The Beatles: Across The Universe - John, Paul, George & Ringo On Tour And On Stage

The Beatles were a global phenomenon, changing all facets of popular culture through their music, image and personalities. While the group's legacy is enshrined through a catalogue of timeless recordings, from the earliest beginnings, the Beatles reputation and livelihood rested as a live band.

Before their national British breakthrough in 1963, the band played over 500 gigs in church halls, cellar clubs and German bars. Even when gaining eminence, the Beatles kept up an astounding pace in a packed schedule that would make today's megastars wince. However, if the world only saw four jovial moptopped musicians seemingly enjoying fame, privately the Beatles soon tired of the hectic scenes and intense reaction they attracted.

"I reckon we could send out four waxwork dummies of ourselves and that would satisfy the crowds. Beatles concerts are nothing to do with music any more. They're just bloody tribal rites." –John Lennon, 1966

How big a part did performing in concert play in the Beatles' success? Would they have achieved what they did without an early grounding in the dancehalls and clubs of Liverpool and Hamburg? After their first year as a headline attraction, why did The Beatles soon tire of the relentless pace of Beatlemania?

These are just some of the questions answered in this stunning book—The Beatles Across The Universe: John, Paul, George & Ringo On Tour And On Stage. It examines the Beatles' frenetic existence as live performers by using over 300 images, many of which are unseen. The pictures are all from the Daily Mirror's archives—the world's largest newspaper archive of Beatles images; many of the photographs in this book have never before been published. The book examines in detail the Beatles as a worldwide attraction primarily between the years of 1963–1966 when Beatlemania spread across the world. The reader sees them in ballrooms, theatres, airports, limousines and stadiums across the globe, and along the way we find out precisely why the Beatles were seen but not heard throughout the 1960s.

The author Andy Neill is a music writer, researcher and historian, who co-wrote the acclaimed illustrated biography, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle Of The Who. He contributed the liner notes for expanded archive reissues of the Who albums My Generation, The Who Sell Out and BBC Sessions, as well as being a consultant on numerous best-selling rock music biographies and documentaries including The Real John Lennon, The Rolling Stones' Rock And Roll Circus, and Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who. His writing has appeared in such music magazines as Mojo, Q, Record Collector and Ugly Things. He lives in London and has been a Fab Four fanatic all his life.

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