The Beatles In Atlantic City, NJ: Things You May Have Never Known

Inside this article, are confirmed facts … not stories … about when The Beatles played In Atlantic City, New Jersey on Sunday, August 30, 1964, at 8:30 p.m.

They are the result of my interviews over the past more than three decades with George Hamid, Jr., Ed Hurst and others … people who were actually there … before, during and after the biggest show ever played in Atlantic City.

The most important first-hand witness is Hamid, Jr.

Many have forgotten, or, never knew that although this epic show was held in the Atlantic City Convention Hall (now called Boardwalk Hall) … The Beatles appearance in Atlantic City was presented by Steel Pier.

The below ticket is a priceless part of my collection. It shows that “Steel Pier Presents at Atlantic City Convention Hall.”

Here is another great photo from the Don Hurley collection regarding The Beatles in Atlantic City.

The Beatles performance in Atlantic City was before a sold out crowd of 18,000 adoring fans.

The Beatles spent the night before at The Lafayette Motel in Atlantic City.

On the day of the show, The Beatles left at 2:15 p.m., hidden in the back of a Barbera Fish truck … which they took to their tour bus and then on to Atlantic City Convention Hall.

This fact was confirmed by Hamid, Jr., during our live on-air interview on then WFPG Talk Radio 1450.

In case you’re wondering what was the song setlist on August 30, 1964 in Atlantic City … here it is:

The Beatles played their standard 12-song set:

'Twist And Shout', 'You Can't Do That', 'All My Loving', 'She Loves You', 'Things We Said Today', 'Roll Over Beethoven', 'Can't Buy Me Love', 'If I Fell', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', 'Boys', 'A Hard Day's Night', and 'Long Tall Sally'.

The opening acts were:

The Cyrkle, Impressions, Righteous Brothers and Jackie DeShannon.

The Beatles left the Atlantic City concert in a laundry truck; which then connected to their waiting limousine. This was confirmed by Hamid, Jr.

Here’s another fact that most have never heard. This is confirmed by beatlesbible.com

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote two songs while they were in Atlantic City for the Beatles “For Sale” album.

We pulled this quote from beatlesbible.com (The first song was titled “Every Little Thing,” about which McCartney said:

John and I got this one written in Atlantic City during our last tour of the States. John does the guitar riff for this one, and George is on acoustic. Ringo bashes some timpani drums for the big noises you'll hear, said McCartney.

The other song written during the break in New Jersey was 'What You're Doing'.

We wrote this one in Atlantic City like 'Every Little Thing'. It's not that Atlantic City is particularly inspiring, it's just that we happened to have a day off the tour there! Ringo does a nice but of drumming decoration in the introduction, and I double-track on the vocal as well as playing some piano, said McCartney.

Ouch, that stings, with McCartney saying that Atlantic City is not “particularly inspiring.”

I spent about 40 minutes with Sir Paul McCartney in Atlantic City on September 28, 2002. It was a surreal experience. He did not recall much about the 1964 The Beatles appearance regarding the behind tte scenes things … such as traveling secretly in a fish truck or laundry truck, etc.

McCartney did recall time spent in Atlantic City and Cape May, which we talked about at length and I will write about McCartney and The Beatles in Cape May tomorrow.

in my opinion, the 2002 McCartney concert at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall tops the 1964 The Beatles … as McCartney had the entire The Beatles and Wings music catalog’s to choose from and he played for more than 2 hours, where he performed 37 songs.

It was the greatest concert that I have ever attended.

Here is my priceless photo, taken by McCartney’s personal photographer:

It is my hope that you have enjoyed our walk together down Atlantic City - The Beatles - Paul McCartney memory lane.