The Beatles in Hamburg in 1966 (1)

The Beatles gave their last ever performance before a European audience at Hamburg's Ernst-Merck-Halle on June 26, 1966. This video is edited from a Hamburg police department training film on the subject of crowd management. I have provided English subtitles. Some concert footage is included but the focus is on the fans.

[@airviper3457]

This clip is a perfect example as to why The Beatles decided to stop performing live. You could not the music over the screaming and shouting. Ringo once said he had to watch John and Paul's body movements just to keep his place in the songs. They couldn't hear each other on the stage. Insanity .....

[@jensjanssen5076]

These old recordings prove our parents and grandparents were crazier than we are today.

[@37BopCity]

99% of the people who see this Hamburg video don't appreciate the incredible historical irony of what is happening here. The Beatles first came to Hamburg in August 1960. Just over 15 years earlier, Hamburg suffered the most horrifying bombardment of WW2 up until that time. Over 8 days and night the city was almost totally burned down by thousands of Allied bombers dropping incendiary bombs. The streets and the harbors and canals were littered with thousands of incinerated bodies everywhere. The horrendous death and destruction was beyond description. Yet by the time the Beatles arrived in 1960, Hamburg had recovered and a whole new generation of German teenagers became hooked on the Fab Four like the rest of the world. If there ever was a good reason for defeating Hitler and the evils of Nazism, the Beatles and their young German fans are one of the greatest reasons why.

[@Jumphouse2]

We're never going to have anything like this again. It's a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon

[@daevpaeldruid8200]

It's a shame that most people who went to see The Beatles didn't get to hear them because more than half the audience members were too busy screaming their heads off and moistening their gussets.

[@daveparsons7756]

Really amazing to think of these fan’s fathers....most of whom probably fought against the British some twenty years earlier........

[@laracroft3718]

Beatlemania changed the world.

[@Timo-15]

It's no wonder that the Beatles gave up touring 'live'. What with being 'mobbed' on their way to the gig, and their amps only being the size of a peanut, and dealing with fanatical jelly-baby throwing fans, and all of that bloody screaming.....that would send me scuttling 'back to the studio' to stay there forever!

[@RodrigoSilvaDiaz]

If a band is capable to do that with a german crowd, is a veeeeery good band

[@NeverKnowinglyUndersouled]

'66 was a roller-coaster year for the Beatles. In just a few months, they had to deal with the Japanese Budokan protests, the Imelda Marco fiasco in the Philippines, the 'butcher sleeve' controversy, the 'Bigger than Jesus' backlash, the release of 'Revolver' and their final concert... and they still came out of it a stronger, tighter band! 🏅

[@sompoat2504]

Four men who change this world forever.

[@ruairicoyle6839]

2:14

[@romulo7779]

Amazing ! The Beatles = THE BEST Forever.

[@KaBoomChannel]

Just think: Only six years earlier in August of 1960 they were playing in Hamburg in this dive off the Reeperbahn call the Indra that had about 2 people in the audience.

[@166293]

I wish I could travel back in time. Would have loved to experience the Beatles performing live. If you see nowadays Ahrensburg train station, you wouldn't believe EVER what had been going on there on one certain day in 1966.

[@BernieBriocon]

Great to be a part of the mania here on youtube!

[@tosinoparinde9563]

I love the Beatles ❤️💕

[@user-fq9su1lg6z]

観客中心に撮影された貴重な映像ですね。

[@titusho2]

Beatles were already loved and accepted in Hamburg , back in 1961 when Pete Best was the drummer.

[@PJohn-gc8xv]

The boys and the girls on this film should be their 70s or 80s now. Long, long time has passed and The Beatles never fade away.