Beatlemania Hit Minnesota On This Day In 1965

It was on August 21st, 1965 that the Beatles landed in, and played a show in, Minnesota for the first (and only) time.

The band had made its triumphant debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as its unofficial introduction to the United States. That spring, they made appearances in  New York (for the Sullivan Show), Washington, D.C., and Miami.

The rest of 1964 saw the Beatles embark on tours of Europe, England, Asia and Australia before coming back to the states for 25 shows that summer.

Minnesota's turn to host the Beatles came the next summer at the home of the Twins and Vikings, Metropolitan Stadium.

The Minnesota Historical Society has a wonderful recap of the lads' visit to the Twin Cities, which ended with their manager threatening that the band would never play Minnesota again.

WHILE MY FREE GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS 

The band held a press conference at Met Stadium before the concert. Following a question and answer session with the local media, two employees of a local music store presented Beatles guitarist George Harrison a twelve-string guitar, leading John Lennon to quip 'You got one for me?'

YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY  

The show is famous for being the only one of the Beatles' United States shows to not sell out. The Minnesota Historical Society says that the local promoter for the show, Raymond Colihan, purposely undersold the concert due to 'concerns over chaos' that usually had accompanied Beatles shows.

HELTER SKELTER 

After a clever diversion that saw prop limos placed in front of Met Stadium while the band was whisked away in laundry trucks after the show, the Fab Four reached the Leamington Motor Inn in Minneapolis.

Word had spread of the group's whereabouts and the building swarmed with teenagers hungry for a piece of The Beatles. The MHS recap tells stories of teens hiding in garbage cans, reporters disguised as waitresses and a limo driver fighting off teenage girls with a sawed-off broomstick.

WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD

Minneapolis police, acting on a 'tip' that Paul McCartney was in his hotel room with a female fan 'after curfew,' evicted his friend and threatened to arrest him.

This led to the band's management threatening that the group would never play Minneapolis again. To his credit, they never did- the band stopped touring altogether shortly after the 1965 tour.