主播大秀

The latest in our series where Sounds of the Sixties presenter Brian Matthew chats about his career to writer and musician Bob Stanley.

The Beatles on stage at Shea Stadium

He has a kinda eloquence without being eloquent...

Brian Matthew on John Lennon

On August 15th 1965, the Beatles played their biggest ever show, at the Shea Stadium in New York. Among the crowd of 55,600 was Brian Matthew. "I'd never been to New York before. Brian Epstein had worked wonders with the airline. There was an announcement over the tannoy, and there was a limo waiting for me to take me to the hotel. I'd never had anything like that in my whole life! Phenomenal!"

"The idea was for me to get interview material off stage. Epstein invited me, and I said 'the 主播大秀 will never wear that', but of course they did. I was used to them not being able to afford to do things like that! The interviews were for Saturday Club and (the radio show) Top Of The Pops, we used a lot on that. Most of our material got used there, because it gave it a kind of cache which was useful.

The Beatles had headed out a couple of days earlier, waved off by a thousand fans at London airport. It was only their second US concert tour. "The boys were in the same hotel. So when I wasn't in my own room - which wasn't very much - I was in theirs. They always had a gang of people there. On that particular occasion, because they were going to Shea Stadium, the Stones were there in their room. That was an exciting day! I was there with them for ten days. We went from New York, flew out to Canada to do one in Montreal, then down to Texas, Chicago, and then I had to come back. They went on to Los Angeles."

Support acts on the opening night in New York included Motown's Brenda Holloway, sax player King Curtis, and another Brian Epstein-managed group, Dartford's Sounds Incorporated. "Shea Stadium was extraordinary" remembers Brian. "They were the first group to ever play this huge football stadium. And the Stones arrived in a limo - they were driven right into the centre where the Beatles were performing, standing right bang there in the middle of it all, which again was fairly phenomenal. The world's two major groups. God knows how you could perform like that, with the screaming crowd."

"I stood in the audience. The noise was phenomenal. I managed to get a couple of words with this kid standing next to me. I asked him 'who's your favourite Beatle?' He said 'John Lennon'. I said 'why's that?' He said 'Because he has a kinda eloquence without being eloquent.' I thought 'Wow! Gotta have that!' I used that line all over the place, because it was strangely true."