The Beatles made their only appearance in San Diego, California, as a last-minute addition to their 1965 U.S. tour, and by all first-hand accounts, they certainly made their time count in the sunny city awash with Beatlemania. The short set at Balboa Stadium took place on August 28, 1965, in between stops in Portland, OR, and Los Angeles, CA.
Local residents wrote in to The San Diego Union-Tribune to share their experiences at the iconic concert, shifting the lens even closer into what Beatlemania was really like for those witnessing it in real time. As expected, their recollections are intense, fanatical, and exciting.
First-Hand Accounts of the Beatles Playing in San Diego
The Beatles’ 1965 U.S. tour came at a unique time in their career. Not quite into their psychedelic phase but undoubtedly at the apex of their fame, the Fab Four were enjoying a rigorous schedule of sold-out or nearly-there concerts that consisted of them performing for half an hour before bolting back to their bus before literal swarms of screaming teenage girls got to them. No one—perhaps not even the band—knew that they would stop touring just one year later. It was the height of Beatlemania. That’s all anyone really knew.
Unsurprisingly, most of the accounts that people sent in to The San Diego Union-Tribune mention the intensity of the screaming. With only “two small Fender speakers” on either side of the stage, as one attendee described, it’s no wonder that the rock band struggled to amplify itself over the roar of the crowd. As one concertgoer recalled, “The high-pitched screaming of the girls around us was intense and never-ending. I had taken a pair of binoculars, and I made a “deal” with the four girls behind us that I would lend them the binoculars if they would stop screaming. They agreed. Once I gave them the binoculars, the screaming continued. Double-crossed!”
Most attendees complained about the noise. Others prided themselves on not screaming, or recalled the odd memory of people getting mad at them for abstaining. For some, their most vivid memories were in direct contrast to the noise. One fan wrote about walking down to the stage after the concert ended. “The Beatles’ equipment was onstage in the silence. No screaming. Ringo’s drums, John, Paul, and George’s guitars, along with a keyboard and Super Vox Beatles amplifiers.”
Beatlemania Reached a Fever Pitch That Night in Balboa Stadium
The screaming fans in Balboa Stadium were so loud that people outside of the venue could only hear the teenage girls’ hollering with just a hint of guitars and drums. But Beatlemania was more than just shrieking. It was true mania and loss of inhibition. Young girls from San Diego and beyond charged the stage, sprinting across a grassy section between the crowd and the Beatles until an adult male police officer tackled them to the ground. A local concertgoer recalled, “One fan did get through a couple of the police lines and was on her way to the stage, with John Lennon shouting, ‘Go, go, go!’” (Police ended up tackling her, too, by the way.)
An account from a man who stood outside Balboa Stadium during the concert described the Beatles rushing onto a waiting bus just after the show ended. “Less than ten seconds later, a river of young girls came flowing over the chain link fence, nonstop. They surrounded the bus, and the crowd seemed to double every five seconds. The bus driver leaned on the horn, but to no avail. The driver then put the bus in neutral and rushed the engine so it roared with engine power. It was scary, because if the bus had got back into gear, it would have run over dozens of people.”
Virtually every writer who contributed a story described the concert as a pivotal moment in their life. Some see the one-off show as a cherished memory with friends and family, an impetus for becoming musicians, or their last hurrah before being shipped off to the Vietnam War. It was a 30-minute set for the Beatles, but for the 17,013 people there, it was a half hour that would stick with them for the rest of their lives.