The Beatles Big Beat concert poster – Operation Big Beat – 1961

The Beatles Big Beat concert poster – Operation Big Beat – 1961 A fabulous reproduction of a Beatles concert poster held at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton on Friday 10th November 1961. Around this time the Beatles were still playing relatively local gigs. The Tower Ballroom was a venue in the seaside resort of New Brighton, near Wallasey in Merseyside. The show was the Beatle’s first-ever show at the Tower Ballroom. It was also the first ‘Operation Big Beat’ event put on by promoter Sam Leach. Leach intended to put on shows featuring the top beat groups of the time. This first concert set out in style. The show not only featured The Beatles performing two sets, but also, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Remo Four, and Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes. According to the Beatles Bible website; Tickets cost five shillings, and the event lasted from 7.30pm to 1am. The Beatles’ first set was at 8pm, after which they quickly drove to Knotty Ash Village Hall for the second show of the night. They then hurried back to the Tower Ballroom for a final appearance at 11.30pm. Apparently, at the end of the night, The Beatles and The Hurricanes had a car chase, through the Mersey Tunnel, back to Liverpool city centre. The Operation Big Beat shows were organised by promoter Sam Leach. They were based on the American Alan Freed’s Big Beat concerts that would feature up to 17 acts in one day.  The Operation Big Beats shows would feature the shows that would include ‘the most impressive line-up of Merseybeat bands ever!’ The 10 November  1961 was the first and was attended by an estimated 4,300 merseybeat fans. Other Operation Big Beat concerts followed. One was held on 24 November 1961. This time the line up included The Beatles, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Remo Four, Earl Preston, and the Tempest Tornadoes, and Faron and the Flamingoes. The 1 December 1961 Big Beat session featured a fantastic six band line up that included The Beatles, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Dale Roberts and the Jaywalkers, King Size Taylor and the Dominoes, Steve Day and the Drifters, and Derry and the Seniors. Another show was held on 14 September 1962 that saw The Beatles, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer with the Coasters, The 4 Jays, and the Mersey Beats. N0t a bad line-up for 25p. The Beatles went on to play at the Tower Ballroom on a further 26 occasions between 1961 and 1963. Other vintage Beatles posters Beatles memorabilia in general is highly prized among fans of the group and collectors. It is the concert posters that are the scarcest and most sought-after of all collectibles. The group performed between March 1963 and by the time they decided to retire from live performances at the end of 1966. It marked the end of a four-year period dominated by constant touring that saw them perform over 1,400 concert appearances internationally. Posters for the Beatles concerts, especially the early ones, will have been printed in very low quantities. Perhaps numbering 50 copies at most. Although a few of these may have survived. most of these would have been glued to a wall, and then pasted over. Some collectors at the time will have attempted to remove the posters from the wall but in reality, most of these will have been damaged in the process. And those, that are left were generally discarded. Their importance to fans and future valuations would not have been a consideration at the time. So in most cases, only a handful of original concert posters at best for many shows survive.