We Found A Revived Beatles Performance In Germany In 1966

The Beatles’ brief 1966 tour of West Germany, Japan, and the Philippines started in Germany, with two concerts at the Circus-Krone-Bau in Munich.

The inaugural performances took place on June 24 at 5:15 and 9:15 p.m. Hung On You, a new store in Chelsea, created a pair of dark green suits for the Fab Four with silk lapels that they all wore. The second program was videotaped by ZDF and broadcast on their network on July 5th for fifteen minutes. Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, The Rattles, and Peter and Gordon were also on the lineup for the tour that Bravo Magazine funded.

Musicologist Walter Everett claims that the film of the Beatles’ concert in Munich shows them performing poorly due to the volume of their audience. “Yesterday” was presented by George Harrison as being from Beatles For Sale, and “I’m Down” was delayed as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Harrison conferred onstage over the first verse’s lyrics. Nonetheless, McCartney messed up every verse. Author Steve Turner claims that the tour was characterized by mediocre performances that were hidden by riotous yelling and that for the first time, the police of the host country beat and brutalized the frantic spectators.

Reportedly, The Beatles named their upcoming album Revolver on this night after finishing its recording sessions three days prior.

“Revolver did not mean a gun, but something that revolves, like a record,” Barry Miles, the author of Many Years from Now, wrote. Johnny Dean, the editor of Beatles Monthly, was with them on the night of 24 June 1966 in a Munich hotel room when they named the latter. At first, they had all four wanted to call it Abracadabra, but someone had already used it. Pendulums and Fat Man and Bobby were other ideas. Ringo suggested having a joke with the Rolling Stones by calling it After Geography since the Stones had just done Aftermath! John proposed Beatles on Safari and Paul came up with Magic Circle. John changed this to Four Sides Of The Circle and Four Sides Of The Eternal Triangle, which somehow led them to Revolver.”

Check out the enhanced footage of the Munich concert by the Beatles below.