Auckland Town Hall: The Beatles' 1964 Concerts

The Beatles played Auckland Town Hall, 305 Queen Street, on 24 and 25 June 1964, two shows each night for about 2,500 people a show. On 25 June Mayor Dove-Myer Robinson also welcomed them there with a civic reception. The 1911 building is still a working concert hall, and it has no Beatles plaque or marker.

A rough arrival

The tour reached New Zealand in Wellington on 21 June 1964 and moved north to Auckland for the next concerts. Only about 300 fans met the plane at Whenuapai. The real crowd, about 2,000, was outside the band's hotel on Victoria Street. A handful of police were there to manage it, and the car took around 20 minutes to get through. Lennon came out of the crush angry and said he would not play unless more police were sent. Police had already turned down a request for an escort, on the grounds that escorts were for royalty and similar visitors.

Four concerts on Queen Street

The Beatles played the Town Hall twice on 24 June and twice on 25 June, to about 2,500 people each time. Johnny Devlin, Johnny Chester, the Phantoms and Sounds Incorporated were on the bill, and the Beatles' own set ran under half an hour. Screaming covered much of it. Fans kept rushing the stage, and for the second show the police who had sat in the front rows moved to face the audience instead.

The mayor's welcome

Mayor Dove-Myer Robinson wanted a civic reception. Councillors objected to the cost and to the idea of honouring a pop group, but the mayor held it at the Town Hall on 25 June, before the evening concerts, and about 7,000 people turned up.

The hall today

Auckland Town Hall was opened on 14 December 1911. The Melbourne firm J. Clark and Sons designed it, and its Great Hall seats 1,529. It has been a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 building since 1988 and still hosts concerts and events.

There is no Beatles plaque or marker at the Town Hall, and none appears in the sources on the building or the tour. You can see the Queen Street front from the street at any time; the halls themselves open for events.

The Beatles stayed at the Hotel St George in Wellington earlier on the New Zealand leg, and later returned to Australia for the four Festival Hall concerts in Brisbane.