Beatles – At The Maple Leaf Gardens (Misterclaudel mccd-117/118)

At The Maple Leaf Gardens (Misterclaudel mccd-117/118)

Maple Leaf Gardens,  Toronto, ON, Canada – August 17th, 1966

Disc 1 (77:13), Before the show document:  going to the concert by car, in front of the Maple Leaf Gardens, inside of the Maple Leaf Gardens, announcement.  The Remains:  introduction, Hang On Sloopy, Like A Rolling Stone, Why Do I Cry, I’m A Man.  Bobby Hebb:  introduction, Crazy Baby, For You, Good Good Lovin’, Mojo Workout, Sunny.  The Cyrkle:  introduction,  Red Rubber Ball intro ?, Money, Unknown, Medley I Get Around – This Diamond Ring – Big Girls Don’t Crym Turn Down Day, Hushabye, Red Rubber Ball, Stay.  The Ronettes:  introduction, Shout, Be My Baby, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Land Of 1000 Dances, Walking In The Rain, What’d I Say, interviews to fans

Disc 2 (60:08):  introduction / tuning, Rock And Roll Music, She’s A Woman, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Baby’s In Black, I Feel Fine, Yesterday, I Wanna Be Your Man, Nowhere Man, Paperback Writer, Long Tall Sally.  After show document:  interviews to fans after the concert, crowd at the Maple Leaf Gardens, report, go back to home by car

The complete tape of the Beatles’ August 17th, 1966 performance in Toronto first surfaced in late 2007 and was pressed by Misterclaudel the following year.  It is an interesting historical document since so few tapes from their final tour exist, much less tapes with all of the opening acts.  The sound quality on this poor to fair and is not enjoyable.  The taper tries to preserve space in the first half of the show by constantly turning the machine off and the songs listed exist merely as fragments. 

The Beatles’ performance is beset by screaming fans and sounds very far away but from what can be heard they deliver a good show with no surprises.  The interviews with fans are perhaps the more interesting aspect of this release since it does offer interesting insights into the average fan’s reaction to the events.  Misterclaudel package this in a fatboy jewel case with an insert containing their catalogue.  For the Beatle completist this is definitely a must have, but it is definitely not a hi-fi experience and casual collectors wouldn’t find much here to enjoy.