Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon.
THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
By Marlene Ardoin
Having lived through the Beatle’s phenomena, I cannot believe that it only lasted for four years, 1962 to 1966. This documentary, “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week” beautifully captures their evolution as artists and as leaders, growing up before our eyes.
In the beginning, they appeared to be light-hearted and fun loving. As they traveled the world, 166 concerts in 15 countries and 90 cities, they bumped into existing moral dilemmas.
In the South, there was the question of segregation at one of their concerts, a war in Vietnam was raging and a very large generation of baby boomers were trying to come to terms with their own sexual repression.
By the end of their four years of touring, The Beatles were spent, exhausted and no longer light-hearted. They express sympathy for Elvis. “He had to do it all by himself, at least we had each other.”
In this documentary, they are compared to Mozart in terms of the sheer number of great songs that they wrote during the course of their career. Ringo Starr was the anchor, and each of the three guitarists, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, took turns writing songs. Their songs are timeless and were a reflection of the era in which they lived.
At the end of the documentary, we are treated to the 11 song live concert at Shea Stadium 1965.
The Beatles were the first performers to perform at a sporting arena. After the Ed Sullivan show, the crowds that they attracted were unprecedented. We even get to see their final concert in San Francisco 1966.
A big thank you to director Ron Howard, who completed this film in spite of the lawsuit over Shea Stadium performance.
10/10/16 – # The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years