40 YEARS AGO TODAY!
THE BEATLES
It was a crazy weekend, but The Beatles show was a lot of fun for everyone in attendance!
THE BEATLES
It was a crazy weekend, but The Beatles show was a lot of fun for everyone in attendance!
It all started on Friday August 25, as we held the proclamation ceremony
in front of the Hard Rock Cafe in Pier 39! Martin Lewis read the proclamation
and pronounced it as the official opening of Beatles Week in San Francisco
(August 25-31) to commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Beatles'
final concert at Candlestick Park. The Sun Kings followed with a short,
but rocking set of Beatles hits, having the crowd there singing, dancing
and ready for the weekend to come!
The next day, we moved to the Castro Theatre for the start of the Beatles
film fest.
The Saturday matinee featured the Robert Zemekis film I WANNA HOLD YOUR
HAND and The Beatles' psychodelic classic MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR, a
private print courtesy of Paul Mular. Cammy Blackstone from KFRC opened
the show and introduced Martin Lewis, who dispensed Beatles knowledge
to the crowd and The Sun Kings did an amazing, live recreation of
The Beatles' Candlestick set. With no film or video in existance of
the concert, the audience could sit back, close their eyes and feel
as if they were there, courtesy of The Sun Kings.
Saturday night was more live music, but first, Martin Lewis interviewed
Ben Fong Torres about his attendance at the Candlestick concert and
his career working for Rolling Stone Magazine. Ben also introduced
a rare 1976 interview he did with Paul McCartney, discussing Candlestick,
The Beatles and other topics. Then the audience sat back and enjoyed
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, before rocking into the night with The Sun Kings
as they played a full 90-minute+ set of Beatles classics, hits and
rarities.
Sunday opened with a raucus crowd of crooners who showed up for SING-ALONG
YELLOW SUBMARINE. Sing-Along hosts Laurie and Leigh warmed up the
crowd along with the Castro's Mighty Whurlitzer and got everyone in
the mood for a Yellow Submarine experience like none they have ever
had! This was followed by THE BEATLES LIVE IN WASHINGTON DC, a private
print courtesy of Bob Ekman.
Sunday night closed the show with a tribute to Beatle John Lennon. The
evening began with a solo, accoustic set of John Lennon solo and Beatles
songs by The Sun Kings' Drew Harrison. The performance brought down
the house and left everyone with memories that will stay with them
for a life-time. Drew remenised about Lennon and his influences between
a string of Lennon's greatest songs.
The Audience was then treated to the trailer for the new Lionsgate film
THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON and filled out forms for a chance to win
free tickets to the San Francisco premier of the movie later this
month. Everyone got John Lennon glasses for showing up and finished
the evening with a rare big-screen showing of Richard Lester's HOW
I WON THE WAR.
A big thanks to everyone who came to the show and all the people who worked
extremely hard to put it all together!