In 1962, the Beatles live engagements largely took place in small late-night venues where the group would perform for anything up to five hours on stage, with their set list resembling a rambling snapshot of current musical trends in black American pop music. From 1963, Brian Epstein insisted that the Beatles set list be cut down drastically to no more than a dozen songs. In the early part of the year, they were still performing mostly cover songs, but as their records stormed the charts, the hits and the corresponding B-sides were added to the live set. This 30-minute, twelve-song Liverpool Empire show in December was half covers and half originals, opening with a lengthy drum break and finishing with a spirited 90-second instrumental medley of From Me To You/The Third Man Theme. The group’s Spring 1963 tour had found them opening as bottom of the bill to Tommy Roe and Chris Montez. The Cambridge Evening News reviewed their March 19th show at the Regal in rather disparaging terms: ‘The Beatles, a four-man ‘rock’ group with weird hairstyles as a gimmick, sang and played their current hits. The show was not the best Cambridge audiences have ever seen.’ But by the summer, fans were turning up at venues early and blocking stage doors, making it difficult for the Beatles to get into the theatres. The frenzied reception the group received at the London Palladium show on 13th October 1963 caused the national press to coin the term Beatlemania, but the earliest recordings on this record from April and August show that the screaming girls had been out in force for many months before that day.

Side One Tracks 1 – 8 & Side Two Tracks 1 – 4: Empire Theatre, Liverpool 7th December 1963 Side Two Track 5: Little Theatre, Southport 27th August 1963; Track 6: Albert Hall, London 18th April 1963; Track 7: Elstree Studios, Borehamwood 2nd December 1963; Track 8: Manchester 20th November 1963