Cafe-Restaurant Treslong, Vosselaan, Hillegom, The Netherlands
The Beatle's first duty in Holland following their 1:00 pm arrival and press conference at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, was to tape a performance for VARA-t, one of the group's best television appearances of all. For this they were driven south, to the town of Hillegom, near Haarlem, arriving around 4:00 pm at this restaurant with theatre facilities often hired by TV companies. Rehearsals began at 5:30 and recording at 8:00.
The program fell into two distinct sections. In the first part, members of the 150-person audience put some questions to Herman Stok, who was seated among them. Stok then fed the questions by microphone/headphone to Berend Boudewijn, seated in the theatre's bar area with the Beatles, Boudewijn translated them into English and the group responded.
The second part was a music performance - the Beatles miming to EMI recordings but adding new vocals on top if they felt like doing so because the microphones were left open. (Their guitars were also plugged in, but no amplifiers nor new sounds were evident). They began with "Twist And Shout" then followed with "All My Loving" and "Roll Over Beethoven". During the next number, "Long Tall Sally", dancing members of the audience began to encroach onto the stage, they got even closer during "She Loves You" and by the time John, Paul and George began "Can't Buy Me Love" they were completely engulfed. Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall and Derek Taylor came on to clear the area but, being unable to do so, Neil directed the three Beatles to leave the stage. Meanwhile, because they were miming, the music continued in their absence, only Jimm Nicol remaining behind, seemingly determined to fulfil his job as the Beatle's temporary drummer even though the others had left.
The Beatles Complete Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn
