Photos of Dundee Beatles concert up for auction

PHOTOGRAPHS of The Beatles in Dundee are to go under the hammer at the end of the month.

The October 1964 photographs and negatives, which are being sold with full copyright, contain candid images of the Fab Four being interviewed, crowds surrounding their car as they arrive, shots of them on stage at the Caird Hall, and scenes of frenzied fans.

It was the last time the group played at the venue and their set couldn’t even be heard.

A year after their first city gig, The Beatles played to a packed-out concert hall with 6,000 teenage girls drowning out the band’s songs.

Ecstatic fans screaming until they collapsed was common at a Beatles concert, but reports of their last show in the city said the “bedlam” was on a new level.

A newspaper report from the day after said: “Almost a year ago, I stood deafened and dazed at the fantastic welcome given to John, Paul, George and Ringo on their first visit to the city.

“Compared with last night’s earsplitting bedlam, that earlier occasion sounded like the ‘ pop’ from damp framework.”

As McCartney graced the stage, the noise levels rose to deafening and “nerve-tingling” proportions.

The report said “scores” of paramedics were called into action to help collapsing fans, as songs such as She Loves You and Love Me Do only managed to reach the ears of the first couple of rows.

The photographs, taken by Dundeebased professional photographer Winnie Forbes-Cochrane, are up for sale alongside a black and white cine film of The Beatles during their stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in St Fillans on the banks of Loch Earn during their 1964 tour.

The film is expected to sell for £4,000 at a specialist Beatles auction by Omega Auctions in Merseyside on March 24.

One of the prints.