Dodger Stadium
Elysian Park Avenue, Los Angeles
The Beatles appeared at Dodger Stadium on August 28th 1966, the night before they played their last show at Candlestick Park.
It was another venture funded by Bob Eubanks, in addition to the twice that they had played The Hollywood Bowl.
They only played about a 30 minute set, and there were four supporting acts, to ensure that the audience got their money’s worth. Although, tickets were only in the range of some $3.50 to about $6.00. The cheapest seats were reserved for the military.
The Beatles only performed 11 songs. And by this time, the boys were getting pretty jaded at not being able to hear themselves due to the screaming crowds. They felt that the end was near and that they would rather be in the studios recording albums, which they ultimately returned to.
The number of security was not at all big enough, 102 security guards to be precise. Dozens of people were hurt, and 25 were arrested and hauled away to cool off. There was a rush for the main gates as their set was coming to a close. Their limo was forced to turn back and take the boys to an underground dugout, where they were locked in for a couple of hours for their own safety.
The crowd became violent, hurling bottles and wooden barricades. Many of the crowd were still in the Stadium long after the Beatles had exited.
Tony Barrow, their Press Officer gave a statement:
“They had arrived there in an armoured car and at the end, when we were ready to
pull away, thousands had stormed the grounds and exits and the driver yelled to us
to hang on tightly. He slammed the vehicle into reverse and raced us to an underground
team dugout, where we stayed for a good couple of hours until the panic had died down.
We later tried with three decoy limos, but that didn’t work either. The crazed fans caused
so much damage that one of the cars was completely destroyed. We eventually got away in an Ambulance that crashed into a heap of broken fencing. Extra squads of
Police from the Sheriff’s Department eventually got us out in an armoured car.”
The group finally got to their rented house at 7665 Carson Road, Beverly Hills, before flying to San Francisco the next afternoon for their final gig at Candlestick Park.
Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/VBKSKAVJXUPH1EzS7
