Here's an interview with San Diego author Chuck Gunderson, who recently self-published a hefty tome focused on the Beatles' 1960s American tours.
The author declares the touring era “the most fascinating period” of the whole magical mystery tour. “Let’s face it: They didn’t start their career in a studio. They started their career on hot, cramped, sweaty stages in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. That’s where they cut their craft,” Gunderson said in a visit to The Foxhole.
“I realized that really no good book had been written about the tours of America. Maybe one of the tours or two of the tours [had been chronicled, in books that were] very short in nature, not a lot of detail, hardly any photographs. I decided to break the mold. I wanted to give the reader a day-by-day, hour-by-hour synopsis of the entire [set of] tours: every city they visited, from the moment the plane touched down to the moment it left, and then all the negotiations that happened before the Beatles even got to that city.”
...Asked to identify the show that found the Beatles at their peak as live performers in America, he cites their appearance at the Hollywood Bowl in California, on August 23, 1964, parts of which were later released officially in the 1977 Capitol LP The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl.
“Here’s four guys from Liverpool,” Gunderson said, “playing one of the most famous and most iconic venues in all of North America. And as John said when he was asked, ‘Which of all the concerts did you like the best?’ John would always answer: ‘The Bowl.’”
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