According to The Beatles Bible, on August 14, 1966,

The day after it organised a public burning of The Beatles’ music and memorabilia, radio station KLUE of Longview, Texas was struck by lightning.

The lightning bolt hit the station’s transmission tower, destroying broadcast equipment and knocking unconscious the news director. KLUE remained off-air for some time afterwards.

TBB presents this information without comment, but the implication is clear: Maybe KLUE’s anti-Beatles demonstration, which included the participation of the Ku Klux Klan, was not so positively received in certain celestial spheres. I don’t actually believe that, and neither should you, but the timing is provocative, to say the least.

The Beatles themselves, meanwhile, did a gig for 20,000 people at Cleveland Stadium. I don’t know if John, Paul, George or Ringo uttered the words “Hello, Cleveland!”, but I prefer to think that they did, ideally after getting momentarily lost backstage.

There was a spot of trouble when, according to Tony Barrow,

The crowd broke loose, crashed through a four-foot security fence and invaded the field during “Day Tripper.” Hopelessly outnumbered and overwhelmed, the local police simply gave up and stood back while hordes of fans took control of the stage and the “secure” grassy area around it.

Unfortunately, Rufus Thomas was not there to restore order in his pink suit and short pants. (If you don’t get that reference, do not pass Go and do not collect $200; proceed directly to watch this clip from the movie Wattstax.) But eventually things settled down and the concert was concluded with no real mayhem. Even so, it must have been unnerving for the band, especially given the religious hostility that was following them around during this period. I imagine they were counting the days till the tour was over and they would never have to do this again.

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