The Beatles at the Cow Palace, Daly City

The Cow Palace, at 2600 Geneva Avenue in Daly City just south of San Francisco, is where the Beatles opened their first US tour on 19 August 1964. They came back on 31 August 1965 for two shows under a contract saying they would not play to a segregated audience. The arena still stands. No Beatles marker has been reported there.

Opening night of the first US tour, 1964

Brian Epstein booked halls of about 17,000 seats for the 1964 tour, not large stadiums, because he doubted the band could fill them. The Cow Palace sold 17,130 tickets for Wednesday 19 August. The Beatles came on at about 9:20 pm, after the Bill Black Combo, the Exciters, the Righteous Brothers and Jackie DeShannon.

Harrison had been reported as liking jelly beans, so fans threw them at the stage for the whole set. Police stopped the show twice to restore order, and the 12 songs stretched to about 38 minutes. A journalist and a fan were trampled early on, and the fan broke a leg. Fans surrounded the band's limousine afterwards, so the Beatles left in an ambulance.

Two shows to end the 1965 tour

On 31 August 1965 the Cow Palace was the last stop of the band's North American tour, with an afternoon and an evening show. According to The Paul McCartney Project, the matinee started about an hour late, around 4:15 pm, in front of 11,700 people, and stopped after two songs when the crowd surged forward. Brenda Holloway, King Curtis, Cannibal & the Headhunters, Sounds Incorporated and the Discotheque Dancers were on the bill. Between the shows the band gave a press conference, and Joan Baez and Johnny Cash came backstage.

The contract that refused a segregated audience

Brian Epstein signed the contract for this 1965 date on 24 March 1965. One clause said the Beatles would not be required to perform before a segregated audience. The deal guaranteed $40,000 against gross receipts above $77,000, and it required at least 150 uniformed police officers and a raised platform for Ringo Starr's drums. The document sold at the Los Angeles auction house Nate D. Sanders in September 2011 for $23,033, several times its $3,000 to $5,000 estimate.

The clause wrote down a stand the band had already taken in public the year before, when they refused to play a segregated show at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. That contract is sometimes quoted as if it came from Jacksonville, but the auctioned one is the Cow Palace contract.

The arena today

The Cow Palace opened on 20 April 1941. It belongs to the State of California and is run by the 1-A District Agricultural Association, and it holds about 16,500 people for concerts. It is still an event venue, so you can only get inside with a ticket to an event. No plaque or marker about the Beatles has been reported on the building or grounds.

In November 2024 the district filed a state environmental notice for a master development agreement. The plan would put housing and commercial or industrial uses on part of the site and build or renovate arena facilities at the same time.

A year after the second Cow Palace visit, the band gave its last paid concert a few kilometres north at Candlestick Park.