In June and July of 1966, the Beatles performed in Europe, Japan, and the Philippines, where, in Manila, they were accused of snubbing then First Lady Imelda Marcos. Travel resumed in August, when the band hit 14 American cities in 19 days. This tour was plagued from the start by John Lennon’s remark that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus,” a quote from a London interview that detonated in the American Bible Belt, triggering death threats, record burnings, and calls for boycotts. On August 28, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, frenzied fans breached the barriers and stormed the field. The band was rushed into a secure room and held there until the chaos subsided. They were well and truly done with it all.
On August 29, 1966, the Beatles landed in San Francisco exhausted—or, as the Brits would say, “at their wits’ end.” They were playing Candlestick Park that night, and the setup was oddly primitive. The sound came mostly from the stage amplifiers. The lights were simply the stadium floodlights. It was cold, foggy, and windy, and miniature dust storms swirled across the field. Perhaps the weather was a sign. No one in the crowd knew it, but once the curtain came down, the Beatles would never tour again, and would perform live only once more, on a London rooftop in 1969.
