The Beatles’ concert tours, revealed through never-before-seen footage, crowdsourced from the fans who were there.
Recognizing the lasting, global impact of the Beatles on music and culture, the production company One Voice One World is working on a project to assemble a multifaceted archival project on Beatlemania. Authorized by Apple Corps, they are crowdsourcing the discovery of rare and personal photos, film, audio recordings, and other ephemera of the Beatles made during their concert tours between October 1963 – the birth of Beatlemania – and August 29, 1966, their final concert at Candlestick Park. Submitted media, such as the concert a fan filmed in Forest Hills in 1964 (pictured), will be considered for inclusion in a planned feature doc exploring and celebrating Beatlemania.
OVOW Productions is currently crowdsourcing amateur audio and/or video recordings of the Beatles through the end of this month. To learn more, submit content, read fan-submitted personal reflections, or keep updated on the progress of their research, visit the project’s website.
While I like the Beatles, I’ve never been a super-fan. At the same time, I’m drawn to the spirit of this project. The devotion, if not obsession, that Beatlemania wrought no doubt resulted in an impressive amount of original documentation, and it seems a shame that a lot of it likely hasn’t seen the light of day for close to a half century. By wisely focusing on live performances, this project puts some limits on the scope of the search, while at the same time promising a visceral sense of Beatlemania as it was being experienced in the actual physical presence of the Fab Four. I’m curious to see what kind of unique footage will be uncovered through this process, so if you or someone you know is a Beatles fan, spread the word.
what (not) to doc 