Hear the Beatles' last concert recording: Candlestick Park 1966

Via Open Culture:
Paul McCartney asked the band’s press officer Tony Barrow to record the concert on a hand-held tape recorder. Barrow described the atmosphere as an “end of term spirit,” even if “it wasn’t a spectacular occasion […] nothing like Shea Stadium.”

His recollection might seem strange, but we should keep in mind that the band had been touring incessantly, playing massive shows to arenas packed with screaming fans. The Candlestick Park concert by contrast had large sections of empty seats, with only 25,000 tickets sold in a stadium with a 42,500 seat capacity.

Barrow recorded the show, then, as he recalls, made one copy and locked the other away:
Back in London I kept the concert cassette under lock and key in a drawer of my office desk, making a single copy for my personal collection and passing the original to Paul for him to keep. Years later my Candlestick Park recording re-appeared in public as a bootleg album. If you hear a bootleg version of the final concert that finishes during Long Tall Sally it must have come either from Paul’s copy or mine, but we never did identify the music thief!

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