Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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The English rock group the Beatles toured Germany, Japan and the Philippines between 24 June and 4 July 1966. The thirteen concerts comprised the first stage of a world tour that ended with the band's final tour of the United States, in August 1966. The shows in what was then West Germany represented a return to the country where the Beatles had developed as a group before achieving fame in 1963. The return flight from the Philippines to England included a stopover in Delhi in India. There, the Beatles indulged in two days of sightseeing and shopping for musical instruments while still under the attention of the press and local fans.

The concerts were well attended yet provided the band with little in the way of artistic fulfillment. The program was in the package-tour format typical of the 1960s, with two shows per day, several support acts on the bill, and the Beatles' set lasting around 30 minutes. The band's set list included their new single, "Paperback Writer", but no songs from their recently completed album, Revolver. Often marked by poor playing, the shows highlighted the division between what the group could achieve when performing live as a four-piece with inadequate amplification, and the more complex music they were able to create in the recording studio. Concerts at the Circus-Krone-Bau in Munich and the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo were filmed and broadcast on local television networks.

The tour signalled a change in the Beatlemania phenomenon, as violent measures were used to control crowds for the first time and the band became a symbol of societal division between conservative and liberal thinking. The bookings at the Budokan, a venue reserved for martial arts, offended many traditionalists in Japan, resulting in death threats to the Beatles and a heightened police presence throughout their stay. In Manila, the band's nonattendance at a social engagement hosted by Imelda Marcos led to a hostile reaction from citizens loyal to the Marcos regime, government officials and army personnel. The Beatles and their entourage were manhandled while attempting to leave the country and forced to surrender much of the earnings from the group's two shows at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. On their return to London, the Beatles were outspoken in their condemnation of the Philippines. The events in Manila caused the band to lose faith with their longtime manager, Brian Epstein, and make the decision to end their career as live performers that year. By contrast, the stay in Tokyo established an enduring bond between the Beatles and Japan, where each of the band members visited or performed in the decades following the group's break-up…

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Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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Beatles - Live in Tokyo 1966

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