The Beatles historic – and hysterical – tour of Australasia was now over 60 years ago, but interest in the band and the visit never fades. The importance of the tour remains deeply significant, not only in the memories of baby boomers who lived through it, but also to today’s millennials who wish they had. The Beatles Australasian tour is continually celebrated as a major social landmark for both countries, a huge and lasting step in the advancing development of youth culture, and a major highlight of the Beatles’ remarkable career. When We Was Fab: Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 is the definitive and highly illustrated (with many previously unseen photographs) account of this extraordinary tour by the world’s most creative and influential musical force; the key moment in the coming of age of Australian and New Zealand youth as they embraced the cultural explosion of the 1960s. This new flexi-bound edition follows the sold-out limited edition hardback.
Greg Armstrong is a Melbourne-born and based radio presenter, researcher and Beatles historian. He is a co-presenter on Australia’s Let It Be, the world’s longest-running radio show dedicated to the Beatles, on Melbourne’s WynFM. The show is now in its 31st continuous year, having broadcast over 1,400 episodes. Andy Neill is a UK-based music writer, researcher and historian, born in New Zealand. Alongside several other music biography books, he compiled and annotated Across The Universe: The Beatles on Tour and on Stage (2009) and Looking Through You: Rare and Unseen Photographs from the Beatles Book Monthly Archive (2015).
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: AND IN THE MIDDLE OF NEGOTIATIONS….
CHAPTER 2: HALF A WORLD AWAY
CHAPTER 3: WE WANT THE BEATLES!
CHAPTER 4: THE BEATLES ARE COMING
CHAPTER 5: WITH A LOVE LIKE THAT
CHAPTER 6: I’LL FOLLOW THE SUN
CHAPTER 7: GO EAST, YOUNG MEN
CHAPTER 8: HONG KONG BLUES
CHAPTER 9: “WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA, WHICH ONE AM I TALKING TO?”
CHAPTER 10: 300,000 BEATLE FANS CAN’T BE WRONG
CHAPTER 11: OH, THE GREAT BEATLE CRUSH
CHAPTER 12: THREE NIGHTS IN AN OLD TIN SHED
CHAPTER 13: HAERE MAI, BEATLES
CHAPTER 14: THEY ARE NOT ROYALTY
CHAPTER 15: “WE’VE HAD VERA LYNN THROUGH HERE”
CHAPTER 16: THEY ARE THE EGGMEN
CHAPTER 17: WHEN I GET HOME
CHAPTER 18: LEGACY
NOTES
BEATLES AUSTRALIAN RADIO and TV GUIDE
DISCOGRAPHY
INDEX
* Captures the memories of Australian and New Zealand tour principals from over 100 interviews.
* Contains several hundred photos, documents, memorabilia, press clippings and artifacts.
* Lavishly designed by the Grammy nominated UK-based graphic artist, Philip Lloyd-Smee.
Publicity:
* Extension of previous highly successful publicity campaign - targeting TV, radio and print.
* Inclusion in Xmas gift catalogues.
* Posters and other promotional material available on request.
