I was raised in 1970’s Germany, a skinny kid, and like most my peers at least a year behind the girls in my class when it came to being able to generate any interest by the opposite gender.
All of a sudden at some point around 1980 the preferred reading materials changed. Before that shift it was books to collect soccer stickers and a rather bizarre magazine called YPS that would include a “gimmick” with each edition referring to some sort of contraption you could assemble to spy on, trick or otherwise pester other people. Think X-Ray goggles
And then out of nowhere, the girls in my class discovered BRAVO magazine. BRAVO was the go-to piece of print media to lust after rock stars, learn about new ways to be obnoxious during puberty, figure out how to best manipulate people we had a crush on and last but not least get some very needed sexual education through Dr. Sommer and his team of patient answerers to questions asked by kids that were largely clueless as to the use and correct operation of their genitalia.
BRAVO magazine was an icon in post war Germany and, for better or worse, a life changer for many.
My generation was not the first to become addicted to devouring the weekly BRAVO magazine, and it would not be the last. One of the unique accomplishments of the editors of the magazine four years before I was born was to organize, stage and market The Beatles’ only tour of Germany ever, in 1966. Perhaps mildly insensitive if not oblivious to the British Blitzkrieg trauma, the magazine announced the coming of the Fab 4 as the Beatles “Blitztournee” in April 1966. Perhaps this version of a British Invasion was also considered a welcome wordplay and comeback and Rock n Roll coming to Germany is certainly preferable over V1 rockets going the other way.
This was one of the few instances where the Beatles actually did something after the Rolling Stones who had already performed their own Blitztournee in 1965 when the magazine contacted Brian Epstein to talk about their proposal.
BRAVO magazine marketed heavily on their coup to get The Beatles to Germany and for months the event dominated the editorial content including many photos not usually seen, activities such as “Find the Best German Beatle Doppelgängers” and continuous reporting in what was intended to strengthen magazine / reader bond.
At the time German society was strongly polarized by Rock n Roll and an older generation was still reported to be traumatized by the Stones’ earlier appearance with unruly hair and even more unruly habits. The Piltzköpfe or “Shroomheads” as the Beatles were called in Germany for their hairdos, only fueled the fear of rupture of the very social fiber that held postwar German society together.
Despite a preference by the magazine to the contrary, the Beatles and Epstein insisted on not playing Stadiums but to seek smaller and somewhat unusual venues instead. Berlin was cancelled as a preferred tour stop due to a lack of availability of suitable venues.
After months of hype the Fab 4 arrived in Munich on Friday, June 24th 1966 to play two concerts in one day in the permanent venue known as “Circus Krone” a well known German Circus before a crowd of approximately 3000 people for each event. The 5:00pm show was nicknamed the “Kindervorstellung” or “Child Performance” and more self-respecting fans aspired to get tickets for the 8:00 pm show instead.
The next day the Beatles went on to Essen, a town in Germany’s industrial zone, perhaps not entirely unlike Liverpool to play in the Grugahalle, a postmodernist convention and concert center that had a higher capacity. Again they gave two consecutive concerts that day, with both shows having a turnout of 8000.
The Blitztournee ended in Hamburg on Sunday that weekend with another two concerts before 6,000 adoring fans each, before they went back home, presumably exhausted after spending hours-on-end being screamed at and bombarded by Jelly Babies, despite Harrisons hand written plea to not do so three years earlier.
The songs performed at each concert were the following:
Rock and Roll Music
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
I’m Down
The entire appearance of the Beatles lasted only for about 30 minutes but was described as life altering by many. The rest of the time was filled with what would now be characterized as more or less obscure, mainly German, opening acts such as “The Rattles,” ”The Lords,” “Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers,” and “Peter & Gordon”. One fan in attendance at Essen accounts:
“It was like a big bang, life shattering, an explosion, an earthquake. My world was rebuilt. Girls were screaming, boys rocking, people lost all control, outright extreme displays of emotion, ecstasy and fainant. Girls lost it, everyone danced, screamed, many until they fainted and had to be carried away. The police and security staff was in constant intervention”.
The fab four were transported in the same luxurious train that had been used to move Queen Elizabeth II and her entourage around the country a year earlier. What neither Her Majesty, nor the Fab4 might have been aware of, was that their saloon coach with number "10 214" had been built for and used by Heinrich Himmler in Nazi Germany. George Harrison was certainly appreciative of his ride desipte its sinister origins.
“It was also the train used by the royal family during their state visits to Germany. And it was really rather nice. Everyone had their own private quarters with a marble bathtub; outright luxurious.”
Over all, however, Harrison reflected on the Blitztournee with mixed emotions:
“Hamburg woke pleasant and unpleasant feelings in me. On the good side, we came back after all our success; when we first played there, we had to play in shady night clubs. On the downside, we ran into several ghosts from our past. People we didn’t necessarily want to see again. People we made superficial friendships with during nights drinking, it was now 1966 and all of a sudden such ghosts from the past come lurking at you”
As usual for a Beatlamania era concert, the music was outright inaudible behind the screaming. The four left the stage without an encore leaving an ecstatic and exhausted crowd behind. The more timid Ringo left first, as usual. Most in attendance described the experience as nothing that they had ever felt before or after.
The Blitztournee was a logistical and financial challenge for the magazine and its organizers. 18 railroad trains were chartered to move fans back and forth, since Berlin was cancelled allegedly for lack of an available venue, planes were chartered to get Berlin fans to Hamburg instead. The ticket prices between 10 and 25 German marks (19 dollars to 46 dollars in todays money) were considered rather high, and despite a total revenue of what equates to almost a million dollars in today’s money, BRAVO magazine had to subsidize the event substantially in return for highly increased readership and publicity.
Some of the images generated on the tour were exclusively marketed through the magazine and may not have been seen by even the most hard core of Beatles fans out there.
The Blitztournee and the strain on the group probably marked an important step in their burnout as a touring band. The very next day after their last German concert, they set off from Hamburg via Heathrow to Tokyo, but had to land in Anchorage, Alaska, due to a typhoon warning. They played a total of five concerts in Tokyo and another two in Manila. On the 29th of August, they gave their last tour concert ever in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Fed up with the Jelly Babies, I suppose.
Arved Deecke is founder of the Danish / Mexican Loudspeaker company KVART & BØLGE that makes audiophile quarter wave loudspeakers and sound systems at a price anyone can afford. In his free time he blogs about all things related to sound, music and audio.
