It doesn’t seem possible that it was half a century ago four lads from Liverpool came to Indianapolis to perform at the 1964 Indiana State Fair. The Beatles played two concerts at the Coliseum on the Fairgrounds on August 3 of that year on the 10th stop of their 24 city tour. This was their first American tour. Their first film A Hard Days Night had just been released and it seemed that the entire world was caught up in Beatlemania. When the Beatles landed at Weir Cook after their Philadelphia concert, they came, they saw, and they conquered Indianapolis. The city was a completely different place at the time. The shock of the Coliseum Explosion and the Kennedy assassination was still in the hearts and minds of the young people of Indy. Hosting the Beatles concert seemed to help to dispel the gloomy mood that the city found itself in.
David Humphrey has done a masterful job of recapturing that magical day when John, Paul, George, and Ringo tread on the soil of the city and made it their own. All Those Years Ago contains pictures, letters, interviews, graphs, and insights into the first British Invasion of Indianapolis. The tickets to the concert ranged from $3 to $5 but both shows sold so quickly that many were not aware of the concert before the tickets were gone. Humphrey has included interviews with Jackie DeShannon and Clarence “Frogman” Henry who opened the show for the Beatles. If you are a Beatles enthusiast, history buff, music fan, or just love to collect great books then, All Those Years Ago by David Humphrey is the book for you.
David Humphrey will make a personal appearance at Bookmamas (9 S. Johnson) on Wednesday, June 25 from 4-7 p.m. to meet his readers and autograph copies of his book. There will also be a Beatles collectibles “show and tell” and a history of the Beatles presentation to celebrate Global Beatles Day.
