The (Only) Night the Beatles Rocked Dublin
On November 7, 2013, the ballroom of the Gresham Hotel in Dublin came alive to the sounds of the Classic Beatles, one of Ireland’s best Beatles tribute bands. It was the opening night of the Dublin Beatles Festival, arranged to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four’s only visit to the city, and the audience heard the very same set of songs that had been performed on that historic night in 1963.
The Beatles themselves played two 25-minute sets at the Adelphi, a cinema on Middle Abbey Street, followed by a gig at Belfast’s ABC Ritz the next day. Although they returned to Belfast in 1964, Dublin never saw them again, which makes the occasion even more significant. Many of the excited teenagers who had been there were in attendance at the Gresham in 2013. Some had their grandchildren with them, and the look of pure joy on their faces as they shared their special memories and danced to the music made it seem like no time had passed.
It may seem strange to say that the Beatles have a special connection with Ireland, given their global fanbase and legacy, but it’s true. Three of the four — John, Paul and George — had Irish grandparents, and one of them visited the Irish shores long before fame came along. The photograph to the left, taken in 1950, shows a seven-year-old George Harrison walking down Dublin’s O’Connell Street with his mother and brother. George had cousins living in the north side suburb of Drumcondra, and after the Beatles’ performance in 1963, he discreetly took a taxi to their house for a brief family visit.
Ireland was caught up in the wave of Beatlemania, but everyone was completely unprepared for the chaos. It may have been the swinging ’60s, but the country still seemed rooted in the past, with a society controlled by the Catholic church and heavy censorship of books and films. The showband scene went some way towards bringing rock ‘n’ roll to Ireland, but it took a long time to catch up with neighboring Britain and the rest of the world. In this sense, the two countries seemed a world apart. There were certainly no proper music venues in Dublin at this time, aside from small clubs, which is why the Beatles found themselves playing in a cinema.
Typically, the band’s arrival was met with hysteria from Irish teenagers and horror from the older citizens. The city’s barber shops were crammed with teenage boys demanding moptop haircuts, much to the irritation of the barbers in question, who promptly raised their prices in an attempt to keep them away. Several hundred fans turned out at Dublin Airport to greet their heroes, and there was a heavy police presence both there and at the Gresham, where the Beatles were staying.
The concerts themselves induced riots on Middle Abbey Street. As the 2,000 fans emerged from the Adelphi after the first performance, thousands more tried to get in for the second, resulting in scuffles. Inside the cinema, fans rushed the stage and stood on seats. The Beatles, of course, were blissfully unaware of all this. They were rushed away in the back of an Evening Herald newspaper delivery van to the safety of their hotel.
It was a night that Beatles fans in Dublin would never forget. There was also a considerable amount of opposition to their visit, however, not least by the revered Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh. He made clear his dislike of the Beatles and all they stood for in his RTV Guide column after the concerts, writing: “A more untalented outfit was never inflicted on us.” He also predicted their imminent demise, and expressed his gratitude that so far there were no Irish groups capable of generating such mass hysteria and corrupting the country’s youth.
There was also outrage over the behavior of the fans. One local councilor blamed the influence of television, while the Lord Mayor of Dublin described the Adelphi scenes as “moronic barbarity” and referred to Beatles fans as “vandals and hooligans.” There were calls to ban the Beatles and newspapers received letters from protesters describing the damage caused to public morality.
In the end, the public outcry made no difference. Beatles record sales increased substantially in Ireland in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1963. Boys were still getting Beatles haircuts. Instrument sales also shot up, aided by the idea that “you, too, could be a Beatle.” The fans had spoken, and they weren’t going to give up on their idols just because of pressure from their parents or authority figures. If anything, adult disapproval made the Beatles even more alluring.
Half a century later, Kavanagh’s assertion that this “untalented outfit” wouldn’t last very long has obviously been proven wrong. Those fans who caused moral panic at the Adelphi are now grandparents — and still Beatles fans. Sadly, the Adelphi itself is gone, having been closed in 1995 to make way for what is now a carpark, but there are still other landmarks to explore. In addition to the Gresham, you can pay a visit to Cassidy’s Hotel, where the Beatles enjoyed some post-concert drinks (and George Harrison was reportedly turned down by an actress he had asked to dance; the story goes that when she realized who he was, she was deeply embarrassed). There’s now a plaque behind the bar commemorating their visit.
The Beatles may never have come back to Dublin as a band, but Paul McCartney has performed in the city three times in recent years. At his sell-out show in the O2 Arena in December 2009 (we have proper venues now!) he spoke warmly about his Irish roots, proudly proclaiming that he came from Monaghan (the county his grandfather was born in). Indeed, he and ex-wife Heather Mills had their wedding ceremony there in 2002, so it’s safe to assume the sentiment is genuine.
Then, of course, there are the two songs penned about the violence in Northern Ireland — John Lennon’s “The Luck of the Irish” and Paul McCartney’s “Give Ireland Back to the Irish.” Lennon and McCartney both openly identified with the Irish republican cause, and Lennon spoke about the time he spent in the country with Yoko Ono as “a sort of second honeymoon,” and how he had once contemplated retiring there. In 1967, he purchased the uninhabited island of Dorinish, off the coast of Mayo, for £1,700. Yoko Ono sold the island after his death, donating the proceeds to an Irish orphanage. It is reportedly visited by Beatles fans from time to time.
Judging by the excitement surrounding McCartney’s gigs in Dublin, and the turnout for the Dublin Beatles Festival (which returned by popular demand in 2014), the Beatles remain well and truly a part of Irish hearts. It may have taken a long time for Irish society to catch up with that of its closest neighbor, but you can’t help but feel that those four lads from Liverpool helped set things in motion on November, 7 1963.
You can read more about the Beatles’ visits to Dublin and Belfast in Colm Keane’s book, The Beatles Irish Concerts.
