Day Tripper
August 29, 1966: The Beatles give their last paid full concert. The performance was held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. They performed eleven songs in front of an appreciative audience. A rough recording of the concert was not released, however much of the audio has found its way online. The audio cuts out during the last few minutes, leaving “Long Tall Sally” a little short. Film of the concert was taken by a 15-year-old in attendance and has been seen in a documentary called The Unseen Beatles. Other official footage from news teams from San Francisco and Sacramento are also included.
The Beatles were a British rock band made up of four people. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) became one of the most popular rock bands in history. The band was formed with five members early on and through shifting personnel changes, came to us in America as the Fab Four and led the second British Invasion. They began to gain popularity in 1962 with the release in the UK of their first single, “Love Me Do”. By the time they got to the US shores in 1964, Beatlemania was an international phenomenon.
The Beatles are the best-selling band in history with record sales of over 1 billion units. They also hold the record for #1 album spots in the UK and have held that spot for the longest time. They have won numerous awards both during their tenure and after their breakup in 1970. They were listed as the #1 artists in Billboard’s 2008 listing. As a group, they were listed as one of the top 100 most influential people of the last century. John was murdered in 1980 and George died in 2001. Paul continues to perform and is one of the wealthiest people in England. Ringo also continues to perform, both musically and as an actor.
Candlestick Park is in the Bayview Heights area of San Francisco. Ground breaking took place on August 12, 1958 and the stadium opened two years later. Construction costs ran to $15 million ($111 million in today’s dollars). The name has changed over time and now is once again back to being Candlestick Park. It is the home stadium of the San Francisco 49ers, a National Football League team. It has also been home to the San Francisco Giants, a Major League Baseball team and for one year (1961) was home to the Oakland Raiders, another NFL team. Owned and operated by the city and county, it seats 69,732 fans today.
Gene Autry was the most. It may sound like a joke – Go and have a look in my bedroom, It’s covered with Gene Autry posters. He was my first musical influence. – Ringo Starr
I wanted to be successful, not famous. – George Harrison
Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard. – Paul McCartney
If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace. – John Lennon
Also on this day:
Have You Hugged Your Hog Today? – In 1885, Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler patents the motorcycle.
Last Man Standing – In 1911, Ishi was found.
The Ashes – In 1882, The Ashes rivalry begins.
Little Bits of History 
The “one billion units” number came from Michael Jackson who was trying to sell his interest in the Beatles & Elvis Presley inventory quick because he was on the edge of forfeiting his share of the total package of the Beatles & Elvis Presley portfolio that he shared with Sony Music. Michael Jackson never even made a payment on the Beatles & Elvis Presley music so that was taken over by Sony Music in court action- Sony Music had put up the money to buy the music. Big trouble because of the greedy and bad finances of Michael Jackson has held up the development of that music but the big lie lives on(the one billion units). Me, I met the Beatles at LAX Airport in Los Angeles at a time that my fame was equal to or greater so we became sort of friends with one or the other or me calling me or one of them from time to time. One time Ringo called me to say to not bother going to the concert that this article is about because it would be third-rate, his words- later he said nobody wanted to use the video because the show was very bad. During a 1970s phone conversation John said he estimated their music at being about 200 million units in existence, as compared to sales. He pointed out to me that he was aware that some, including the Jacksons, made up phony contracts stating that x number of units were sold but these were never acted on- the numbers used in advertisements to boost sales. A current comparison I know of is one baseball player whose contract states that he is to be paid $100,00 a hit if he hits over 1,000 hits in the season that he hits the 1,000. Nobody is going to hit 1,000 hits in a season in the current season configeration- maybe triple the number of games but not now.