BEATLEMANIA was all very well but, when it came to provoking public bedlam amongst their fans, Glasgow beat group, The Beatstalkers, ran the Fab Four close. nThis was the scene in George Square on June 11, 1965, when the group played a lunchtime concert on the bandstand and were mobbed, said the Evening Times, by screaming teenagers. Police reinforcements arrived “and cleared the struggling, hysterical girls sufficiently to rescue the group.”
The band fled across the square to the sanctuary of the City Chambers, but the girls swarmed over flower-beds and climbed the monuments and over the Cenotaph, some scuffling with the local constabulary en route, before forcing their way through the main door and “started cuddling and kissing their idols.” An attendant tried to stop the rush but there was only so much he could do. Councillors and other staff members rallied to his assistance but they, too, proved ineffective. Eventually, Chief Constable James Robertson, assisted by councillors, ejected the fans from the chambers. The doors were locked, but the fans milled outside (pictured), chanting “We want the Beatstalkers!” and forcing their way through police cordons. Some fans ran to a side-door in the hope of catching another glimpse of the band, who were eventually smuggled out in a van after being led through basement corridors.
“There is no dignity in George Square now,” remarked one councillor.
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