The Beatles - Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years

duotone

Just a heads up that this is now on Amazon Prime!

richardhomer

I know - I discovered this the day I bought the DVD....

Highly recommended to anyone interested in the Beatles - what amazed me when I watched it, was how good they were live. Remarkably in tune/time given the lack of monitors.

John_P

Thanks for the heads up - I enjoyed that.   The footage about touring was really interesting.  

Danny1969

I saw it in the cinema when it was first show. I was a bit dispointed though, I had seen just about all that footage before, being a  Beatle's nut 
Guitar tunings were a bit funky but vocals were amazing 

boogieman

Oooh, we've got Prime, will have to watch it. Is it just live concert footage? If so I'm intrigued how Ron Howard can claim it's his film? 

english_bob

boogieman said:

Oooh, we've got Prime, will have to watch it. Is it just live concert footage? If so I'm intrigued how Ron Howard can claim it's his film? 

No, it's not. It's a documentary. A lot of what you see on the screen is concert footage (because it's more fun to watch than old Ringo and old Paul talking) but Howard has done a lot of interviews for the film and obviously assembled all the stuff you see in to a coherent narrative structure.

not_the_dj

Had this on my "watchlist" on prime for a couple of weeks, must get around to actually watching it. 

earwighoney

In the film, is there concert footage of the band playing 'Paint it Black'?

english_bob

earwighoney said:

In the film, is there concert footage of the band playing 'Paint it Black'?

mudslide73

Very good so far. Killer little looks and queues in the songs - they're like a pub band in a stadium. I agree with the assessment of how good they were live without being able to hear anything but screaming kids. 

Edit: Great little beat combo. Great footage of "When I saw her standing there" with a mini rave up after George's guitar solo - properly exciting. 

not_the_dj

Watched it last night.  Some great clips and gave a good feeling of what those years were like, especially the madness of those US tours, 25 cities in 30 days. 

Would have liked more complete song clips though, and I'm not sure the "live" footage always matched up with the audio. Also no impression of how long the shows on their early tours actually were, I seem to recall they were pretty short gigs. 

RocknRollDave

not_the_dj said:

Also no impression of how long the shows on their early tours actually were, I seem to recall they were pretty short gigs. 

In Thimblemill Baths, which is the local swimming baths in Bearwood, where I live, which is in itself a failry non-descript part of the outskirts of Birmingham, they had a display up a few years ago about the bands that played there in the 60's - They used to cover the main pool over. Kinks, Stones, Beatles, Who...all the bands now that you would expect to have played massive, hugely significant venues. The notes said that the Beatles played the baths in the afternoon then went off to West Bromwich (just a few miles away) for another gig in the evening.

This gives us an impression of not just how short each gig must have been, but also how simple their set-up must have been, and also how many gigs they must have got through - Instead of playing a larger venue in Brum, they play lots of little gigs around the area. Crazy, really, by today's standards, but my God, imagine seeing the Beatles at such close range?!

EricTheWeary

RocknRollDave said:

not_the_dj said:

Also no impression of how long the shows on their early tours actually were, I seem to recall they were pretty short gigs. 

In Thimblemill Baths, which is the local swimming baths in Bearwood, where I live, which is in itself a failry non-descript part of the outskirts of Birmingham, they had a display up a few years ago about the bands that played there in the 60's - They used to cover the main pool over. Kinks, Stones, Beatles, Who...all the bands now that you would expect to have played massive, hugely significant venues. The notes said that the Beatles played the baths in the afternoon then went off to West Bromwich (just a few miles away) for another gig in the evening.

This gives us an impression of not just how short each gig must have been, but also how simple their set-up must have been, and also how many gigs they must have got through - Instead of playing a larger venue in Brum, they play lots of little gigs around the area. Crazy, really, by today's standards, but my God, imagine seeing the Beatles at such close range?!

They played The Cavern Club, Thimblemill Baths and the Adelphi Ballroom in West Brom on the same day. Presumably fairly short sets ( how long did it take to drive from Liverpool to the West Midlands in 1962?) . The Adelphi burned down in the 1970s. On that spot now is Unity House which is the non descript office building that I named ( odd but true) and used to work in. The Beatles also played somewhere in Old Hill ( an area of the West Midlands that makes Bearwood seem  positively glamorous)which is perhaps testimony to how busy the live music scene was once upon a time.

Google says it was the Plaza in Old Hill: nice story about Denny Laine being in the support act The Diplomats and Macca complimenting him on playing Take Five, saying Ringo couldn't have done it. 

Trude

My Mum saw them at Portsmouth Guildhall.  2nd row from the front, and in those days there were no security barriers!

DesVegas

I randomly watched this last night and enjoyed it immensely. I stopped it before Jonny got shot. May well watch the end another time though. 7 / 10

Danny1969

Sets were short and consisted mainly of covers in the early days, actually all covers really. A couple of originals were played at the Cavern club I think .... those sessions were mainly lunchtime gigs. 

I can heartily recommend Mark Lewisohn's book The Beatles : All these Years : Volume 1

It's a painstakingly researched work on the early years, Volume 2 is out soon 

vale

they played like demons in their hamburg & cavern days. thrash 60s r&b, speed & hormones all-nighters. lived & breathed rock & roll from dawn to dusk & beyond.
& even though i'm not into guys (lovely as they are for friends) i can totally see why teenage girls wet themselves with lust for the whole scene; four super-hot boys in leather, sweaty little club, amphets & shots, drums pounding & bass shaking your insides.

sex is what the best old school rock & roll is about. music just a conduit. in repressed times (1950s cultural mores & fear of pregnancy) kids had to find a time & a place to let it all out. & it always has to come out.
maybe i'm romanticising it but i'd like to imagine it was so.

RocknRollDave

EricTheWeary said:

RocknRollDave said:

not_the_dj said:

Also no impression of how long the shows on their early tours actually were, I seem to recall they were pretty short gigs. 

In Thimblemill Baths, which is the local swimming baths in Bearwood, where I live, which is in itself a failry non-descript part of the outskirts of Birmingham, they had a display up a few years ago about the bands that played there in the 60's - They used to cover the main pool over. Kinks, Stones, Beatles, Who...all the bands now that you would expect to have played massive, hugely significant venues. The notes said that the Beatles played the baths in the afternoon then went off to West Bromwich (just a few miles away) for another gig in the evening.

This gives us an impression of not just how short each gig must have been, but also how simple their set-up must have been, and also how many gigs they must have got through - Instead of playing a larger venue in Brum, they play lots of little gigs around the area. Crazy, really, by today's standards, but my God, imagine seeing the Beatles at such close range?!

They played The Cavern Club, Thimblemill Baths and the Adelphi Ballroom in West Brom on the same day. Presumably fairly short sets ( how long did it take to drive from Liverpool to the West Midlands in 1962?) . The Adelphi burned down in the 1970s. On that spot now is Unity House which is the non descript office building that I named ( odd but true) and used to work in. The Beatles also played somewhere in Old Hill ( an area of the West Midlands that makes Bearwood seem  positively glamorous)which is perhaps testimony to how busy the live music scene was once upon a time.

Google says it was the Plaza in Old Hill: nice story about Denny Laine being in the support act The Diplomats and Macca complimenting him on playing Take Five, saying Ringo couldn't have done it. 

Wow awarded.  Cavern as well, ON THE SAME DAY?!

boogieman

Trude said:

My Mum saw them at Portsmouth Guildhall.  2nd row from the front, and in those days there were no security barriers!

I saw them with my mum at the State cinema in Kilburn, NW London. First gig I ever went to I think it was 1963, I would have been 9. "Saw them" is the operative phrase, they could have been playing anything the girls were screaming so much. They had about 3 or 4 support acts so I'm guessing it was only a short set, maybe 30 minutes. My mum remembers it costing 5 bob: 25p.  

duotone

Danny1969 said:

Sets were short and consisted mainly of covers in the early days, actually all covers really. A couple of originals were played at the Cavern club I think .... those sessions were mainly lunchtime gigs. 

I can heartily recommend Mark Lewisohn's book The Beatles : All these Years : Volume 1

It's a painstakingly researched work on the early years, Volume 2 is out soon 

i can't wait for part 2. I got the audiobook for part 1, which was incredible.  Any idea when it's released?

Danny1969

duotone said:

Danny1969 said:

Sets were short and consisted mainly of covers in the early days, actually all covers really. A couple of originals were played at the Cavern club I think .... those sessions were mainly lunchtime gigs. 

I can heartily recommend Mark Lewisohn's book The Beatles : All these Years : Volume 1

It's a painstakingly researched work on the early years, Volume 2 is out soon 

i can't wait for part 2. I got the audiobook for part 1, which was incredible.  Any idea when it's released?

Mark said in his blog that 2020 was likely so we got a long wait