The Beatles at Fleetwood

The Beatles performed here at the Marine Hall Ballroom at Fleetwood on the north west coast on 25th August 1962. John knew the area well as he'd spent childhood holidays here with a cousin who lived in the town. The girls screaming and poor amplification made for a poor performance and witnesses claimed the lads were fighting a losing battle.

I parked the motor home on the main street and remained in the front seat which was catching the sun (it got too hot and I moved into the back.) Oddly across the road was the same vehicle and a portly man sat in the driver's seat kept looking across as if to say "Snap!" I had a stroll down around the hall and passed through a gap to get to the sand to peer across to Morecambe and The Lake District. Before or after the concert did the lads sit on the wall by the sand and have a cigarette (I read George Harrison was a 50-a-day man later on and they're probably the reason he contracted cancer.) After the concert they probably wanted to get back to Liverpool which is about 90 minutes away by car.

I'm not sure why the lads didn't perform more concerts here - there was just that one concert on Saturday night in 1962. John would have been 21. George would have been 19. Unlike with most other venues there don't seem to be any photographs of the night. Setting off back to Blackpool I drove across a zebra crossing and heard a woman who was about to cross shout "idiot!". I don't know the rules relating to zebra crossings - don't people crossing have to wait for you to stop before they cross? I usually just close my eyes and keep going.