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Another ho-hum day at the office for The Beatles — they played a concert for 32,000 people at a stadium in Washington, D.C., with the local chapter of the KKK protesting outside. To alleviate the monotony of the touring routine, let’s take a minute to look at the opening acts who appeared on every date of this tour.
The Remains were a four-piece from Boston who had scored a couple of regional hits with a cover of “Diddy Wah Diddy” and an original called “Why Do I Cry.” They had appeared once on The Ed Sullivan Show, but had not yet released an album, and how they scored a slot opening for The Beatles is something of a mystery. They broke up not long after the tour ended, seemingly sinking into total obscurity; but after reforming many years later they achieved a decent amount of notoriety, and were even the subject of a documentary released in 2004.
Bobby Hebb was best known for bringing the world “Sunny,” which has been the subject of many, many cover versions over the years, from the sublime (Frank Sinatra, Alex Chilton, The Walker Brothers) to the ridiculous (Leonard Nimoy, Robert Mitchum, the Electric Mayhem). In August of 1966 Hebb’s original recording of “Sunny” was higher in the charts than any Beatles song. Strangely, however, “Hebbmania” did not become a thing.
The Cyrkle, says The Wikipedia, ”was a short-lived American rock and roll band active in the mid-1960s. The group charted two Top 40 hits, ‘Red Rubber Ball’ and ‘Turn-Down Day.’ ” They put out a couple of albums and broke up in 1968, but again according to Wikipedia, two members became professional jingle writers — one “wrote the famous ‘plop plop fizz fizz’ jingle for Alka-Seltzer” while the other “penned the original 7Up Uncola song.” A YouTube search, however, turns up a recording of “7 up the Uncola” credited to The Cyrkle, so I’m not sure what the deal was there.
The Ronettes were a successful girl group who had scored a number of hits under the tutelage of insane genius Phil Spector. On this tour, however, the lead singer after whom they were named — Ronnie Spector, née Veronica Bennett — was noticeably absent. Apparently nutty Phil was jealous of the attention Ronnie might receive while touring with The Beatles, and refused to let her participate. She got the last laugh, though — Ronnie is a successful and beloved entertainer to this day, while Phil rots in prison because he shot a lady in 2009.
And that’s probably enough for today. Tomorrow, Philadelphia!