The Beatles came to Australia in 1964, at the height of Beatlemania, and I went to see them at the old Stadium at Rushcutters Bay, where all big visiting acts performed (I also saw Roy Orbison, The Rolling Stones, Peter Paul and Mary and many others there on other occasions).

I went with my aunt (she was pretty cool) and I remember my tickets were tartan. I kept them for a long time, but they disappeared when my mother threw out a lot of my things, but that is another story.

I have never seen anything like it before or since. I forget the names of the other acts, but we were all just waiting for a brief half hour appearance by the Beatles. They sang 10 short songs and it was over very quickly. From the moment they came on there was a loud, earsplitting continuous scream. You could barely hear them. I don't think they could hear themselves properly either. I heard a tape of the show later and the quality of the performance was not good. But at the time, and in that atmosphere, nobody cared. We were in the physical presence of the famous Beatles, and that was all that mattered. It was totally crazy.

I'm not surprised that it wasn't long before they stopped doing live concerts. Apart from the quality of the performances suffering, the logistics of controlling and keeping safe thousands of demented screaming teenagers was becoming increasingly problematic.

New records were being released thick and fast. At one stage, the first 5 songs in the top forty here were Beatles songs. A new record release was awaited with baited breath. I remember in late 1964 going down to one of the local radio stations and being crammed into a small room with dozens of others, because we wanted to be the first ones in Australia to hear the latest release, "I Feel Fine/She's A Woman". They just kept playing the same two songs over and over, and it was A MOMENTOUS OCCASION for us. Weird stuff all right!

Many years later, when my daughter was 14, she became a devoted Beatles fan, and also a great fan of John's son Julian Lennon. She told me that she was quite jealous that I was there at that history - making time, and was always asking me what it was like.

Now that I can see it all in perspective, it WAS significant to be there at that time, and with all my love of folk music and changing tastes, I still value the experience, and appreciate their musicianship, and the huge contribution they have made to music.

Jenny