Report/thoughts from 'The Beatles at Stowe School' event at the British Library, where they played the tape made on 4th April 1963 in full
The event was hosted by Samira Ahmed, with John Bloomfield (who had made the tape) as the main interviewee. Mark Lewisohn (introduced as ‘John Lewisham’ lol) was there to provide context and Beatle lore, and first gave a little presentation on the Beatles in early '63 and then a day-by-day account of what they got up to in April ('Ringo got a new haircut, Paul got a new girlfriend, John got a new baby, and George got a new Jaguar'). He showed letters that George, Ringo and Paul had written in reply to fans from this month, with George's letter saying his favourite song at the moment was The Chiffons' 'He's So Fine'(!!!!). Ringo replied saying he would love to take up the offer to be a form mascot but asked 'what does a form mascot do?' Paul's letter was typed?? Mark Lewisohn also showed a set of signatures they'd done and John had written his name backwards. :)
We got the backstory of how they were invited to Stowe, via student David Moores who was from Liverpool and had written to Brian Epstein to book them. (ML went into raptures over Brian's elegant signature.)
The concert took place the same day as that footage filmed outside the BBC studio after they'd just done an appearance there, and they said that's Neil in the van heading off to Stowe School with the equipment.
John Bloomfield said that the Beatles were over an hour late, and the boys had started chanting 'Why are we waiting?'. They turned up in two Ford Zephyrs, and he commented that they were "very thin - very thin, very fast".
John B held the microphone up to the stage from where he was sat in the audience during the concert (see photo below). It was a one-hour tape, which started too early, so you get to hear the Beatles quickly tuning up. The concert was an hour straight though, so the tape runs out before the end and we didn't get to hear what was probably 'Long Tall Sally'. The audio is good for what it is - John B said the music was extremely loud, and the Beatles had two giant amps in addition to the theatre sound system. The guitar parts in particular get very distorted.
It's interesting to hear the audience as they start off pretty quiet and get louder as it goes on. It was an audience almost entirely of boys, with a few girls far away in the circle. They start calling out requests and answering back. Because the concert was an hour, not the standard half an hour the Beatles were used to doing at this point, they had to come up with extra songs, eventually asking what the audience wanted next. Apparently David Moores had asked Brian for a copy of Please Please Me in one of his letters, so presumably they'd been playing it in the school and were familiar with the songs, which is why some of the audience members know exactly what to ask for!
A lot of the extra songs they do are covers you also hear on Live at the BBC. They also end up doing 'I Saw Her Standing There' twice.
George had a cold and so he couldn't sing. Ringo sang two songs in a row ('Boys' and 'Matchbox') to help out, and Mark Lewisohn said this is the only known instance of Ringo doing two songs in a performance.
A lot of audience shouts for Ringo, and for him to do 'Boys' in particular!
Someone asks for 'How Do You Do It?'(!!) and Paul says "oh no come on, we can’t do that!" John says that they [Gerry and the Pacemakers] don't do their songs. Poor lads, continuing to be haunted by 'How Do You Do It?'...
The stagetalk is mostly Paul doing the introductions, John joining in/riffing off it. Samira Ahmed had attempted to transcribe it all for us which was useful in trying to follow it.
They keep referring to George unfortunately not being able to sing, but eventually he says he'll try and joins in for 'Twist and Shout'. There's one bit where a member of the audience shouts "make George sing!" :(
There was also a bit where Paul is introducing 'Thank You Girl' and makes some comment about it being a bit odd because they're all boys lmao
After the concert the Beatles were given a tour of the school, where they took photos and signed things, and then were given supper. At the event two more schoolboys who had been there came up onto the stage as well as the two daughters of the couple who worked at the school and had fed the Beatles, and they all gave their recollections of the evening.
Here it was revealed that they were going to play extracts from a tape which had been taken during the meal itself, from a recorder hidden in a flowerpot. Cannot believe there is an original Beatles flowerpot tape... Beatles history is so ridiculous! It was basically just Paul and John chatting to the staff about the concert, and how they did 8 hours a night in Hamburg etc, then them posing for a group picture. The two daughters said George didn't speak because of his cold, and Ringo was just very quiet (and refused a drink of wine?).
Anyway, they were filming the event (and were very strict about no phones), so hopefully it will turn up somewhere everyone can watch it!
Also before/after the event they were selling books, including the £175 extended version of Tune In and it literally sold out. 😭 I cannot believe people are impulse purchasing it and having to walk round London with it, it's huge!
At a show at Stowe boys' school, Buckingham, the audience politely listens while seated in neat rows, instead of the screaming frenzy of many Beatles gigs of this and later periods.
On the 4th of April 1963 (two weeks after the release of Please Please Me) the Beatles played a gig at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. One of the students present (John Bloomfield) recorded the gig, and recently rediscovered that recording. He donated it to the British Library, which means anyone can go and listen to it (see below for details).
Is it worth it?
Obviously your mileage may vary, but for me that answer is definitely yes. I wasn't expecting the recording to be over an hour long, but I stayed and listened to the whole thing. I reckon I'll go back again if I can fit it in next time I'm in London.
Alright, how do I listen to it?
The recording is free to listen to, and is available in the Sound Archive at the British Library in London. The building is about 2 minutes walk from King's Cross St Pancras. (map)
You need a Reader Pass to access the room. If you're a UK citizen you can just get one on the day, but if you're not then I recommend starting the process online before you go.
You will need:
Photo ID
Proof of address
They give you an ID card that's valid for 3 years. The process was pretty straightforward and the staff are very helpful. They have very good cloakroom facilities and free secure lockers, so if you have carry-on sized luggage with you, you can store it there while you visit.
They're very strict about what's allowed into the reading rooms, so plan to use the lockers.
Once you have your card, go to the Rare Books and Music reading room on Floor 1. Marvel at the ancient tomes people are carefully examining. Find a computer with a set of headphones attached (towards the back right of the room) and set yourself up. If you have your own laptop you can use one of the empty spots in that area.
Search the catalogue for something like "Stowe Beatles". There are pages and pages of other recordings you might also like to listen to.
What's the playlist?
I Saw Her Standing There
Too Much Monkey Business
Love Me Do
Some Other Guy
Misery
I Just Don’t Understand
A Shot of Rhythm and Blues
Boys!
Matchbox
From Me To You
Thank You Girl
Memphis Tennessee
A Taste of Honey
Twist and Shout
Anna
Please Please Me
Hippy Hippy Shake
I’m Talking About You
Ask Me Why
Till There Was You
Money
(there's a section here where the tape got recorded over with an incredibly annoying song)
I Saw Her Standing There (reprise)
My highlights
Stowe School was an all-boys school at the time, but it's clear from the recording that there are girls at the gig.
Boys! gets a huge response, and I'm pretty sure it's Ringo singing Matchbox immediately after. Later (around 55m) the crowd starts chanting for Ringo to sing again.
There's a good amount of banter between John and Paul, not all of it very clear. I'd love a chance to sit and listen to those parts over and over again, and see what I can make out. Alas I didn't have time, and I only had the in-browser audio player, which made it basically impossible to hop around.
The crowd starts shouting out requests at some point, and some boys shout for A Taste of Honey. There's some laughter, and the timing of it sounds to me like John is mugging.
Towards the end someone shouts for How Do You Do It and one or John or Paul sings the opening phrase, with an audible smile, but they don't sing it.
Anything else?
If you can, I recommend bringing your own laptop and headphones. There are computers and headphones there, but the browser interface is not ideal for going to specific timestamps, you have limited control over volume, and I think you'd get more out of it with medium to high end headphones.
If you want to skip the truly awful song that got recorded over a section of the tape, the original comes back in around 1:01:25.
In the same building they have some of Hunter Davies's donation on display in the Treasures Gallery. This was a small selection on the day I went, and I was pretty disappointed, but they do rotate those displays every six months. It may also be possible to access the other items for research purposes, I haven't investigated that yet.
