The Beatles Tours Of Estonia

Today we remember the Beatles' visits to Estonia during their touring days. Please note that this isn't part of the '60 Years of the Puumaja Crew' series of articles that seems to have died on its arse lately anyway.

February 1964, Tallinn, Estonia, and something happened that meant the whole place was never going to be exactly the same (though it remained pretty much the same) again. People switched on their TVs to be shocked by four young men who'd just touched down at the Lennujaam, with their short hair and relatively normal accents, playing music that the like of which hadn't been heard before on these shores for at least a couple of months.

Promoters were unsure about how the band would go down and so only booked them a one off show at the Estonian Drama Theatre on Pärnu Maantee, staying at the Skane hotel behind the Balti Jaam. They played just eight numbers, three of which were broadcast on ETV later that night, on the popular pop music show of the time 'üks, kaks, kolm...valmis!', hosted by a very young Ivo Linna, which still holds the record for the highest viewing figures of any Estonian TV show ( 87 million people).  Interestingly, Paul McCartney was seriously hungover on the day and can be seen just about to vomit during the closing of 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'.

The country was hooked and the band hit the town to celebrate that evening, with manager Brian Epstein taking the boys to the Valli Baar and buying them rounds of 'millimallikas', a concoction of sambuca, tequila and tabasco sauce, which was becoming a Beatle drink even then. Indeed, the closing song  from the Sergeant Pepper's album, 'A day in the life', was inspired by the drink. Unfortunately they all got mugged on the way back from the tram to the Skane hotel, Epstein losing his wallet in the process.


The Beatles' success was such that they were invited back that August, staying at the swanky Viru Hotel this time. for the first 'christmas in the summer', with the same huge screaming crowds of girls and homosexuals waiting for them at the airport as there had come to be every place they played (except the Phillipines), playing a packed-out Lauluvaljak in spite of the rain.  The sound was that good that some of the tracks ended up on the near-mythical 'Live in Estonia' album, released on bootleg some years later before finally being officially released on the Beatles Anthology.  The tour was such a success that one Finnish man named his dog 'Rinko', for a week or two before changing it back. Another TV show appearance ('Singalong With Valdo Pant')  followed and that was it for another year.

1965, sporting their newly-awarded MBEs, the hair was a bit longer, the songs a bit better, but still the same drummer, and still the sold out Lauluvaljak with the screaming fans, introduced by Urmas Ott . They got away with charging a slightly higher ticket price (2 Kroons) than before, and a second date in Tartu was added to the itinerary at the last minute. Some of the tracks from this concert also appeared on the live bootleg album mentioned above.

1966 and a torrid year this time; a different venue, the Linnahall, which they boys didn't like, and a much poorer sound where the singing just couldn't be heard above the screams. The tour was really doomed from the start when John Lennon was reported as saying that the newly-released Revolver album was 'way better than the Kalevipoeg', provoking protests and a backlash in the media. The hotel staff at the Viru Hotel were rude and curt with the lads at breakfast, saying that since they hadn't paid for an all inclusive deal they were inelligible for the executive breakfast, which provoked a food fight ending in Ringo Starr being held in a headlock for some minutes by security staff. The concert sadly ended, amid chants of 'we want the Stones' with McCartney blasting at the audience in his scouse accent to  ' ..just foockk off, okay?'.

Popular wisdom had it that this was the last time the Beatles ever set foot on Estonian soil again (as the Beatles -in fact George Harrison came to Tallinn on a stag do in 2001). However this is not so. Intriguingly, the demos for some of the Abbey Road tracks, namely 'She's so heavy' and 'Maxwell's silver hammer', along with an unreleased track 'You bastard', which as of today remain unreleased, were recorded at an anonymous address in Nõmme. Perhaps one of the greatest chapters in the history of the second greatest band of the last 45 years or so is still waiting to be written?