Thursday 5 November 1964 | Live performances | Odeon Cinema, Nottingham | By Beatles Fabdom
On 5 November 1964, The Beatles performed two shows at the Odeon Cinema on Angel Row in Nottingham. It was their third and final engagement at the venue and the 22nd date of their autumn British tour.
The evening’s shows began at 6.15pm and 8.30pm. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr delivered a ten-song set, opening with Twist And Shout and closing with Long Tall Sally. Their payment for the two concerts was £850.
The Nottingham return followed the previous evening’s concerts at the Ritz Cinema in Luton. Six songs from A Hard Day’s Night remained at the centre of the live programme as the tour approached its final week.
| Date | Thursday 5 November 1964 |
|---|---|
| Venue | Odeon Cinema, Nottingham |
| Historic address | 9 Angel Row, Nottingham NG1 6HN, England |
| Tour | 1964 autumn British tour |
| Tour position | 22nd date |
| Shows | Two, beginning at 6.15pm and 8.30pm |
| Beatles’ fee | £850 for the two concerts |
| Setlist | Ten songs |
| Earlier Odeon appearances | 23 May and 12 December 1963 |
| Compère | Bob Bain |
Two shows on Angel Row
The Nottingham booking brought The Beatles back to a cinema they had played twice in 1963. The first visit, on 23 May, belonged to their tour with Roy Orbison. The second, on 12 December, came near the end of their 1963 Autumn Tour.
By November 1964, the group had completed their first major North American tour and released the film and album A Hard Day’s Night. Their British autumn route nevertheless retained the familiar two-house package-show format, with several supporting acts appearing before the headline set.
The 6.15pm and 8.30pm times identify the starts of the complete shows, not the exact moment The Beatles walked on stage. Bob Bain linked the programme as compère.
Setlist
- Twist And Shout
- Money (That’s What I Want)
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- Things We Said Today
- I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
- I Should Have Known Better
- If I Fell
- I Wanna Be Your Man
- A Hard Day’s Night
- Long Tall Sally
A Hard Day’s Night at the heart of the concert
Six of the ten selections came from the British A Hard Day’s Night album: Can’t Buy Me Love, Things We Said Today, I’m Happy Just To Dance With You, I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell and the title song.
The sequence gave George a lead-vocal feature on I’m Happy Just To Dance With You. Ringo’s I Wanna Be Your Man appeared near the end, immediately before A Hard Day’s Night and the closing Long Tall Sally.
The opening pair, Twist And Shout and Money, drew on songs The Beatles had already recorded before the film soundtrack. Long Tall Sally provided McCartney’s closing vocal feature. The concert combined these established stage numbers with the more recent Lennon–McCartney material.
Beatles For Sale was still awaiting its British release on 4 December. The autumn concert programme remained rooted in the earlier album rather than presenting the forthcoming record’s running order.
An EP released the previous day
Parlophone had issued Extracts From The Film A Hard Day’s Night on 4 November. Its four tracks were I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, Tell Me Why and And I Love Her.
I Should Have Known Better and If I Fell therefore appeared both in the new four-track release and in the Nottingham concert set. The EP provides a direct link between that week’s release schedule and the music on stage.
Production work was also continuing in London. Our article on the 4 November mixing session covers George Martin and Norman Smith’s stereo work on Beatles For Sale and I Feel Fine.
The supporting acts and compère
The touring bill featured The Rustiks, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam, The Remo Four, Tommy Quickly and Mary Wells. Bob Bain was the compère.
This was a multi-act package show. The supporting performers had their own places in the programme; they were not an expanded backing band for The Beatles. Audiences attending either house saw the wider bill as well as the ten-song headline set.
The £850 payment covered The Beatles’ two concerts that evening. It should not be read as £850 per performance.
Four Nottingham concert dates, three at the Odeon
The Beatles’ Nottingham history began at the Elizabethan Ballroom on 7 March 1963. The Odeon then hosted their visits on 23 May and 12 December that year, followed by the two shows on 5 November 1964.
| Date | Venue | Sequence |
|---|---|---|
| 7 March 1963 | Elizabethan Ballroom | First Nottingham concert date |
| 23 May 1963 | Odeon Cinema | First Odeon engagement |
| 12 December 1963 | Odeon Cinema | Second Odeon engagement |
| 5 November 1964 | Odeon Cinema | Third Odeon engagement and final Nottingham concert date |
The distinction explains why accounts describe this as both their third Odeon appearance and their fourth Nottingham date. Several engagements included two shows, so counting individual performances produces a different total from counting dates.
The former Odeon Cinema on Angel Row
The cinema opened as the Ritz in 1933 and was renamed the Odeon in 1944. Its narrow frontage on Angel Row led to a much larger auditorium behind, with a substantial stage suitable for live entertainment.
The Beatles’ concerts belonged to the building’s single-auditorium period. The cinema was subsequently divided and later operated with several screens. It closed in 2001, and demolition began in September 2012.
The historic address is 9 Angel Row, Nottingham NG1 6HN, England. The map identifies the former cinema site, not a present-day Odeon elsewhere in Nottingham.
Open the former Odeon address in Google Maps. The University of Nottingham’s cinema history places the building within the city’s entertainment heritage.
Complete 1964 autumn British tour itinerary
The performed route comprised 27 dates. Nottingham was date 22, leaving Southampton, Cardiff, Liverpool, Sheffield and Bristol before the tour ended on 10 November.
- 9 October — Gaumont, Bradford
- 10 October — De Montfort Hall, Leicester
- 11 October — Odeon, Birmingham
- 13 October — ABC, Wigan
- 14 October — ABC, Ardwick, Manchester
- 15 October — Globe, Stockton-on-Tees
- 16 October — ABC, Hull
- 19 October — ABC, Edinburgh
- 20 October — Caird Hall, Dundee
- 21 October — Odeon, Glasgow
- 22 October — Odeon, Leeds
- 23 October — Gaumont State, Kilburn, London
- 24 October — Granada, Walthamstow, London
- 25 October — Hippodrome, Brighton
- 28 October — ABC, Exeter
- 29 October — ABC, Plymouth
- 30 October — Gaumont, Bournemouth
- 31 October — Gaumont, Ipswich
- 1 November — Astoria, Finsbury Park, London
- 2 November — King’s Hall, Belfast
- 4 November — Ritz, Luton
- 5 November — Odeon, Nottingham: this engagement
- 6 November — Gaumont, Southampton
- 7 November — Capitol, Cardiff
- 8 November — Empire, Liverpool
- 9 November — City Hall, Sheffield
- 10 November — Colston Hall, Bristol
Explore the A Hard Day’s Night era
The album supplied six songs in the Nottingham set. The A Hard Day’s Night junior guitar combines colourful stripes with portraits of the four Beatles.
The denim-blue A Hard Day’s Night T-shirt carries the familiar album-cover portrait grid.
Frequently asked questions
When did The Beatles play Nottingham Odeon in 1964?
They performed two shows on Thursday 5 November 1964, with the complete programmes beginning at 6.15pm and 8.30pm.
Where was the Odeon Cinema?
The former cinema stood at 9 Angel Row, Nottingham NG1 6HN. Demolition began in 2012.
Was this their final Nottingham concert visit?
Yes. It was their third engagement at the Odeon and their fourth Nottingham concert date overall, including the Elizabethan Ballroom in March 1963.
What did The Beatles perform?
The ten-song set opened with Twist And Shout and closed with Long Tall Sally. Six songs came from A Hard Day’s Night.
How much were The Beatles paid?
They received £850 for the evening’s two concerts.
Who else appeared on the bill?
The Rustiks, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam, The Remo Four, Tommy Quickly and Mary Wells supported, with Bob Bain as compère.
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