Why The Beatles’ Manager Brian Epstein Missed the Band’s Final Concert
Beatles manager Brian Epstein was a key part of the band’s success, but he wasn’t present for their final concert. He was attempting to track down his stolen briefcase and wasn’t even in the same city as The Beatles. This was one of his biggest regrets. He knew that it would be the band’s final show, but he wasn’t able to make it there.
Brian Epstein missed The Beatles’ final concert
After several tumultuous years on the road, The Beatles decided they would play their final live performance on Aug. 29, 1966, at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. While people still believed The Beatles could resume touring after a break, the show had an air of finality.
“When we got to Candlestick Park we placed our cameras on the amplifiers and put them on the timer,” George Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology. “We stopped between tunes, Ringo got down off the drums, and we stood facing the amplifiers with our back to the audience and took photographs. We knew. ‘This is it — not going to do this again. This is the last concert.’ It was a unanimous decision.”
Epstein, however, was not in the audience. He’d been working with The Beatles for four years and had helped them rise to success. Instead of witnessing the momentous concert, though, he was in Los Angeles searching for his stolen briefcase.
An ex-lover stole it from him and, per Rolling Stone, it included a number of incriminating items, including “legally questionable pills, explicit homosexual love letters, steamy Polaroid photos of his young male friends and more than $20,000 in cash skimmed from concert proceeds to be handed out as a bonus to the band.”
He knew that if the public were to find out about this, it could permanently tarnish his reputation. Because of this, he had to retrieve the briefcase. He long regretted his absence, though.
The Beatles’ manager felt sad when they stopped touring
Much of Epstein’s job involved organizing the band’s live performances, so he felt lost when they stopped touring.
“For Brian Epstein, our not touring sure left a void, because part of his gig was to get us out there, and that was a huge management thing for him,” Ringo Starr said. “That’s when he was ‘Big Bri’ — on the road. Once we hit all those towns, it was ‘Mr Epstein: The Beatles’ Manager.'”
Still, he remained the band’s manager until his sudden death in 1967.
Even Brian Epstein could see the benefit of The Beatles deciding not to tour
Epstein felt lost without the band’s live performances, but he could understand why the band wanted to stop. They dealt with overenthusiastic crowds, natural disasters, death threats, and political turmoil. And, their tour schedules became monotonous.
“I think Brian (like the rest of us) was getting tired of doing the same old thing,” Starr said, “What fun could it have been for him to rebook us at Candlestick Park or Shea Stadium?”
The Beatles put on their final live performance on the roof of Apple Corps in 1969.
