I Was There

A reader’s recollection of a key music event

This month: The

Beatles, Capitol

Cinema, Cardiff, 7

November 1964

It’s November 1964, I’m

16 years old, and my dad is driving me and my then-boyfriend John from

Port Talbot to Cardiff in our grey Austin A55.

The reason: I’m going to my first ever live music concert. The venue:

The Capitol Cinema.

The artistes: well, I can hardly believe it, but The Beatles are the headline act.

We arrive in good time for the 6:30pm show and with our tickets (7/6 in old money, 37.5p in new) safely in our pockets we make our way to the Cap. We take our seats early and I soak up the atmosphere and building excitement. Then the house lights go down and Bob Bain the compère gets things underway. The package includes: Sounds Incorporated; The Remo Four; Tommy Quickly; and, closing the first half with her hit My Guy, Mary Wells.

During the break anticipation continues to build and the screaming moves through the decibels. The noise is ratcheted up to unbelievable levels as John, Paul, George and Ringo take to the stage and open with Twist And Shout. My seat is quite close to one of the speakers but, because of the screaming, I still have trouble hearing the music. I’m not sure I can recall the complete setlist but I can remember singing along to: Can’t

Buy Me Love; A Hard Day’s Night; I Wanna Be Your Man – although, in truth, I was more familiar with the Stones’ version of the latter. John took lead vocals on what would become one of my alltime favourites, I Should Have Known Better.

My first experience of live music ended on a high with a rocking version of Long Tall Sally, with the screaming at its loudest (I even joined in at one point). Exhausted, as I stepped out onto Queen Street and the fresh air hit me, virtually deaf, I remember wondering, wow, how do I top that?

I couldn’t – I was unable to get a ticket for The Beatles’ 1965 Capitol show, which turned out to be their final UK tour date.

Marj Sheen