Beatlemania in Oz, yeah!

1964 John, Paul, George & Jimmy

The Beatles arrived in Australia at Darwin airport at the beginning of their ‘down under’ tour. An enterprising Australian promoter had booked them some time prior to their major international success, at a price that by this day had become ludicrous. However, Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, was a true gentleman and honoured the contract to bring the Fab Four to the antipodes, despite the fact that they made no money on the tour and could easily have paid out the contract.

Much to the fans’ disappointment, Ringo Starr wasn’t there, but at home in London hospital with a bad case of tonsillitis. The band hired Jimmy Nicol as a stand-in for Ringo. He only played a few shows before Mr Starkey arrived on June 14. A press typo at the time had fans believing the Beatles’ drummer had had his ‘toenails’ removed. Their opening act was Kiwi rocker, Johnny Devlin, the guy who introduced The Stomp dance to Oz with 'Avalon Stomp'.

Record crowds in ‘the City of Churches’
The next day, the Fab Four hit Adelaide, South Australia. There, even though it was a working day (Friday), not a weekend, an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 people – out of a population of fewer than 900,000 – lined the streets to see the band. Very few crowds in history, it’s been said, had been bigger anywhere – Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral being a notable exception with about one million. Big stars had rarely been to Adelaide before, but the Beatles’ amazing success there helped put the town on the world entertainment map and must have contributed to the small city’s current standing as one of the cultural centres of Australia.

Australia was Beatle crazy, and the Mop Tops said they were overwhelmed by the size of reception in each Australian city they played: Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, larger than the crowds in any country. ...