Fame and adulation are not always something to envy. Four mop-haired youths got no chance to enjoy the famed facilities of Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel when they checked in on 26 August 1964. Instead they were forced to hide out in their rooms while their fans screamed their names from the streets below. While the hotel’s kitchens could produce a banquet fit for a king, and frequently did, these four Liverpudlians ate grilled cheese sandwiches, served in their rooms.
The Beatles 1964 tour of the United States and Canada comprised 32 concerts in 25 cities over 31 days. Denver was stop number six on the itinerary, after the Hollywood Bowl on 23 August. Beatlemania was at its height and everywhere they went the band was mobbed by screaming fans. Forewarned, the hotel – founded in 1892 when Denver was still considered a frontier town – brought in extra security and strictly checked employees’ ID.
She Loves You
The bedlam began as soon as the British band arrived at Denver’s airport. They were driven to the hotel, where a crowd of 5,000 waited. Whisked up to their rooms through a side entrance, John, Paul, George and Ringo never got to admire the spectacular atrium lobby for which the Brown Palace Hotel is famous. The band was given a two-bedroom suite (now the Beatles Suite), with two single beds in each room – a far cry from the palatial demands of today’s A listers. Such was the fevered atmosphere that a temporary steel gate was installed to prevent any chance of the mob invading.
The concert venue was Red Rocks, a natural amphitheatre 10 miles out of town. Tickets for this landmark event cost US$6.60 (including 51 cents of Federal tax). Seating was unreserved and punters were warned: ‘In case of rain event may be moved to Denver Coliseum on the same date. Listen for radio announcements.’
A Hard Day’s Night
Compared to the 88,000 who saw Taylor Swift at London’s Wembley Stadium in June 2024, only 7,000 tickets were sold for the Red Rocks show – and it’s said that it was one of only two concerts on the tour that did not sell out. What the audience may have lacked in number they made up for in enthusiasm. The surge of fans overcame the scant security when the chain gates opened meaning that many tickets were never checked.
We are now used to our favourite pop acts playing for upward of two hours and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour set new heights, weighing in at more than three hours and 40 songs. Things were different back then. The Beatles screaming fans had to sit through two support acts – The Righteous Brothers and The Bill Black Combo – before their idols took to the stage at 9.30pm. Blink and you’d have missed it! The Fab Four played just 12, short songs and were gone in little over half an hour.
Sweet missiles
Careful what you say. Especially if you’re a Beatle! George Harrison had declared his fondness for Jelly Babies in an interview. The result was a barrage of the confection raining down on the band during its British concerts. Unfortunately this got lost in translation on the trip across the Atlantic. With Jelly Babies unknown, fans resorted to jelly beans, an alternative with a much tougher exterior. This proved much more troublesome and potentially painful. Bitter sweets!
Fanatical fans
Fans went to extraordinary lengths to get up close and personal with their heroes, who were confined to the luxury hotel after their gig. One teenager and her friend booked a room in the hotel next door, which was connected to the Brown Palace Hotel by a bridge. An attempt to cross the bridge was repelled by the watchful security guards who were posted at every entrance. One fan told the Denver Post, ‘It was like a dream seeing them even from a distance. We screamed every time a curtain moved!’
Morning broke the next day with legions of fans still camped outside the hotel’s main entrance hoping to catch a glimpse of the musical superstars. They were in the wrong place. The band sneaked out of the service entrance at the other side of the hotel. Despite a phalanx of police and hotel staff to protect them, the band were still grabbed and manhandled by their fans, with one teenager throwing herself across the bonnet of the getaway car.
Even after their departure the hotel was inundated by fans requesting scraps of the sheets and towels used by their heroes. With the hotel’s usual efficiency these had long since been bundled up and sent off to the laundry.
As the screams subsided, the hotel could get back to normal. Fame, like hotels, was very different back then!
Hotel History Expert 