There is a shop in Oxford St Sydney called www.dirtcheapcds.com.au that sells CD's and DVD's for $10. Yes, $10!! And I am not talking cheap imitations - I mean real authentic CDs. Anyway, one of the DVD's I bought was "Beatles Around the World". For those of you who don't know, I will let you in on a little secret - "I don't harf mind the boys" <said in a mock Liverpudlian accent>
This is a gem of a DVD - there really is some footage that I have never seen before - in particular, the Beatles concert at the Budho Kan Hall in Tokyo in 1966. This must have been just before the boys stopped touring. It looks like the footage from this concert is almost in colour but I can not for the life of me work out why the actual quality of the concert footage is so bad - it looks like a copy of a copy of a copy. (Let me hasten to add that the quality would not have stopped me from buying the DVD!) It is fairly obvious that there were at least two or three cameras - did Japan have colour TV in 1966?
It looks like the DVD footage is a film taken from a video monitor. What a contrast after watching the footage of the concert in Washington in 1964. The energy of the boys in their first American concert at the Colliseum in Washington was nothing short of amazing - despite having to re-arrange the stage and turn around to face the other half of the audience between each song! And the sound equipment - 3 small Vox amplifiers and what looks like the "house" PA system - foldback - what's that?? Their rendition of "This Boy" in perfect three part harmony crowded around a single microphone is just stunning. As a counterpoint, you can see why Ringo never gave up his day job as drummer to become a singer after listening to his rendition of "I wanna be your Man". You can see they were really having fun in Washington - they were pumped - by 1966 in Tokyo, it looked like the fun had gone - you can really tell from watching the Tokyo concert - the magic had definitely gone. John Lennon in the Tokyo concert was very irreverent - obviously aware that almost no-one in the Japanese speaking audience could understand a word of English <let alone his Liverpudlian interpretation of English> John takes the opportunity to mock the audience in a fairly humorous and harmless manner. In terms of the DVD, I am very thankful that there is any footage of their concerts at all. But, at the same time, it's also incredible that we have such limited footage and that the quality is so comparatively bad - it wasn't THAT long ago was it? IF anyone out there can help me understand how the Tokyo concert was filed and/or recorded, I would much appreciate it. Alan Singer
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