50 Years Ago: The Beatles Play the Twin Cities

It only lasted 35 minutes, but it is still one of the most significant moments in Twin Cities' music history - the day The Beatles came to town in the summer of 1965.

It was August 21 - 50 years ago today.

Amazingly, the Bloomington show was the only one on the band's 1965 tour to not sell out, with 28,000 fans, who paid anywhere from $3.50 to $5.50, at Met Stadium, which held 40,000.

Those fans sat through opening acts King Curtis, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Brenda Holloway and the Sounds Incorporated to see what they came for - The Fab Four.

It was the typical 'blink-and-you-miss-it' set from The Beatles, 11 songs in all (a 12th, 'Twist and Shout' was reportedly dropped from the show because John Lennon was having throat problems):

1. She's a Woman
2. I Feel Fine
3. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
4. Ticket to Ride
5. Everybody's Tryin' to Be My Baby
6. Can't Buy Me Love
7. Baby's in Black
8. I Wanna Be Your Man
9. A Hard Day's Night
10. Help!
11. I'm Down

The Twin cities stop was part of the band's second U.S. Tour and Beatlemania was at an all-time high. The Met Stadium show took place just six days after the group played in front of 55,000 at Shea Stadium in New York City, and one week before the band's two-night run at the Hollywood Bowl.

The two major Twin Cities newspapers commemorated the 50th anniversary in slightly different fashion. The Pioneer Press told the story of the concert through the eyes of those who attended or worked it. The Star Tribune shared the story of one of their then-interns who got into the Beatles' hotel room by dressing up as a waitress.