Memories of the legendary four
local village hall five miles away to hear The Melotones.”
Margaret Paterson was 17 and going on her first date with her late husband Tommy.
“I thought he had stood me up,” she said. “It was almost over when Tommy’s friend remembered to tell me to go to the Strathpeffer gig and Tommy would meet me there.
“I sat on the stage all night chatting to The Beatles and Paul in particular, who told me not to be upset as there were more fish in the sea than ever came out of it.” MUSEUM HALL, BRIDGE OF ALLAN, JANUARY 5, 1963
Andi Lothian was the promoter for the concert, which had a crowd consisting of “96 drunk young farmers and four women”.
“The place was
j ust
a rammie,” Andi said. “I was quite despondent as we had lost money on the event.” BEACH BALLROOM, ABERDEEN, JANUARY 6, 1963
Bill Cowie, 15 at the time, and his brother Mike turned up early, so knocked on the stage door and were invited in to meet them.
“They were tuning their guitars and discussing their playlist,” Bill recalled.
He requested Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen, which John later dedicated to the “lads in the front row”. After the first set, Bill and Mike went back to the dressing room and Paul offered them a cup of tea.
After wards, Kathleen Donald, 15, and her friend Pat Masson knocked on the dressing room door for autographs.
“When I got married and left my parents’ home, my mum had a clear- out and threw away the a u t o g r a p h s ,” Kathleen said. “Can you imagine? When I tackled her about it, she said ‘Oh, it was just a few names on a bit of paper’.” CARLTON THEATRE, KIRKCALDY, OCTOBER 6, 1963
The day after the Aberdeen show, Andi Lothian and Albert Bonici tur ned up unannounced at Brian Epstein’s London office and said they wanted to book the band again, but would only pay them £ 30 a night rather than £40 like the last time.
Epstein said they could have the band, but the fee would be £ 500 per night. Knowing they were going to be massive, they agreed. By the time the Fab Four arrived in Kirkcaldy, they