We saw The Beatles four times in Sheffield, but on the fourth occasion we just couldn’t hear them for the screaming, so we didn’t go the next time.
Getting to the Azena wasn’t easy. My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, we were reliant on buses, so it was difficult to get there and back. I’m sure we got in for nothing! The only ticket I could find just says “Entry One”, so I think we got in free.
I was just 18, so we were a bit naïve. I’d just started a job at a company on Cricket Inn Road. I left in November ’62 as it wasn’t what I expected and went into banking; the rest, as they say, is history.
I can remember The Beatles being slightly raised up from us, but they were only roped off. There was no security, just those vertical posts with a thick rope between them. That was all that separated us. Nobody was pushing or rushing. I can’t imagine 2,000 people being in the Azena like they say.
Many years later I became friends with a chap who moved into our village, and funnily enough he and his girlfriend at the time had been at the same show. He said, “I was with the best looking bird in the Azena.” I said, “You couldn’t have been Brian — I was there with Lorraine!”
Sheffield at the time was very nice, people going out, places opening up. The “in crowd” would have a favourite place for a few months, then suddenly move on somewhere else. Back then, if you had three pubs opposite each other it was because they all sold different beers so if you drank Tetley’s you wouldn’t be seen dead in a Sam Smith’s.
There were no nightclubs until later. I met my wife at the City Hall, in the dance hall downstairs. It had a rectangular wooden sprung floor with glass panels and lights underneath. There was a bar at one end, but the strongest thing it sold was orange juice.
We never went to the Mojo. [Peter Stringfellow] had to close it eventually because it got a bit of a drug scene. My sister used to go, but she wouldn’t have been involved in anything like that. I didn’t realise at the time it didn’t have an alcohol licence, that’s probably one of the reasons we didn’t go.
Because it was hard to get to and from the Azena, we had to leave early to catch the bus. Paul McCartney had just started doing his Little Richard songs; I remember him singing Long Tall Sally, which he did very well.
We saw many artists in Sheffield. Roy Orbison didn’t speak between songs and his voice wasn’t very powerful. I think we saw Cilla Black when she was still Priscilla White. There was a whole bill with the Everly Brothers, Mickie Most, Bo Diddley and The Rolling Stones — all in smart black suits except Mick Jagger, who came out in a flamingo pink shirt and green trousers.
We met Joe Cocker no end of times in pubs in Sheffield. He did an unreleased cover of Georgia on My Mind and he never sang it the same way twice.
This is part of a growing archive of Sheffield Beatles memories. You can read more stories here: https://fanarchivebeatlessheffield.uk
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