Only 18 People Watched the Beatles’ First Show in the South of England

When The Beatles were trying to get their start they did a lot of shows, but one show in Aldershot on December 9th, 1961, is one that the living Beatles probably want to forget.

Former Beatles Pete Best recalls the show saying a friend had the idea of expanding across England and getting the top label executives to hear them. When Jack Leach booked the fab 5 for Aldershot, what he didn’t know is that the city was a military city and not a hip place for an up and coming band.

Only 18 people came to see the band, Best says, “Halfway through one number, George and Paul put on their overcoats and took to the floor to dance a foxtrot together, while the rest of us struggled along, making enough music for them and the handful of spectators. We clowned our way through the whole of the second half. John and Paul deliberately played wrong chords and notes and added words to the songs that were never in the original lyrics.”

Despite efforts to gain more press for the show, Leach tried to promote the show as a battle between Liverpool’s The Beatles and London’s Ivor Jay and the Jaywalkers but the ad didn’t run in the local newspaper, and Jay and the Jaywalkers never showed up.

Were you one of the first fans to see a band that later turned out to be a huge success? Tell your story.