The Beatles spent a hard day's night in Las Vegas 60 years ago
Las Vegas may have taken the idea of the British Invasion a bit too literally.
Ahead of The Beatles’ concerts here on Aug. 20, 1964, during what was just the second stop on the band’s first North American tour, the Review-Journal warned of “swarms of frenzied teenage girls armed with ballpoint pens and sharp fingernails” as well as “thousands of adolescent females ready to tear down brick walls with their bare hands to get a look at the furry foursome.”
Officers surround the stage. They'd gone through riot training two days before the concerts.
Two days before the shows, sheriff’s deputies went through riot training where they were split into two groups: “one the good guys,” we wrote, “and the other the Beatlemaniacs.” We described this instruction as “an hourlong slugfest” during which “the good guys brandished their clubs and waded right in.”
Juvenile authorities refused to waive the local curfew and vowed to send all their officers to the 9 p.m. show to enforce it. Anyone younger than 18 caught after 10 p.m. without a parent or guardian risked being booked.
Source: Christopher Lawrence/reviewjournal.com
