1966
Paul plays his Hofner bass in front of a couple of Vox Super Beatle amps and Ringo lays down the rhythm at Shea Stadium on August 23 1966. At the end of the ’66 US tour, John went to Spain to star in the film How I Won The War. Pictured is a poster for the film and the cover of the DVD that was issued years later.
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he had to rent them a house to stay in while they were in LA and outfit it with a pool table and stuff like that. So when The Beatles were done with the tour and about to leave, my dad said to them: ‘My son’s a musician, do you think I could have that little amp to give to him?’ And they told him sure. And that’s how I got it.”30 The Gerber family still has the Vox amp to this day. The Beatles would use various small Vox practice amps while touring in the USA – including the A.C.4, the Cambridge Reverb, and the Pacemaker – and Gerber’s was a Vox Pathfinder. The following day not only marked the last gig of the group’s American tour but The Beatles’ final public concert. Touring had taken its toll. As a band they were commercially and financially successful, without doubt, but the negative pressures of touring were making it less and less desirable to travel around playing live. After all, no one could hear much of the performances anyway. The band figured it would be much easier and far more constructive to work on studio recordings. At least that way people would be able to listen to and hear their music. With all this in mind, and without anyone else knowing, The Beatles decided privately never to perform live again after the show on Monday August 29 at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park stadium. This concert marked the end of an era. Beatlemania was all but dead.
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