The Beatles at Kungliga tennishallen, Stockholm, 26 October 1963

Kungliga tennishallen, the royal tennis hall at Lidingövägen 75 in Stockholm, is where the Beatles gave two concerts on 26 October 1963, at 17:00 and 20:00. It was the second concert date of their Swedish tour, their first outside Britain, and they were billed below Joey Dee and the Starliters. The 1943 hall is still a tennis venue. No Beatles marker has been recorded.

Sweden before Beatlemania

The Beatles landed at Arlanda on 23 October 1963. Swedish accounts treat the trip as their first real tour abroad: the Hamburg years had been club residencies, not a run of concerts in different towns. The first concert was in Karlstad on the 25th. Stockholm came next on the 26th, then Gothenburg, Borås and Eskilstuna. During the same stay they recorded a set for Swedish radio at the Karlaplan studio in Stockholm, and on 30 October they appeared on the TV programme Drop In, which SVT credits with starting Beatles fever across the country.

Second on the bill

In Stockholm the Beatles were not the headliners. Newspaper ads for the "Popfestival" gave the most space to Joey Dee, the American singer, and the Beatles. Expressen's ad on 24 October listed the full line-up for the Tennishallen: Joey Dee and the Starliters, the Beatles, Jerry Williams, The Violents and Suzie. Advance tickets were on sale at the NK department store, among other places. Seats cost between 8 and 16 kronor, and the Beatles were paid £140 for the night.

The Swedish acts had a history with them. Jerry Williams and The Violents had crossed paths with the Beatles in Hamburg in 1962, and were surprised to find themselves sharing a dressing room with the same band at the Tennishallen a year later.

Two shows and a party

The first show began at 17:00 and the second at 20:00. Afterwards Lennon and Starr went to a party thrown by Joey Dee at the Foresta hotel. McCartney and Harrison went back to the Hotel Continental, opposite Stockholm's central station, where the band was staying. The Paul McCartney Project reports that the Beatles' set was filmed but that the film was later stolen and has never been found. Photographs of the band on stage and of the audience that night are held by Nordiska museet.

The tennis hall today

Kungliga tennishallen opened on 22 October 1943, designed by the architect Sture Frölén, and belongs to the Kungliga Lawn Tennis Klubben. It seats 5,000 for tennis and has hosted the Stockholm Open every year since 1969. Louis Armstrong and the Rolling Stones played concerts there too. Today it is a tennis club with indoor and outdoor courts.

No Beatles plaque or marker has been recorded at the hall.