It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night: Beatlemania strikes again!

By: Sarah Sherry
Contributing Writer

Galesburg’s Orpheum Theatre, located at 57 South Kellog Street, will be hosting an event celebrating the music and accomplishments of the Beatles and educating a younger generation as to why this group was so influential in 1960s popular culture. “Beatlemania at the Orpheum Theatre” will take place on Friday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6 p.m.

“Beatlemania” will feature a showing of live performances by the Beatles, including their New York concert and their last official performance at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Feb. 9 is also the forty-third anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” which originally aired in 1964. This particular episode of the “Ed Sullivan Show” will also be shown.

Bruce Polay, conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony, will be performing Beatles music in the foyer of the Orpheum as guests enter the building.

During intermission, door prizes will be given away at the Kensington, which is connected to the Orpheum. These prizes will include Beatles CDs, admission tickets to “A Hard Day’s Night” and tickets to other concerts at the Orpheum.

“Beatlemania” is a fundraiser for another upcoming Beatles celebration, “A Hard Days Night in Galesburg,” scheduled for Sept. 8, in which various types of bands will be playing “Beatle-flavored” music.

Carol Daugherty, secretary of student affairs at Monmouth College and one of the coordinators of this event, stated it “has a lot of educational value in introducing the younger generation to who really shaped our country’s social culture and how it was introduced. It is very safe to say the Beatles’ influence continues to this very day.”

Following this event, there will be a “Beatles Bash” at the Cherry Street Restaurant. According to Jeff Pacheco, another coordinator of the “Beatlemania” event, the “Beatles Bash” will include a showing of “obscure Beatles film footage,” including the Beatles’ 1963 Royal Command performance. Pacheco pointed out, “the Beatles were the first ones to appear on that.” Admission is guaranteed free with the showing of a ticket stub from the “Beatlemania at the Orpheum Theatre” event.

Ticket prices for “Beatlemania at the Orpheum Theatre” are $6 general admission, $4 for students with proof of ID and children under 3 are free. To purchase tickets call 342-2299 or stop by the Orpheum ticket office, located directly across the street from the theatre. WMCR, the Monmouth College radio station, will be giving away free tickets to this event as radio show prizes starting Monday, Feb. 5.