1960s Birmingham concert ticket stubs sell for £400 at auction in Lichfield

Beatles shows in 1963 and 1964

A COLLECTION of ticket stubs for Birmingham concerts staged in the 1960s have gone under the hammer for £400.

The archive included two stubs for The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania in 1963 and 1964.

The collection sold with Richard Winterton Auctioneers at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, on July 14.

There were 18 ticket stubs in total with 17 from performances in Birmingham at the Town Hall, Odeon or Hippodrome and one from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.

Pride of place were two tickets for The Beatles.

The earliest, pictured at the top of the page, is for Tuesday, June 4, 1963 at Birmingham Town Hall – the 17th performance of The Beatles' 21-date UK concert tour with Roy Orbison.

It was Orbison's first and The Beatles' third nationwide tour of the United Kingdom and, although Orbison was originally intended to be the headlining act, the reaction to Beatlemania led to the Liverpudlians being promoted to co-headliners and closing the set in the traditional headlining spot.

Another ticket stub for The Beatles covers their 7.45pm second performance on Sunday, October 11, 1964 at the Odeon in Birmingham.

That was the third date of The Beatles’ 1964 British tour and the group's first concert at the Odeon, to which the band returned just one more time – December 9, 1965 – during their final UK tour.

Other ticket stubs in the collection (year listed where possible) included:

• The Cliff Richard Show, Hippodrome Birmingham, second performance, February 24
• The Searchers, Odeon Theatre Birmingham, second performance, November 12
• The Brenda Lee Show, Town Hall Birmingham, March 20 1963 (this show promoted by Don Arden)
• The Billy J Kramer Show, Hippodrome Birmingham, second performance, March 8 (x2)
• Bobby Vee / The Searchers, Odeon Theatre Birmingham, second performance, March 18 1964 (x2)
• Your Lucky Stars, Hippodrome Birmingham, second performance, March 24
• The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Town Hall Birmingham, November 26 1962
• Acker Bilk, Town Hall Birmingham, December 12 1962
• Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen, Town Hall Birmingham, February 1 1964 (x2)

There were also two complete tickets for Jazz 1963 at Birmingham Town Hall, presented by The Musicians Union and The Labour Party on October 14, 1963.

To arrange a free valuation of all types of ephemera, call 01543 251081 or email office@richardwinterton.co.uk.