AUG 28-SEP 3: Historic events this week from The Beatles, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones and Dire Straits
AUGUST 29, 1966: THE BEATLES’ FINAL PAID PERFORMANCE
The Beatles performed their last paid ($5.50/ticket) concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
They played 11 songs in 30 minutes.
Among the songs played were “Paperback Writer”, “Yesterday”, “Nowhere Man” and “Day Tripper”.
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AUGUST 30, 1992: NIRVANA HEADLINES READING
Nirvana headlined Reading Festival in front of 50,000 fans.
The legendary performance would be widely bootlegged until its eventual release on CD/DVD 17 years later.
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AUGUST 31, 1973: GOATS HEAD SOUP
The Rolling Stones’ Goats Head Soup continued their streak of US #1 albums by spending 4 weeks at the top.
The album’s biggest single, “Angie”, would spend a week at #1 in October. The single would go on to sell a million copies alone.
With 3 million sold in the US, Goats Head Soup was their biggest selling album until Some Girls in 1978.
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AUGUST 31, 1985: DIRE STRAITS’ BROTHERS IN ARMS IS #1
Dire Straits’ penultimate studio album, Brothers in Arms, spent nine weeks at #1.
Brothers in Arms has sold 30 million copies worldwide thanks to strong singles like “So Far Away”, Walk of Life” and the Grammy-winning #1 hit “Money for Nothing”
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SEPTEMBER 3, 1968: RINGO RETURNS TO THE BEATLES
During tense “White Album” sessions, Ringo quit the band after McCartney was too critical of his drumming on “Back in the USSR”.
During his absence, the Beatles would record and complete “Back in the USSR” and “Dear Prudence”.
After receiving a telegram from the band pleading for him to return, Ringo arrived at the studio to find flowers on his drum kit.
