Fact #35511
When:
Short story:
The Beatles play at The International Amphitheatre, Chicago, Illinois, USA, supported by The Ronettes, The Remains and The Cyrkle.Full article:
Barry Tashian (singer, guitarist, The Remains) : We had apartments on the Upper West and Upper East sides and we’d meet to rehearse at a place called Harlequin Rehearsal Studio on Times Square. We got a new manager, John Kirland, who was more of a publicity agent. One of his friends, Bob Bonis, just happened to be in the office one day when we were checking to see if we had anything coming up. Bonis had worked at a booking agency that had experience bringing British bands on long tours of the U.S. He looked at us and asked, ‘Do you guys want to go on the Beatles tour?’
The first stop on the tour was in Chicago at the International Amphitheatre, right across from the stockyards, which you could smell from the stage.
Bill Hanley (sound engineer) had gotten to the Chicago venue ahead of time and set up this huge system. Just before the show, the union guys come over and ask us what all the equipment was. Hanley explained it to them and they got mad and told him that we had to use only the union sound equipment, which was old and cumbersome. Hanley said he would talk to Brian Epstein. Epstein took one look at the union equipment and one look at Hanley’s system and told the promoter of the show that the Beatles would be using Bill’s system. We could all finally hear ourselves on stage.
We had 20 minutes, so we played some Remains originals (“Why Do I Cry,” “Don’t Look Back”) and some covers (“Hang On, Sloopy”). Then when we were finished with our set, we’d be the backup band for Bobby Hebb [whose single, “Sunny,” was riding high on the charts at the time]. And after that, out would come The Cyrkle, who’d had a couple of hits [‘Red Rubber Ball’ and ‘Turn-Down Day’].” The Cyrkle were, like the Beatles, managed by Brian Epstein.
We really worked hard and the crowds were generally pretty good,
After The Cyrkle finished their set, the Remains returned to the stage as the backing band for the final opening act, the Ronettes. They played 14 cities in three weeks and all of the musicians rode on the same plane together.
George Harrison was a good guy and he’d let me sit with him on the plane and spend time up in his hotel room. I saw my first cassette player in his room. George had one that had headphones plugged into it. I didn’t know what it was. He handed me the headphones and said, ‘Here, listen to this.’ And it was Ravi Shankar, sitar music…he was already into Eastern music in 1966.
(Source : https://pleasekillme.com/barry-tashian-remains/)
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The first stop on the tour was in Chicago at the International Amphitheatre, right across from the stockyards, which you could smell from the stage.
Bill Hanley (sound engineer) had gotten to the Chicago venue ahead of time and set up this huge system. Just before the show, the union guys come over and ask us what all the equipment was. Hanley explained it to them and they got mad and told him that we had to use only the union sound equipment, which was old and cumbersome. Hanley said he would talk to Brian Epstein. Epstein took one look at the union equipment and one look at Hanley’s system and told the promoter of the show that the Beatles would be using Bill’s system. We could all finally hear ourselves on stage.
We had 20 minutes, so we played some Remains originals (“Why Do I Cry,” “Don’t Look Back”) and some covers (“Hang On, Sloopy”). Then when we were finished with our set, we’d be the backup band for Bobby Hebb [whose single, “Sunny,” was riding high on the charts at the time]. And after that, out would come The Cyrkle, who’d had a couple of hits [‘Red Rubber Ball’ and ‘Turn-Down Day’].” The Cyrkle were, like the Beatles, managed by Brian Epstein.
We really worked hard and the crowds were generally pretty good,
After The Cyrkle finished their set, the Remains returned to the stage as the backing band for the final opening act, the Ronettes. They played 14 cities in three weeks and all of the musicians rode on the same plane together.
George Harrison was a good guy and he’d let me sit with him on the plane and spend time up in his hotel room. I saw my first cassette player in his room. George had one that had headphones plugged into it. I didn’t know what it was. He handed me the headphones and said, ‘Here, listen to this.’ And it was Ravi Shankar, sitar music…he was already into Eastern music in 1966.
(Source : https://pleasekillme.com/barry-tashian-remains/)