Fans recall Beatles' Southern California debut

Forty-five years ago this weekend, the biggest ticket in town was the Beatles, live at the Hollywood Bowl. It was the first time John, Paul, George, and Ringo had performed in Los Angeles. The performance spawned a live album and became an indelible memory for thousands of kids. KPCC’s Steven Cuevas got a front row seat with some Beatle fans who were there.

Steven Cuevas: Aside from maybe Ringo, a 15-year old kid named Jeff Kurtz probably had the best seat in the house.

Jeff Kurtz: I knew that there was this section of bushes right by the stage, they had this little crawlspace where I could just watch the concert from there, but you couldn’t hear a thing!

Cuevas: Kurtz worked at the Hollywood Bowl when he was kid.

Jeff Kurtz: And there was no stage decoration, there was just I’ll never forget that Ludwig drum set with that famous logo with the big “T” and the big “L”, and I remember watching them set this up from inside the shell where I was gonna hide for my seat; there’s the actual drums that Ringo is actually gonna perform on!

Laurence Cohen: There was so much anticipation about the Beatles. I don’t think you could really concentrate on anything that happened before the Beatles took the stage.

Cuevas: Laurence Cohen sat a little farther back from that stage. He was just 12 years old.

Cohen: I was about three-fourths of the way up so it was pretty far away. You could for sure see the stage and you knew it was the Beatles, but I mean it was just equipment and the band. And I do believe Bob Eubanks introduced them and you could barely hear what he was saying because everyone knew the Beatles were about to take the stage.

Bob Eubanks: And now... here they are... The Beatles!

Jeff Kurtz: The sound was barely audible, they opened with “Twist & Shout” and I remember that downbeat; da-da-da-da da-da... and the place just erupted.

You could hear Lennon sing, but any kind of a heavy note, the screaming would intensify!

Debbie Kurtz: I couldn’t get into the screaming. I knew I liked them but I didn’t get the screaming.

Cuevas: Debbie Kurtz, who’s married to Jeff Kurtz now, was another 12-year-old at the concert.

Debbie Kurtz: I was excited but I didn’t scream because I was young and I was with my cousin and her boyfriend! I couldn’t understand them, those girls were older!

Cuevas: If you were in the audience, it sounded a little like this... [Sound from concert] This is from a home movie shot by one of the many parents at the Bowl that night. The Beatles receded into the background as the filmmaker lingered over the frenzied crowd. Laurence Cohen said the venue’s puny sound system couldn’t compete.

Cohen: It was a little like hearing music off in the distance. You know, the screaming was certainly the loudest thing you heard, but it wasn’t about the music by the time you got to a concert with the Beatles – it was more about the experience.

Cuevas: The show would be over in about 40 minutes. But for 15-year-old Jeff Kurtz, the work was just beginning.

Jeff Kurtz: Band is still playing, I leave my spot and go downstairs to where the armored car is supposed to be brought in.

Cuevas: The Hollywood Bowl recruited Kurtz and about 15 other employees at the last minute to escort the Beatles the long mile out of the concert venue. A decoy limousine waited backstage to throw pursuing teenagers off the trail. It didn’t work.

Jeff Kurtz: There must have been four- or five-hundred girls piling in around the armored car. I guess the word must have spread; they’re gonna be coming out of this door.

Cuevas: The Beatles sprinted offstage and piled into the armored car. Kurtz and his crew formed a human chain around the vehicle.

Jeff Kurtz: We were holding back, locked arm and arm, and the girls were just surging and surging and pushing. And then Lennon, he was pushing his nose against the window making faces, and that just caused further frenzy! It was a long way down to Highland Avenue.

Cuevas: The 1964 concert remains a cultural milestone for thousands of teenagers. But don’t just take their word for it. The lads from Liverpool apparently agreed. Here’s John Lennon in a BBC radio interview shortly after the band returned to England.

John Lennon: Well the one we all enjoyed most was the Hollywood Bowl even thought it wasn’t the largest crowd. ‘Cause it seemed to be important and everyone was sort of saying things, and we got on and it was a big stage and it was great.

Cuevas: The Beatles would return to the Hollywood Bowl the following summer. In 1966 the band played its final live concert ever, in San Francisco.