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[Xose]

Hi!!

I have just got this photo from a friend. Does anybody know when and where was taken??  

Thanks in advance and best wishes!!

Xosé

[lugubrutin]

[peterbell1]

I have seen this picture before - in one of the original "The Beatles Book" monthly magazines I think.
I think it was taken in Summer 1963 when the Beatles played at a number of seaside resorts around Britain.
The band turned up for the show but their instruments (and obviously their stage suits) had travelled separately and hadn't arrived.
So the Beatles borrowed instruments from one of the support bands.
The issue of The Beatles Book which features this photo also has a few others from the same day, and I'm sure there are some of The Beatles back-stage using these borrowed guitars.

[peterbell1]

Having done a bit more digging for information, I think it was taken at the Odeon Cinema Llandudno in Wales on 14 August 1963.
This was in the middle of a six-night residency in the town which began on 12th August.
On 14th August they travelled to Manchester in the daytime to record video clips of Twist and Shout and She Loves You for Granada TV. They took their instruments, including Ringo's drum kit, with them.

The Twist and Shout clip is here ...

The Beatles Twist & Shout (2009 Remastered Stereo)

I assume they had to hurry back to Llandudno after the TV recording had finished - maybe they went by car and their instruments came in a separate van.
Having looked at the Twist and Shout video, they don't seem to have taken their guitar amps with them since they were only miming to a pre-recorded song. This explains why you can see the usual Beatles amps in the concert photo (these stayed at the theatre in Llandudno) but they don't have their usual guitars and drums.

You can see that (apart from Ringo) they are wearing the same polo-neck sweaters in the clip as in the photo from the concert later the same day. My theory is that they took their stage suits to Manchester but decided to wear polo neck sweaters for the recording. Since the Beatles normally wore suits on stage at this time I'm thinking that their suits travelled from Manchester to Llandudno with the instruments and didn't arrive back in time for the show, which is why they are wearing their "daytime" clothes on stage.

[peterbell1]

Here's some scans of handbills and ticket stubs from the Llandudno concerts ....
http://www.fincharie.com/Beatles%20Pages/Concert%20Dates/12th17thAugust1963.htm

You can see the list of support acts on the handbills but I can't work out whose drum kit Ringo is using in that photo - does the bass drum say Billy J Kramer???

[Bobber]

You can see the list of support acts on the handbills but I can't work out whose drum kit Ringo is using in that photo - does the bass drum say Billy J Kramer???

It doesn't look like the Dakota's instruments:

[peterbell1]

Here's another pic of a Beatle using borrowed gear - from 25 April 1963 with Ringo using the Dakotas' drums at a NEMS showcase concert at Fairfield Halls, Croydon.



The bass drum doesn't look like the bass drum in the Llandudno picture, so I suppose it's fair to assume that the band didn't borrow the Dakotas equipment for that August 14th photo.

There is definitely an issue of The Beatles Book Monthly with more pics from that Llandudno gig - it probably says whose equipment they used. It was one of the Beatles Book issues from the 1970s/1980s, not the original 1960s run.


PS - I wonder what George, John and Ringo are looking at in that Croydon photo - Paul obviously hasn't noticed, whatever it is!!

PPS - I don't recall seeing a pic of the Beatles like this with George playing acoustic guitar and John playing electric. Does anyone have any idea what song they might be doing? Paul seems to be singing lead vocal. Something from the PPM album perhaps, since this is April 1963?

[tkitna]

I suppose Paul had to restring that bass.