The Beatles were the biggest thing to hit New Zealand in 1964 since a fresh-faced Queen Elizabeth’s sell-out tour a decade earlier. Both drew crowds like never before, but only the Fab Four can claim to mark a change in the country’s culture.
The band arrived in Auckland on June 24 and were greeted by thousands at a lunchtime shindig at the Town Hall.
A week before The Beatles visited, the Vienna Boys Choir had been given a full noise official welcome by the city.
However, Mayor Dove-Myer Robinson couldn’t convince his council to grant a similar haere mai for the Beatles. Councillors baulked at the sixty pound cost, and most had no time for these shaggy-haired musicians who looked nothing like choir boys or All Blacks.
But Robinson had a tremendous nose for being on the right side of history — not to mention a keen eye for spotting future voters — so he dipped into his mayoral fund for John, Paul, George and Ringo.
The half-hour event was captured in a remarkable film that features a bemused-looking band and screaming fans.
Robinson’s statue stands just a few metres from that very spot today, shaking his fist toward the old council building. But 60 years ago, he was having the time of his life trying to control a crowd that was said to be 7000 strong.
Sir Bob Harvey, who would also become a beloved mayor one day, was behind The Beatles on the podium. He was Dove-Myer’s campaign manager then and claimed to have convinced Robinson to adopt the moniker ‘Robbie’.
Recalling Auckland’s brush with Beatlemania, Harvey described an atmosphere he’d never encountered before.
“It’s very hard to describe the madness, probably sexual frenzy in some ways,” he said.
“Not since Paganini had young women fainted and thrown themselves off balconies for somebody.”
Niccolò Paganini, if you’re wondering, was a 17-century violinist famed for causing an outbreak of swooning and fainting among his female fans.
One of the strangest aspects of the welcome footage is the appearance of a giant papier-mâché head in the crowd, the size of a Toyota Yaris. Next to it, people held signs that read ‘Tom Loves the Beatles.’ Some thought the giant head looked like Ringo, but it wasn’t.
“It was Tom Pearce. He was a hater of art and a hater of Robbie. He was a rugby union stalwart and councillor and hated by students. They made this huge head for a parade and pulled it out for this. Almost saying, ‘This is the bastard that hates you.'”
It was trolling on a grand scale.
Pearce was part of an old guard who saw The Beatles in a dim light. They feared the same things people feared when Elvis was shaking his hips. History buffs will note that even the waltz caused the day’s conservatives to have palpitations.
Harvey believes The Beatles’ visit marked a cultural shift for the country.
“We were coming out of the post-war era. I was 24 at the time, and we believed this was the future; the future was there for us.
“The Beatles stood for that; their music was absolutely bloody glorious.”
The music and the hysteria of the Fab Four’s NZ tour have been captured in a new book by Beatles experts Andy Neill and Greg Armstrong.
When We Were Fab: Inside the Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 is the culmination of a lifetime of research for the authors and features rare photos, stories, and memories from the British band’s historic visit to Australasia.
Watch the video above to hear more about the book and how Beatlemania struck New Zealand.
