Tuesday 27 August 1963 | Live, The Beatles
| Venue | Odeon Cinema, Southport, Lancashire |
| Night of residency | 2nd of 6 consecutive nights |
| Shows | Two houses |
| Songs performed | 10 |
| Residency dates | 26–31 August 1963 |
On Tuesday 27 August 1963, The Beatles performed two houses at the Odeon Cinema in Southport, Lancashire — the second night of a six-consecutive-night residency in the English seaside town. It was a typically relentless schedule for the summer of 1963, a period in which The Beatles were performing almost every night across Britain while simultaneously recording, broadcasting and becoming the most talked-about group in the country.
The previous night’s show — 26 August — had been filmed by BBC producer Don Haworth for his documentary The Mersey Sound, with crowd footage from that concert later edited into the finished programme. On the morning of 27 August itself, Haworth had filmed The Beatles performing without an audience at the Little Theatre on Hoghton Street — making this an unusually full day even by the standards of the 1963 touring schedule.
The setlist
The Beatles played the same 10-song set throughout the Southport residency:
- Roll Over Beethoven
- Thank You Girl
- Chains
- A Taste Of Honey
- She Loves You
- Baby It’s You
- From Me To You
- Boys
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Twist And Shout
The set is a vivid snapshot of where The Beatles stood in August 1963. ‘She Loves You’ had been released just four days earlier, on 23 August, and was already on its way to becoming the best-selling UK single in history to that point. ‘From Me To You’ had spent seven weeks at number one earlier in the year. ‘Twist And Shout’ — closing the set, as it so often did — was the track that had been threatening to destroy John Lennon’s voice since the Please Please Me recording session in February.
The inclusion of ‘Chains’ (a Goffin-King song originally recorded by The Cookies) and ‘Baby It’s You’ (a Bacharach-David composition) reflects the breadth of the group’s musical taste at this stage — drawing on American girl-group material and Brill Building songwriting alongside their own compositions. ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, the Chuck Berry classic, opened the set with George Harrison on lead vocals, a role he would reprise on the With The Beatles album released later that year.
The Southport residency in context
The six Southport Odeon dates — running from 26 to 31 August 1963 — were part of a summer of near-continuous touring. By this point The Beatles had already completed a winter tour, a spring tour, a summer season at Weston-super-Mare, and were now midway through a run of seaside-town residencies that would take them through to the autumn.
Southport in August 1963 was a town at the height of its summer season, packed with holidaymakers from across the north of England. The Odeon Cinema — like many British cinemas of the era — doubled as a concert venue, its stalls and circle filled with screaming teenagers for whom a Beatles show was the defining event of the summer.
By the end of August 1963, The Beatles were the biggest act in Britain. The autumn would bring With The Beatles, the Royal Variety Performance, and the full explosion of Beatlemania that would make them a global phenomenon within months. The Southport shows were among the last they would play in relative — if only relative — obscurity.
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The Beatles: Star Club, Hamburg Ladies T-Shirt (Black) — the early years in style.
Key Facts
| Date | Tuesday 27 August 1963 |
| Venue | Odeon Cinema, Southport, Lancashire |
| Night of residency | 2nd of 6 |
| Shows per night | Two houses |
| Residency run | 26–31 August 1963 |
| She Loves You released | 23 August 1963 (4 days earlier) |
| Also on 27 August | Mersey Sound filming at Little Theatre, Southport (morning) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Did The Beatles play in Southport?
Yes. The Beatles played six consecutive nights at the Odeon Cinema in Southport, Lancashire from 26 to 31 August 1963, performing two houses each night. The 27 August show was the second night of the residency.
What did The Beatles play in Southport in August 1963?
The Beatles played the same 10-song set throughout the Southport residency: Roll Over Beethoven, Thank You Girl, Chains, A Taste Of Honey, She Loves You, Baby It’s You, From Me To You, Boys, I Saw Her Standing There, and Twist And Shout.
What else happened in Southport on 27 August 1963?
On the morning of 27 August 1963, The Beatles were filmed at the Little Theatre on Hoghton Street in Southport for the BBC documentary The Mersey Sound, produced by Don Haworth. They performed Twist And Shout, She Loves You and Love Me Do without an audience, before playing two houses at the Odeon that evening.
→ Television: The Mersey Sound – 27 August 1963
→ The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening) – 27 August 1962
→ August in Beatles History
→ The Beatles Knowledge Hub
→ On This Day in Beatles History
Shop The Beatles merch: The Beatles Star Club Hamburg T-Shirt | The Beatles collection
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