beatles

'Roll over Beethoven'

The Beatles' 1964 tour occurred as New Zealand was undergoing a cultural shift. The values of younger New Zealanders seemed to be changing as one era passed and another emerged. From this time, New Zealand opened up to the world as never before through television and the beginning of mass air travel overseas.

Some young people began to look very different. Their love affair with rock 'n' roll, started in the 1950s, became even stronger, but the look and the music had changed. Young women hiked up their skirts as high as they could go and traded in the bouffant beehive hair-do for the 'mod' look, inspired by British fashion queen Mary Quant. Brylcreemed short-back-and-sides hair, shapeless sports coat and grey strides were the last things the male mod would be seen wearing. There was longer hair for men, and black velvet jackets, brown corduroy trousers and Chelsea boots were popping up in trendy Auckland boutiques.

The Beatles' first stop in New Zealand was Wellington. Seven thousand screaming fans – nearly all young women – waited as the band touched down on 21 June 1964. One girl badly slashed her thigh trying to climb a wire fence, and two others were forced through the fence because of pushing from behind.

A team of 30 police officers, some in plain clothes, was on hand. Bill Brien, in charge of the operation, later said that: