An incredibly rare concert poster for The Beatles performance at King’s Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland on the 2nd November 1964. This was the only venue that produced a poster promoting a concert on The Beatles/Mary Wells 1964 UK tour, no other posters are known to have been made for any other performances or venues on this tour. The concert was originally scheduled for just one performance at 8:45pm and was then subsequently changed to two performances, one at 6:00pm and one at 8:45pm. A piece of paper has been glued over the original time stating these changes. Another piece of paper which reads ‘G.W. Connell & Trevor Kane’ has been adhered to the poster replacing Trevor Kane’s name.
Provenance: from the family of the promotor of the Belfast concert, Trevor Kane, owner of Trevor Kane Promotions. The poster is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Mark Kane, the son of Trevor Kane, which reads:
‘My name is Mark Kane and my father was John Trevor Kane (known to all as Trevor), he was the man responsible for bringing the Beatles to Belfast on Monday 2^nd November 1964 when they played two consecutive gigs in the Kings Hall (the largest venue in the country at the time) to a total of 16,000 adoring fans.
As my father’s reputation grew the acts that he was able to attract became bigger and bigger. He’d had (amongst others) Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck play in the city before he received the call from Arthur Howes, the Beatles’ British tour promoter. Brian Epstein was their manager at the time but Arthur Howes was promoting their concerts throughout the British Isles. The Beatles had played in Belfast the year before as part of a cinema tour but in agreeing terms with Arthur, this would be the big one. It was agreed that the Beatles would play two shows, one at 6.30pm and one at 8.30pm on Monday 2^nd November 1964 in the Kings Hall.
With contracts signed, my dad, in conjunction with the Kings Halls’ boxing promoter George Connell set about making arrangements for the biggest concerts that the country had ever seen. My father placed an advertisement in the Belfast Telegraph on Thursday 8^th October 1964 informing the public that “The World’s Greatest Attraction – The Beatles” were coming to Belfast. It was at that point that Beatlemania hit the country. Within a matter of hours, the first of the fanatical fans began to arrive outside my father’s office ready to spend the night in order to secure their tickets when the box office opened the next morning. When my dad heard that there was already a small crowd of girls outside on that cold October night and that they had little more than apples and oranges between them for sustenance, he bought chicken and chips for them all. The top price for tickets for the best seats in the house was £1.00 and both concerts sold out almost immediately.
On the day of the concerts the Beatles were flown into the old Nutt’s Corner Airport (20 miles or so outside Belfast) where there were hundreds of screaming girls waiting there to welcome them. Again, many of the girls had spent the night sleeping in and around the airport and, indeed, a lot of them had hitchhiked from Belfast and further afield just to catch a glimpse of the boys. Regrettably they were to be disappointed as, at the insistence of a very worried police force (they had never experienced anything of the like before), my father was told to get the Fab Four straight into their limousine and to drive directly to the Kings Hall which they did under a full police escort.
With their earlier than planned arrival at the venue my dad got to spend time with the band. They admitted to being somewhat overawed by their reception at the airport stating that it was as big as any they had encountered on their travels. With limited facilities at the Kings Hall the lads were to be holed up for hours before the gigs. Initially my dad couldn’t even offer them a cup of tea. He organised food to be delivered for the guys and whilst chatting over their dinner George Harrison (who had “ordered Pork Steak of all things”) confided in my father: “I’m delighted to be here even though The Beatles were supposed to be doing the Royal Command Performance”.
A row had been raging in the English papers over the Fab Four coming to play Belfast instead of playing for royalty. Some pundits were implying that their decision was a snub to the establishment but by and large the tabloid press of the day were making out that The Beatles hadn’t been invited to do the royal show which was being recorded the same Monday night they were at the Kings Hall and furthermore they were trying to insinuate that The Beatles were on the slide! When interviewed at a later date my father contradicted this view stating that “In fact I had first claim on The Beatles and they were determined to fulfil their engagement in Belfast and miss the Royal Command which they had been on the year before.” He was always impressed by their decision to disregard the critics and stand by their agreement regardless of what the press said. My father described getting The Beatles to play Belfast as the biggest coup of his career: “It is the one that stands out – The Beatles were the biggest attraction in the world at the time” he told The Belfast Telegraph. “They were number one in the charts and were at the peak of their fame.”
The gigs themselves were a roaring or more accurately, a screaming success, with one local music reporter stating that, “The screams were terrifying ……. And the Beatles could have been playing Vera Lynn’s greatest hits for all I knew”. My father recalled that it was “quite a job” clearing 8,000, mostly teenage girls, out of one show and getting the next ones in.
After the second show my father had arranged for The Beatles to stay at the prestigious Culloden Hotel and he recollects that the place was nearly overrun by young girls. “They were bribing the chambermaids to find them souvenirs. They even wanted the cigarette butts out of the ashtrays in their rooms.” My father enjoyed his time in the company of the Beatles and he often spoke of how much he liked them all but that he particularly gravitated towards George Harrison. “George was the quiet one – I chatted to him because he always seemed to be in the shadow of Lennon and McCartney.”…
My father’s diverse career in business spanned more than 7 decades. He embarked upon numerous ventures, some profitable others not so much and there were a few missed opportunities as well. Around the time that he was negotiating his contract with the Beatles he fondly recalls that he had been offered the opportunity to bring The Rolling Stones to Belfast. He recounts telling their manager that he didn’t feel that they were a big enough name to pull in the crowds. He told me that one week later they were Number 1 in The UK charts and as such were generating the same sort of interest as the Beatles…
This is to certify that the poster from the Beatles performance at King’s Hall on 2^nd November 1964 which I have consigned to the Tracks auction which will begin on the 21^st of February is 100% original and authentic. It was given to me by my father on my 21^st birthday.
Footnote: My father always said that he never regretted turning down The Stones as he would have taken the Beatles over them every time. The Beatles were, after all, The World’s Greatest Attraction at the time and in the minds of many, remain so to this day.’
The poster measures 50.5cm x 76cm (20 inches x 30 inches). There are several horizontal and vertical creases and the centre line on the right hand side has a 1cm tear. There are several areas of age related staining but the the colours remain vivid and clear. The condition is very good.