On This Day in 1966: The Beatles Played Their Final Paid Public Concert at Candlestick Park
via Beatles at Candlestick Park / YouTube
A Milestone Moment
On August 29, 1966, The Beatles performed their final paid public concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, marking the end of their era of live tours. The show drew around 25,000 fans to the baseball stadium, though it wasn’t a sell-out—nearly 7,000 tickets went unsold.
This appearance came exactly seven years after John, Paul, and George first played together at Liverpool’s Casbah Coffee Club. That early performance would eventually lead them to the world stage and to this final concert in the United States.
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A Short but Impactful Set
The band performed 11 songs in just over 30 minutes, opening with “Rock and Roll Music” and closing with “Long Tall Sally”. Despite having released Revolver only weeks before, they chose not to include any of its tracks in the setlist.
The rest of the set included:
“She’s a Woman”
“If I Needed Someone”
“Day Tripper”
“Baby’s in Black”
“I Feel Fine”
“Yesterday”
“I Wanna Be Your Man”
“Nowhere Man”
“Paperback Writer”.
Capturing the Moment
Aware that this might be their last live show, each Beatle brought a camera to the stage. Paul McCartney asked press officer Tony Barrow to make an audio recording from the field—a personal keepsake for the occasion. Barrow’s tape ran out partway through “Long Tall Sally,” so the final moments are missing from the recording.
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A Farewell Without Fanfare
The band left the stage quickly afterward. They were escorted to an armored car and rushed to the airport. On the flight to Los Angeles, George Harrison reportedly said, “That’s it, then. I’m not a Beatle anymore”. This echoed the growing sense of exhaustion the group felt toward touring, and led to their official end as live performers in 1966.
Legacy of the Final Show
Though Revolver marked their evolving musical direction in the studio, live performances had become unsustainable amid rising chaos and security concerns. The Candlestick Park concert became a defining endpoint to their public touring phase. From that night onward, The Beatles focused on studio innovation, forever transforming popular music without touring again.
Listen to the live bootleg of the concert below:
