The Beatles' 1964 tour of Australia explained

The Beatles' 1964 tour of Australia was a several week tour performed by the British rock band the Beatles as a part of their 1964 world tour.^[1] It was their first and only tour of Australia. The tour was notable particularly because Jimmie Nicol had replaced a hospitalised Ringo Starr until the Beatles drummer was able to rejoin the tour from the Melbourne dates onward.^{[2] [3]}

Chronology

The Beatles' flight touched down at Sydney Airport just before 7:45am on Thursday June 11, 1964.^[4]

Next, following a day of rest in Sydney, the Beatles landed in Adelaide, and 12,000 tickets were sold out in just over five hours for four shows there, two each on 12 and 13 June.^[5] During their stay in Melbourne, crowds spilled out from the 45,000 (at the time) capacity Festival Hall for three nights in a row.^[6] During the entire course of the world tour, crowds sometimes topped six figures.^[7]

Between 18-20 June 1964, the Beatles performed six concerts at the Sydney Stadium in Rushcutters Bay.^[8]

Legacy

In 2014, as a 50 year anniversary, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation released a program about the tour.^[9]

Taylor Swift's success in Australia has also been compared to the tour.^[10]

Further reading

• Book: Armstrong, Greg . When We Was Fab: Inside the Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 . Neill . Andy . 2024-06-10 . 978-1-922800-68-8.

Notes and References

1. Book: Hayward, Mark . The Beatles in Australia . 2005 . New Holland Publishers Pty, Limited . 978-1-74110-417-2 . en.
2. Book: Johnson, Bruce . Popular Music and Australian Culture: Across the Grain . 2022-11-29 . Cambridge Scholars Publishing . 978-1-5275-9141-7 . 46 . en.
3. Book: Harry, Bill . Bill Harry

   . 1992 . Bill Harry . The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia . Virgin Books . London . 484. 0-86369-681-3 .

4. Web site: O'Brien . Philip . 2014-06-03 . The Beatles let it be in Australia: 1964 . 2024-02-02 . Sydney Morning Herald. en.
5. News: 2022-06-13 . A picture in time: the Beatles arrive in Adelaide on their 1964 Australian tour . 2024-02-02 . The Guardian. en-GB . 0261-3077.
6. Web site: 2019-06-27 . The Beatles Down Under: Part One . 2024-02-02 . Mixdown Magazine . en-AU.
7. Book: Creasy, Martin . Beatlemania! The Real Story of the Beatles UK Tours 1963-1965 . 2011-11-08 . Omnibus Press. 978-0-85712-719-8 . en.
8. Web site: The Beatles Concerts at the Sydney Stadium, June 1964 . 2024-02-02 . Municipality of Woollahra. en-AU.
9. Web site: 2014-06-08 . The band that fell to Oz: The Beatles tour of 1964 . 2024-02-02 . ABC listen . en-AU.
10. Web site: 2024-02-01 . Taylor Swift Australia: Why her Eras tour rivals the Beatles . 2024-02-02 . The Advertiser.