Last Friday, I set aside my pile of schoolwork to indulge in an evening performance of Ron Howard’s new documentary, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years, at the Madison Art Cinemas. It was a spontaneous trip to the theater; I had originally planned to spend the night completing my calculus homework. Once I scrolled through the Fandango movie application on my iPad, as I often do for amusement, I persuaded my parents to drive me to see this movie. Although the picture ran for longer than two hours, it left me begging for more of the Fab Four.
The movie summarized The Beatles’ startup in Liverpool, England, and focused mostly on the lives that each member lead while on tour between the years 1963 to 1966, including 250 performances in Europe, North America, and Asia. Because of the time span, the movie depicted what many consider the band’s light-hearted repertoire, hits such as “Love Me Do” and “Eight Days A Week.” Their heavy, psychedelic hits like “I Am The Walrus” and “A Day In The Life” had yet been released. The compilation of interviews, anecdotes, and concerts ended with footage of a 30-minute concert in 1965 performed at Shea Stadium, in New York City.
There had never been, and there never will be, a band quite like The Beatles; it disheartens me to know that I was excluded from the most transformative period of music history. In addition to inducing a feeling of nostalgia for the era, this movie was incredibly humorous: ardent female fans were shown passing out or wailing at the slightest glimpse of a band member. Furthermore, it exhibited The Beatles’s amusing cheekiness; for example, when asked by a reporter how he felt about being watched by millions of fans on the television, John Lennon glanced at the cameraman and responded, “It only looks like one man to me.”
Most important, the movie shed light on the inclusiveness of the band; for instance, all four members agreed that they would never play for a racially segregated crowd in the U.S. during their touring years. It had formerly ached me to know that I would never be able to hear The Beatles live, and this aching only increased when I learned about their humorous and open-minded personalities. If you have a chance to go to the movies, consider seeing the greatest group of the sixties once more, this time on the big screen.
