Sunday 3 November 1963 | Live performances | Odeon Cinema, Leeds | By Beatles Fabdom
On 3 November 1963, The Beatles performed two houses at the Odeon Cinema in Leeds. It was the third date of their Autumn Tour, following Cheltenham and Sheffield, and brought John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr back to a venue they had already played on 5 June that year.
The ten-song set combined recent hit singles, songs from Please Please Me and material about to appear on With The Beatles. The following evening the group would take part in the Royal Variety Performance in London, before resuming the tour in Slough on 5 November.
| Date | Sunday 3 November 1963 |
|---|---|
| Venue | Odeon Cinema, Leeds |
| Historic site | Former Odeon Cinema, 14–20 The Headrow, Leeds LS1 6PT, England |
| Tour | 1963 Autumn Tour |
| Tour position | Third date |
| Shows | Two houses, advertised for 5.15pm and 7.45pm |
| Beatles set | 10 songs |
| Previous appearance at the venue | 5 June 1963 |
| Next tour date | 5 November 1963 — Adelphi Cinema, Slough |
The Autumn Tour arrives in Leeds
The tour had opened at the Odeon in Cheltenham on 1 November and continued at Sheffield City Hall on 2 November. Leeds was the next stop, with two audiences attending the Sunday programme.
The Beatles were now the headliners of their own package show. The supporting bill included the Rhythm & Blues Quartet, the Vernons Girls, the Brook Brothers, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, and the Kestrels, with Frank Berry as compere. The advertised house times refer to the whole show, not necessarily the exact moment The Beatles took the stage.
This was a different arrangement from their earlier 1963 package-tour work. The Leeds return came during a period of rapidly expanding British attention, between the success of She Loves You and the release of their second album. The tour programme presented the four musicians prominently as the attraction at the top of the bill.
The Beatles Show: the contemporary tour programme
The cover reads “Arthur Howes by arrangement with Brian Epstein presents” above the title The Beatles Show. Four separate portraits run diagonally across the page. It is a contemporary tour document, rather than a photograph of the Leeds performance.
An original handbill for the Leeds engagement also survives. Christie’s catalogue identifies the Odeon advertisement by its Sunday 3 November 1963 date, while a handbill description published by Bahr Gallery records the two houses at 5.15pm and 7.45pm and the supporting acts.
Epstein’s role connected the theatre bookings with the group’s recording, broadcasting and promotional work. Our Brian Epstein guide explores that wider management story.
Setlist
- I Saw Her Standing There
- From Me To You
- All My Loving
- You Really Got A Hold On Me
- Roll Over Beethoven
- Boys
- Till There Was You
- She Loves You
- Money (That’s What I Want)
- Twist And Shout
From the first album to With The Beatles
The set opened with I Saw Her Standing There and closed with Twist And Shout, both familiar from the debut album Please Please Me. Boys also came from that album, giving Ringo a lead-vocal feature within the short concert programme. From Me To You and She Loves You brought the group’s 1963 singles into the running order.
Five other selections connected the Leeds performance directly with the forthcoming With The Beatles: All My Loving, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Roll Over Beethoven, Till There Was You and Money. The second album would not reach British shops until 22 November, so these songs were part of the group’s stage repertoire before the public could buy that LP.
The concert therefore did not simply reproduce one album’s sequence. It drew together singles, established stage numbers and songs associated with the next release. The ten-song format also allowed different vocal features within a compact headline appearance.
The four Beatles on stage
| Musician | Role |
|---|---|
| John Lennon | Guitar and vocals |
| Paul McCartney | Bass guitar and vocals |
| George Harrison | Guitar and vocals |
| Ringo Starr | Drums and vocals |
The familiar quartet was performing without an additional backing group. The other musicians on the package bill appeared as separate acts, not as an expanded Beatles ensemble.
The contrast with the same calendar date two years earlier is striking in venue and format. On 3 November 1961, The Beatles had played a Cavern lunchtime session with Pete Best on drums. By this Leeds engagement, they were headlining a touring theatre programme with two houses in one evening.
The Odeon on The Headrow
The Leeds venue was the former Odeon Cinema on The Headrow, not the nearby Grand Theatre. Leeds Heritage Theatres specifically distinguishes the group’s Odeon appearances from performances sometimes mistakenly attributed to the Grand.
The cinema building was constructed in 1930–32. Historic England lists it as the former Odeon Cinema at 14–20 The Headrow, noting an exterior designed as part of The Headrow development by Sir Reginald Blomfield and an interior by Frank T. Verity. It became an Odeon in 1940 following the previous year’s takeover.
The Beatles’ earlier visit on 5 June 1963 belonged to their tour with Roy Orbison. They returned to the same cinema in November as the principal attraction of their own show, and would play there again in 1964. The listed building record also documents later alterations, so the surviving site should not be described as an unchanged 1963 auditorium.
The following night: the Royal Variety Performance
On 4 November, The Beatles appeared at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London for the Royal Variety Performance in the presence of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. This was a separate engagement during a break in the tour itinerary, not another Leeds show.
The Autumn Tour resumed on 5 November at the Adelphi Cinema in Slough. Separating the Royal Variety appearance from the touring dates makes the sequence clear: Sheffield on 2 November, two Leeds houses on 3 November, the London variety event on 4 November and Slough on 5 November.
1963 Autumn Tour: complete venue itinerary
The tour ran from Cheltenham on 1 November to Southampton on 13 December. The itinerary below includes the original postponed Portsmouth booking and its rescheduled date. Separate appearances during breaks in the touring programme follow the list.
- 1 November — Odeon, Cheltenham
- 2 November — City Hall, Sheffield
- 3 November — Odeon, Leeds: this performance
- 5 November — Adelphi, Slough
- 6 November — ABC, Northampton
- 7 November — Adelphi, Dublin
- 8 November — Ritz, Belfast
- 9 November — Granada, East Ham
- 10 November — Hippodrome, Birmingham
- 12 November — Guildhall, Portsmouth: postponed to 3 December
- 13 November — ABC, Plymouth
- 14 November — ABC, Exeter
- 15 November — Colston Hall, Bristol
- 16 November — Winter Gardens, Bournemouth
- 17 November — Coventry Theatre, Coventry
- 19 November — Gaumont, Wolverhampton
- 20 November — ABC, Ardwick, Manchester
- 21 November — ABC, Carlisle
- 22 November — Globe, Stockton-on-Tees
- 23 November — City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne
- 24 November — ABC, Hull
- 26 November — Regal, Cambridge
- 27 November — Rialto, York
- 28 November — ABC, Lincoln
- 29 November — ABC, Huddersfield
- 30 November — Empire, Sunderland
- 1 December — De Montfort Hall, Leicester
- 3 December — Guildhall, Portsmouth: rescheduled performance
- 7 December — Odeon, Liverpool
- 8 December — Odeon, Lewisham
- 9 December — Odeon, Southend-on-Sea
- 10 December — Gaumont, Doncaster
- 11 December — Futurist, Scarborough
- 12 December — Odeon, Nottingham
- 13 December — Gaumont, Southampton
Separate engagements during the period included the Royal Variety Performance in London on 4 November, Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 2 December and the Empire Theatre in Liverpool on 7 December, distinct from the Odeon show that day. Portsmouth’s 12 November appearance was postponed because McCartney had gastric flu; the Guildhall confirms that the rearranged shows took place on 3 December.
Former Leeds Odeon location map
The historic venue is Former Odeon Cinema, 14–20 The Headrow, Leeds LS1 6PT, England. The map targets this Headrow site, not a present-day Odeon elsewhere in Leeds or the Grand Theatre.
Open the former Odeon address in Google Maps.
With The Beatles designs for fans
The album’s connection with the Leeds set makes With The Beatles designs a relevant way to explore this stage of the group’s career. The With The Beatles steel wall sign reproduces the album’s black-and-white portrait design.
The With The Beatles 8 Track T-shirt uses the album portraits and track titles in an eight-track-cartridge-style design.
Frequently asked questions
Where did The Beatles play in Leeds on 3 November 1963?
They played at the Odeon Cinema on The Headrow, now identified in the listed building record as the former Odeon at 14–20 The Headrow.
How many shows did they give?
They played two houses, advertised for 5.15pm and 7.45pm.
How many songs were in the set?
The Beatles performed ten songs, opening with I Saw Her Standing There and closing with Twist And Shout.
Had they played the Leeds Odeon before?
Yes. They had performed there on 5 June 1963 during their tour with Roy Orbison.
Was With The Beatles already available?
No. The album was released in Britain on 22 November 1963, after the Leeds concerts.
What happened after the Leeds shows?
The Beatles appeared at the Royal Variety Performance in London on 4 November, then resumed the Autumn Tour in Slough on 5 November.
Explore all 17 stories in the 3 November in Beatles History timeline, browse the On This Day archive, or return to The Beatles Knowledge Hub.
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