1964 The Beatles land in NZ

Beatlemania hit New Zealand when 7000 hysterical fans greeted the Fab Four in Wellington during their ‘Far East’ tour. After stints in the United States, Europe, Hong Kong and Australia, the lads from Liverpool finally touched down in New Zealand.

They came at the start of a new era. During the 60s young New Zealanders, with the help of broadcast television, were beginning to tune in to an international youth culture. The Beatles’ fame preceded them and our teenagers were ready for action. At Wellington Airport, police struggled to restrain crowds behind a wire fence. Police dogs were called in when rapturous fans besieged the Beatles’ hotel.

On 22 June the Beatles played their first New Zealand concerts, repeating a 30-minute 11-song set, as fans screamed and punctured the seats of the Wellington Town Hall with their stiletto heels. Audiences in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin followed suit. Possibly the most dangerous moment of the Far East tour came in Auckland, where the Beatles faced a mob of several thousand people with little police protection. They were trampled and mauled, and John Lennon lost a clump of hair. 

The tour had a big impact on New Zealand’s rock ’n’ roll and pop music scene. Local artists such as Ray Columbus, Howard Morrison, and Max Merritt and the Meteors benefited from a surge of interest in the Beatles’ wake.

The Beatles were one of the most famous and commercially successful bands in popular music history. Their quest for new sounds and the social awareness expressed in their songs were a major influence on pop culture around the world in the 1960s.

Image: The Beatles arrive in Wellington