30 May 1963
Concert:
Odeon Cinema, Oxford Street, Manchester, Lancashire
This date was originally scheduled for a concert at the Granada Cinema in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey.
"I "saw" Roy Orbison when he toured with the Beatles in 1964 [sic] at the Manchester Odeon. Roy, who had numerous hits at that stage, was Top of the Bill. The Beatles closed the first half of the show. By the time Roy came on to perform, the theatre had virtually emptied of the hundreds of teenage girls in the audience who had fled outside hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fab Four.
My friend Anna and I saw Roy sing a couple of bars of "Only the Lonely", looked at one another and, to my eternal shame and regret, fled the theatre too. By then, there were only a handful of people watching Roy - the theatre was almost empty. I do believe later in the tour the Beatles were moved so they were the final act and Roy closed the first half.
By the way, we didn't see the Beatles outside - they were long gone."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbpointsofview/NF1951566?thread=6163351&latest=1
"Harrison (George). An autograph letter undated but headed 'Odeon Manchester' and in an envelope postmarked Liverpool 1st June 1963.
This letter is written on the back of a letter from Judy Smith of Bristol, dated 21st May 1963 asking George Harrison if he knew when the Beatles were appearing in Weston-Super-Mare. The letter ends 'Glad you like the L.P. and bought it (your (sic) doing a grand job). Cheerio love from George Harrison (Beatles).'"
Source: Woolley & Wallis auction, 15 June 2011
"I first saw the Beatles at a concert on 30th May 1963, when Joan (my wife) and I visited the Odeon cinema in Manchester where we then lived and where I worked as theatre critic and columnist for the Northern edition of the London Daily Express. The Beatles were closing a remarkable 'package show' (a phrase of the 1950s and 1960s indicating a concert in which a sizeable number of recording artists performed for half an hour, or less, twice nightly, and mostly in cinemas) which included Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Roy Orbison. The promoter was Arthur Howes, a worthy man of the day.
Joan had see the Beatles on television and liked them very much. I had not seen them but, although word took a long time to reach newspapermen, I had heard of them and we both thought it would be a good night out. The show was quite astounding. We were on the front row, able to see every detail of the performance, although, untrained as we then were, we could scarcely hear the music above the loudest screaming we had ever experienced. The Beatles were excellent (so were Gerry and the Pacemakers and Roy Orbison) and it was quite clear that something exceptional was happening.
I wrote an excessively laudatory review, stating that "the Liverpool Sound had come to Manchester" and that it had been "magnificent" and that because of it, "popular music had, after years of unspeakable rubbish, become healthy and good again". I described the Beatles as "fresh, cheeky, sharp and young" and even now these words are as good as any to explain what they were like and after show they were all as one to me; I had no idea who was who. To compress what followed... I interviewed their manager, Brian Epstein, followed, noted and reported every scintilla off their progress every single day thereafter and became a regenerate Beatlemaniac."
Derek Taylor, I Me Mine
"The Liverpool Sound came to Manchester last night, and I thought it was magnificent... Indecipherable, meaningless nonsense, of course, but as beneficial and invigorating as a week on a beach at the pierhead overlooking the Mersey... I suppose there is not - yet - a first-class musician among them... Their stage manner has little polish but limitless energy, and they have in abundance the fundamental rough good humour of their native city.
Nobody could hear themselves trying to think. The act was largely drowned, but it didn't matter at all... The spectacle of these fresh, cheeky, sharp, young entertainers in apposition to the shiny-eyed teenage idolaters is as good as a rejuvenating drug for the jaded adult."
Derek Taylor, Daily Express
The Stage and Television Today, 30 May 1963
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