeds
Paul McCartney agreed: “Some people think it frightens us even. We will be frightened when the noise stops. We’ll begin to look at ourselves and ask, what’s wrong.” Photo: Edward Wing
12. The Beatles in Leeds
Ringo Starr on the drum kit of Peter Jay and the Jaywalking Rockmen. This was taken backstage at the Odeon in November 1963. Photo: West Yorkshire Archive Service