Video: 'The worst tour ever'

(Sunday, August 21, 1966, approximately 10:00 p.m. CDT) — All four members of The Beatles secretly agreed to stop touring tonight, reaching a unanimous decision following a chaotic departure from their concert at Busch Stadium, the tenth stop of their third North American tour.

An incident after the show finally convinced Paul McCartney to join the others and agree that The Beatles should stop touring, amid mounting safety concerns, unbearable live sound conditions, and an overwhelming desire to focus on their increasingly complex studio recordings.

“After the gig I remember us getting in a big, empty steel-lined wagon, like a removal van,” McCartney later recalled. “There was no furniture in there – nothing. We were sliding around trying to hold on to something, and at that moment everyone said, ‘Oh, this bloody touring lark – I’ve had it up to here, man.’ I finally agreed.”

McCartney had long been the lone holdout in the group, advocating for the value of live performance even as the pressures of Beatlemania mounted.

“I’d been trying to say, ‘Ah, touring’s good and it keeps us sharp. We need touring, and musicians need to play. Keep music live.’ I had held on that attitude when there were doubts, but finally I agreed with them,” McCartney added. “George and John were the ones most against touring; they got particularly fed up. So we agreed to say nothing, but never to tour again.”

Following the rough ride back from the stadium, The Beatles arrived at Lambert Field in St. Louis at 10:40 p.m. CDT and soon flew out to New York, landing at 3:50 a.m. EDT on Aug. 22, 1966.

The Beatles went on to honor their commitments to perform five more shows in four cities through Monday, Aug. 29, 1966, but never performed again as a band at a publicly scheduled concert.