Ringo Starr Begged to Go Home to His Mom After a Frightening Beatles Concert
After a chaotic Beatles concert, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr found themselves trapped in a locker room. Fans damaged their getaway car and blocked the exits. The show itself had been chaotic, and the band was ready to get home, but they couldn’t. After several hours with no exit plan in mind, Starr dejectedly asked if he could go home to his mother.
Ringo Starr and the rest of The Beatles were trapped after a concert
During a concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, barriers and police officers could barely control the large crowd. By the end of the concerts, hundreds of people swarmed the field.
“At this late point in the tour I suspect that the fans’ grapevine had circulated full details of the boys’ act, giving everyone prior warning of the songs that would end the set,” press officer Tony Barrow wrote in his book John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me. “Even before the group started Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally,’ hundreds of fans invaded the field and surrounded our getaway car. By the time The Beatles left the stage and we were ready to pull away, many hundreds if not thousands more had positioned themselves across our path.”
They managed to get into the getaway car, but they could only make it across the field to a locker room. By that point, the fans had damaged the vehicle past the point of use, and two people had stolen the keys. The band remained in the locker room for two hours, hoping for a way out.
“All four boys were on the point of despair and we were discussing the possibility that our party might have to stay cooped up at the stadium overnight,” Barrow wrote. “Ringo broke the ensuing silence by saying in a small voice: ‘Can I please go home to my mummy now, please can I?'”
After several unsuccessful attempts at escape, they finally made it out in an armored van.
Ringo Starr said touring became detrimental to The Beatles
Beyond terrifying moments like these, The Beatles wanted to stop touring because it wasn’t benefiting them as musicians.
“In 1966 the road was getting pretty boring and it was also coming to the end for me,” Starr said in The Beatles Anthology. “Nobody was listening at the shows. That was OK at the beginning, but it got that we were playing really bad, and the reason I joined The Beatles was because they were the best band in Liverpool. I always wanted to play with good players. That was what it was all about. First and foremost, we were musicians: singers, writers, performers. Where we ended up on a huge crazy pedestal was not really in my plan. My plan was to keep playing great music. But it was obvious to us that the touring had to end soon, because it wasn’t working anymore.”
When The Beatles stopped touring, they were able to spend more time working on their music. They spent five months on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band — their longest effort to date — and it showed. They were able to experiment and push the boundaries of their music, proving it was worth it to stop live performances.
He explained why they didn’t announce it was their last show
The Beatles knew their final show would be in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, but they didn’t tell anyone. Starr explained that they made the choice and proceeded from there. They wanted to let their fans gradually figure it out.
“We didn’t make a formal announcement that we were going to stop touring, because it was just something we decided and then we let it go away,” Starr said.
They played one final show on the roof of Apple Corps in 1969.
