A HARD DAY'S NIGHT IN MANILA
The Beatles' controversial visit recalled
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The Manila concert was the last leg in the fab four's two-week tour of Germany and Japan. On July 3, 1966, The Beatles landed on Philippine soil for the first and last time. This two-night stopover in Manila proved disastrous from arrival to departure. Upon landing, The Beatles were immediately whisked to a pier and put on Marina, a yacht owned by Don Manolo Elizalde, two miles from the port. This arrangement completely cut The Beatles from their associates for at least two hours— the first time it ever happened.
The Beatles' alleged snub of then-First Lady Imelda Marcos remains hazy to many Beatles fans. Even reliable sources maintain conflicting accounts. The common story goes this way. On July 4, a lunch was set at Malacañang Palace at 11 a.m. with 300 children waiting to see The Beatles. An hour before the party, a delegation came to the Manila Hotel to collect The Beatles. Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager, declined the invitation on the grounds that no earlier arrangement had been made and The Beatles were still in bed. The day's scheduled concerts, however, later proceeded successfully. In between concerts, local televisions reported the alleged "snub" showing footages of children, some crying, disappointed by The Beatles. Epstein watched in horror and went immediately to the television studio to apologize and set the facts straight. But barely had he started reading his press statement when the transmission blipped. Newspapers carried the headline, "Beatles Snub President." The following morning was the scheduled departure of The Beatles to New Delhi. Suddenly, The Beatles and their entourage realized they were practically on their own without any help: Room and transportation services were withdrawn. In the airport, the whole Beatles entourage was manhandled as it made its way to the plane. Tony Barrow, the tour's publicity man and part of the entourage, claimed that Epstein received the invitation the night before the concerts but remained noncommittal. Whether it was wise for the local promoter to take this silence as approval is now moot.
Peter Brown, the executive director of NEMS Enterprises (The Beatles' Vic Lewis, the tour agent, received the invitation while still in Tokyo but failed to relay this to him. What is interesting about Brown’s account though was the call Epstein received, immediately after his refusal, from the British ambassador, who advised him against missing the party of the First Lady, and reminded him that the help and protection they were receiving in Manila was courtesy of the President. Epstein stood by his decision. Whether The Beatles would have come to the party even if Epstein recalled his decision is another question though. UNKNOWN to many, almost 40 years ago on July 4, 1966, The Beatles made history in Manila. They played twice to the biggest paying crowd in a single day in Manila with at least a combined audience of 80,000 in attendance, unmatched anywhere in the band’s touring history. At 4:00 p.m. that day, The Beatles launched their first gig before a delighted crowd of 30,000 at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, yet unaware of the ugly events that awaited them owing to their inadvertent failure to show up at a luncheon party for them in Malacañang. Four hours later, The Beatles returned to the same place for their second and last concert in Manila, this time to a crowd of 50,000. The latter, grossly ignored by many to this day, is The Beatles’ second-biggest concert attendance in history, surpassed only by their concert at the Shea Stadium in New York in August of 1965. All in all, the Beatles performed 11 songs in their Manila con-certs. They opened with the Chuck Berry original Rock and Roll Music and followed it up with 10 original Beatles compositions: “She’s a Woman,” “If I Needed Someone,” “Day Tripper,” “Baby’s in Black,” “I Feel Fine,” “Yesterday,” “I Wanna be Your Man,” “Nowhere Man,” “Paperback Writer” and “I’m Down.” This repertoire of less than a dozen songs basically went unchanged throughout the Beatles’ tour of Germany, Japan and Manila. In fact, the Beatles performed the same standard set when they toured the United States for the last time in August 1966, a month after the “Manila nightmare.” From time to time, The Beatles deviated from this set by taking on “Long Tally Sally” instead of “I’m Down” as closing climax. On few occasions, they played both. Encore performances were probably not yet in vogue then, because whenever Paul introduced the last song with the line “Our next number will be our last number . . . ”, it was indeed the end of the show. Straight from the platform, The Beatles, as a rule, proceeded immediately to a waiting car parked nearby for a swift exit from the concert arena. A recording of The Beatles’ concert here in Manila has yet to surface, if any. We listened to their last ever concert to a paying audience in Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29, 1966, and it carried the same standard repertoire. The whole concert clocked around 30 minutes, including the adlibs. By today’s standards, this is way too short. For example, Paul McCartney’s 3,000th gig in St. Petersburg on June 20, 2004, reportedly lasted for two and a half hours despite the threat of a downpour.
Some of our best artists fronted for The Beatles in these concerts. They included Eddie Reyes and D’Downbeats (with the D’Cavalcade Dancers), Dale Adriatico, Wing Duo, Pilita Corrales, Lemons Three, Quartet (accompanied by Pilita Corrales and The Lemmons Three) and The Reycard Duet. Based on the photos available on the Internet, the cost of a grandstand ringside ticket then was P30, while a field reserved ticket had a tag price of P20. Gate receipts from the two concerts totaled $100,000.
Despite the bitter experience that The Beatles and their entourage experienced at the hands of airport security personnel when they left the country, they did not leave without posting yet another milestone in their touring history with their Manila concerts. |
On July 3rd, the day prior the show, The Manila Sunday Times reported that the Beatles were invited to join the President and Mrs. Marcos (with their 3 children) to their Malacanang Palace at 11am. The Beatles knew nothing of this appointment, hearing only of a request for a short "pop-in" at the palace at 4pm which they respectfully declined due to the fact that their first show started at 4pm! The Beatles claimed they never received the earlier 11am invitation. Much to the Beatles surprise, the palatial tyrants were extremely angered at the Beatles neglect and the morning after the concert, The Manila Times ran the headline "Imelda Stood Up!!". The ramifications were to become serious. Philippine promoter Ramon Ramos refused to pay the Beatles for their performance! Bomb and death threats were telephoned to the deluged British Embassy and to the boys hotel suite. Brian Epstein was so distressed with the situation he arranged for a press conference from the hotel to apologize for the misunderstanding. BUT...as fate would have it, some unforeseen static blipped out his interview from most all TV screens in the country! (more than a few thought it was probably more shenanigans by the Marcos clan). Pulling more strings the next day when the Beatles were scheduled to depart the country, Misael Vera, Philippine Tax Authority, insisted the group could not leave the country until every penny of the taxes owed them was paid! Of course, they never got paid anything but Brian hurriedly forked over a bond out his own funds for P.74,450 (around $18,000) to settle the matter. To make matters worse, all security detail assigned to the boys were withdrawn leaving them extremely vulnerable. They were literally kicked and jostled as they left their hotel and totally harassed all the way to the airport. Things were no better there where the airport manager has also removed all security for the Beatles. They went so far as to shut down the power to stop the escalators, forcing the boys to scale several flights of stairs with their own luggage, only to face an angry mob of 200 Filipinos brutally manhandling them! Ringo was literally floored by an uppercut and kicked on the ground. He suffered a sprained ankle as well and had to be helped to the customs area. Mal Evans and Brian Epstein were injured as well. Alf Bicknell suffered a cracked rib and a spinal injury. When they finally approached the plane, a large booing crowd jeered and mocked them chanting "Beatles Alis Dayan!" (Go Home Beatles!) Once in the plane, some scraping government officials "decided" the Beatles were NOT authorized to leave the country due to inaccurate "check in" procedures days earlier... This led to another 40 minute wait on the Tarmac while Mal & Tony Barrow went back to the terminal to clean up the necessary paperwork. Only minutes after the Beatles angrily departed, did the press run a statement by President Marcos stating "Their was no intention on the part of the Beatles to slight the first lady or the government of the Republic Of The Philippines". Obviously a bit too late to do the Beatles any good. The Beatles vowed to NEVER return and it's a vow they kept. It was, indeed, the scariest moment they ever experienced! Their next stop was India, for a planned few days of quiet and rest, but greeting them at the airport and their hotel were more than 600 screaming fans. They returned to England on July 8th. Five weeks later, on August 11th, they flew to Chicago to start their last American tour which, as we all know too well, had its own looming troubles. Needless to say, the Beatles clearly needed the break they gave themselves at the end of August when they performed their last live concert performance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. |
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