The Beatles

6 Jul 1957 – 10 Apr 197072 items

music
The Beatles wave to fans on arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, 7 February 1964. Photo: United Press International, via the Library of Congress. Public domain.
The Beatles wave to fans on arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, 7 February 1964. Photo: United Press International, via the Library of Congress. Public domain.

From a church fête to a rooftop

Thirteen years separate the afternoon a 15-year-old Paul McCartney watched John Lennon’s skiffle group at a Liverpool garden fête and the April day McCartney told the press he had no plans to work with the Beatles again. In between: two and a half years in the clubs of Hamburg, 292 appearances at the Cavern, Beatlemania, three years of touring the world to audiences who screamed too loudly to hear them, and three more years in the studio making records nobody had imagined.

How it is laid out

  • Bands for the eras: the Quarrymen, Hamburg, the touring years, Beatlemania, the studio years and the break-up.

  • Albums as events on their UK release dates.

  • The rooftop concert of 30 January 1969, zoomed in to the minute: the police at the door, the police on the roof, the last joke.

Threads to follow

Filter by live, albums, recording, television or lineup (who joined, who left). Places have their own: germany, usa, japan and india. controversy and religion follow 1966, the year it went wrong.

I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we’ve passed the audition. — John Lennon, on the roof of 3 Savile Row

Dates are local. The rooftop times are UTC: Britain was on British Standard Time all year in 1969, an hour ahead of Greenwich, so the notes give the London clock.

Items

  1. The Quarrymen

    ≈ 3 years, 1 month

  2. John meets Paul at the Woolton fête

    St Peter’s Church, Woolton, Liverpool

  3. George Harrison joins the Quarrymen

  4. “That’ll Be the Day” cut to disc

    Phillips’ Sound Recording Services, 38 Kensington, Liverpool

  5. The Casbah Coffee Club opens

    Casbah Coffee Club, 8 Hayman’s Green, West Derby

  6. The Hamburg residencies

    ≈ 2 years, 4 months · Hamburg

  7. Opening night at the Indra

    Indra, Große Freiheit 64, Hamburg

  8. The Kaiserkeller, alternating with Rory Storm

    Kaiserkeller, Große Freiheit 36, Hamburg

  9. George Harrison deported for being under age

  10. First Cavern Club appearance

    The Cavern Club, Mathew Street, Liverpool

  11. Backing Tony Sheridan on “My Bonnie”

    Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Harburg, Hamburg

  12. Brian Epstein sees them at the Cavern

    The Cavern Club, Mathew Street, Liverpool

  13. The Decca audition

    Decca Studios, 165 Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead

  14. Stuart Sutcliffe dies

    Hamburg

  15. The Star-Club opens

    Star-Club, Große Freiheit 39, Hamburg

  16. The EMI audition at Abbey Road

    EMI Studios (Abbey Road Studios), London

  17. Pete Best is sacked

  18. Ringo Starr’s first show as a Beatle

    Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, Wirral

  19. “Love Me Do”

  20. “Please Please Me”

  21. The touring years

    ≈ 3 years, 6 months

  22. An album in a day

    EMI Studios (Abbey Road Studios), London

  23. Please Please Me

  24. Beatlemania

    ≈ 1 year, 10 months

  25. Sunday Night at the London Palladium

    London Palladium, Argyll Street

  26. The Royal Variety Performance

    Prince of Wales Theatre, London

  27. With the Beatles

  28. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” tops the US chart

  29. Landing at JFK

    John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York

  30. The Ed Sullivan Show

    CBS Studio 50, 1697 Broadway, New York

  31. The top five on Billboard

  32. A canal tour of Amsterdam, with a stand-in drummer

    The canals of central Amsterdam

  33. Adelaide turns out

    Adelaide Town Hall, South Australia

  34. A Hard Day’s Night premieres

    London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus

  35. A Hard Day’s Night

  36. Beatles for Sale

  37. Help!

  38. Shea Stadium

    Shea Stadium, Queens, New York

  39. An evening with Elvis

    565 Perugia Way, Bel Air, Los Angeles

  40. MBEs at Buckingham Palace

    Buckingham Palace, London

  41. Rubber Soul

  42. “We’re more popular than Jesus now”

  43. Five shows at the Budokan

    2 days · Nippon Budokan, Tokyo

  44. The Manila snub

    Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, Manila

  45. Revolver

  46. Lennon explains himself in Chicago

    Astor Tower Hotel, Chicago

  47. The last concert, at Candlestick Park

    Candlestick Park, San Francisco

  48. The studio years

    ≈ 2 years, 8 months · EMI Studios (Abbey Road Studios), London

  49. “Strawberry Fields Forever” / “Penny Lane”

  50. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

  51. “All You Need Is Love” on Our World

    EMI Studios (Abbey Road Studios), London

  52. Brian Epstein dies

    24 Chapel Street, Belgravia, London

  53. Magical Mystery Tour on Boxing Day

  54. With the Maharishi in Rishikesh

    1 month, 26 days · Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram, Rishikesh

  55. Starr walks out

  56. “Hey Jude” launches Apple Records

  57. The Beatles (the White Album)

  58. The Get Back sessions

    29 days

  59. Harrison quits

    Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets

  60. Yellow Submarine

  61. The rooftop concert

    42 minutes · Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London

  62. Police arrive at Apple

    Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London

  63. “One After 909”

    Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London

  64. Police on the roof

    Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London

  65. The amplifiers go off

    Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London

  66. “I hope we’ve passed the audition”

    Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London

  67. The Abbey Road crossing photograph

    The zebra crossing outside EMI Studios, Abbey Road

  68. The last session with all four

    EMI Studios (Abbey Road Studios), London

  69. The break-up

    6 months, 22 days

  70. Lennon tells the others he is leaving

    Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London

  71. Abbey Road

  72. McCartney announces his break with the Beatles