Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Beatles play at the Twins Metropolitan Stadium

The day was August 21, 1965. The day the Beatles visited Minnesota. They played at Metropolitan Stadium, the Twins old ballpark. Now standing where that ballpark was is the Mall of America.

Ringo was very interested in the Twins. He sat in Harmon Killebrew's chair and he got out the Twins gear after asking if it was okay, but none of the other 3 Beatles wanted to play with him. Ringo and George each asked for a Twins hat and autographed baseballs by the Twins players. Ringo thought the Twins would do very well that year. They sat in the Twins clubhouse while waiting to perform. They ran out of the dugout onto the stage which was around the pitchers mound. The crowd went berserk but they were a little more subdued because of the announcement that if any people ran onto the field during the performance the Beatles would immediatly stop playing and leave the stadium. This was a short while after Shea Stadium where tons of fans were tackled as they tried to approach the Beatles. Tickets were $5 dollars. Not all the Beatles thought Minneapolis was that memorable. John Lennon admitted later that he was in the car and he forgot where they were so he was going to ask someone but decided not to, so they wouldn't hurt their feelings. I'm sure the Beatles wish they would have stayed a little longer. They flew out to the west coast after spending time in Minnesota, but they had to make an emergency landing because of an engine fire.

There is an entire book on the Beatles trip to Minnesota and their performance in the Twins stadium.

http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-One-Night-Stand-Heartland/dp/1581825900

1 comment:

Rebecca said...

Wow Tim. Your two favorite things, merged together.