The Beatles - The Beatles In Portland: The Complete Story

Squeezing maximum blood from a small stone

Before you get too excited, this contains stills (albeit over 100 of them), rather than moving pictures. It focuses on that August day in 1965 when Portland, Oregon’s vast Memorial Coliseum hosted two Beatles shows from their penultimate North American tour.

The tour itself was notable for the electric organ that now travelled with the guitars and drums, and for what were less musical recitals than scream-rent tribal gatherings. For the group, the most abiding memory of this stop might have been two Beach Boys turning up to pay backstage respects. A witness to this meeting is one of many interviewees whose reminiscences enliven an eventful chronology: the promoter’s struggles to book the venue; the main attraction’s messianic landing at the airport; the press conference; the opening acts; the show itself and the Fab Four subsequently slipping into the skies for a fleeting respite from what was becoming an intolerable existence as a touring band.

Within its limits, this is wellconstructed. The Beatles collector who has to have everything will note that a bonus DVD takes in ticket stubs, the Portland performance contract, an Allen Ginsberg poem entitled Portland Coliseum and relevant excerpts from the diaries of fans who’d gone as crazy as only Beatle fans could go.

CLS Productions | CLS-1262

Reviewed by Alan Clayson
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