The Beatles’ NZ tour 64: Eyewitnesses to the mania

“It is easy to be superior about pop music, but facts must be faced, and a fact confronting us today is the spectacular success of four young men known as The Beatles … Youth must now and then break through the restraints we impose upon it; and it is better done vicariously in a concert hall than elsewhere in violent actuality. ‘Yeh’ is not the best way of saying ‘Yes’ but it is probably the loudest … We do not propose, however, to carry this tolerance – or brief infatuation – to a sacrificial pitch. It is our hope and indeed firm intention that, having heard The Beatles once, we shall not hear them again.” ― Listener editor Monte Holcroft in the December 15, 1963 issue, a month before the NZ tour is announced

The Beatles arrive on a TEAL airliner from Australia on Sunday, June 21, landing at the capital’s Rongotai Airport, where they are greeted by thousands of fans and a local Māori cultural group.

They invited our club, the Te Pātaka Māori Group, to give the welcome. We didn’t know how important The Beatles were until we got there. It was crowded and people were climbing up on those big fences – we were the only ones allowed inside the gates. We did the pōwhiri and as they came down, we presented them with the tikis, great big ones, given to us by Tourist and Publicity, I think. We were a bit shy and we were so scared to meet them. I was married at the time with a child and oh, I felt like a teenager! I think it was Ringo Starr I picked out. I just said “Kia ora, and welcome to New Zealand,” and we pressed noses. He was great. ― Donas Nathan

When The Beatles arrived on the Sunday afternoon, about 4000 people gathered on the corner outside the hotel – they made the crowds for Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh look like a handful. Twenty policemen were outside the front door to give the crowd the impression The Beatles were going in there. But I was waiting in the bottle store at the side of the hotel with about 12 policemen. On the pavement outside was a sergeant who, as The Beatles came down Willis St, gave the signal – he lifted his hat and rubbed his forehead. I unlocked the door and the policemen stepped out as The Beatles’ car stopped at the kerb. The Beatles rushed out of the car like rats from a cage then made their way to the third-floor balcony, where they waved to the crowd.

The Beatles were playing a big game, with big money at stake, so they couldn’t afford to put a foot out of step. We had no problems with them, but the support band who never had anything to do with The Beatles played up – they messed up their rooms, damaged furnishings, even slashed some mattresses. But The Beatles were happy; they stayed in their rooms, where they ate all their meals and made a lot of toll calls home. ― Frank Drewitt, manager of the Hotel St George

I was at 2ZB with Pete Sinclair and I remember standing on the balcony of the St George Hotel and looking down on a sea of people completely blocking Perrett’s Corner – thousands and thousands of screaming fans – and we asked The Beatles what they thought of their welcome in New Zealand and they said, “Very conservative.” Every question we asked, that’s all they’d say – “Yeah, it’s very conservative, really.” I was told to interview The Beatles and to get them to say, “Hello New Zealand, this is Ringo speaking.” So Ringo did that, and then he passed the mike to Paul and he said, “Hello New Zealand, this is Ringo speaking, and that’s a lie for a kick-off, ‘cos it’s Paul.” ― Broadcaster Johnny Douglas

I managed to secure a Spanish guitar for Paul McCartney on a Sunday, which was no mean feat. I got the manager of Beggs Music Store in Wellington to open up his shop and get one out for him. He wanted to work on a composition, but I’m sorry to say I can’t remember which song. In return for that I was allowed to get a great deal of exclusive interview material, I hung around in The Beatles’ suite with all The Beatles all the time they were in Wellington. They were all very easy to be with. It’s just astonishing that they were such an incredible legend – the streets outside were just a mass of people, waiting to get a glimpse of them, and in fact they were just four awfully nice kids from Liverpool. ― Broadcaster Pete Sinclair