How Sheffield played a key role in early career of The Beatles

The Fab Four performed at the City Hall on a bill that also included Helen Shapiro and Danny Williams on Saturday, March 2, 1963.

But people often forget, over and above the string of concerts the band performed in the city between 1963 and 1965, the starring role Sheffield actually had in the careers of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

The city was actually home to the mother of Brian Epstein, their Svengali-like manager who ended up nearly as famous as the band themselves.

18-year-old Malka, known to most as Queenie, married 29-year-old Harry Epstein at the Synagogue, Wilson Road, Sheffield 11, in 1933.

The band’s show at the Azena Ballroom in Gleadless is the one that has taken on almost mythical status.

There’s no doubt it was the show that helped put the show’s promoter Peter Stringfellow in a different league to his contemporaries.

The gig was originally booked for the home of Peter Stringfellow’s Black Cat Club, St Aiden’s Hall, but as the band’s career hit a vertical trajectory in the spring of 1963, so did ticket sales.

With 2,000 tickets sold he had no option to find a bigger venue. He tried for the Mecca dance hall but failed and opted for the Azena.

The scene was total carnage at the event with hundreds turning up without tickets; windows were smashed and the fire doors mysteriously opened.

In November that year The Beatles finally headlined Sheffield City Hall in their own right – they’d already performed there numerous times over the past months as part of bigger package tours as support to the likes of Helen Shapiro and Roy Orbison.

Star journalist Francis Mullions described it as “the night when Sheffield went Beatle-barmy” and tells the story of thousands of “frenzied screamagers” yelling themselves hoarse.

There were faintings and hundreds of fans still outside the stage door at midnight not realising the band had actually left within seconds of finishing – they didn’t even bother changing out of their stage clothes, they just ran!

There was no less chaos backstage either. The band – or at least their entourage - managed to snub Olympic long jumper Sheila Parkin who’d previously arranged to present them with a Top Stars Special Popularity Poll Award. When the Sheffield athlete turned up she was told the band were too tired to see anyone.

The Beatles said thank you and good night to the city on Wednesday, December 8, 1965, when they performed at the Gaumont as part of the band’s final British tour.

Story taken from the ‘Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1960s Sheffield’ – available from www.dirtystopouts.com for £14.95

*Content supplied by Neil Anderson.