Seattle was the third stop on the Beatles first official world tour. On August 21, 1964, the Fab Four played to a crowd of over 14,000 in the Coliseum at Seattle Center. The local paper reported that girls outnumbered boys by at least 20 to 1, and that most of these were young teenagers. As seen in this photograph, some parents came along as well, either to supervise their children or, as seems the case here, for their own enjoyment. Nineteen-year-old photographer Timothy Eagan, who grew up in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood, managed to score a press pass to the concert from family friend Ed Donohoe, editor of The Washington Teamster. The fearless teen elbowed his way up to the front of the stage to shoot three rolls of film. Here, Eagan captures the reactions of the audience just as the Beatles walked on stage. The audience had remained relatively calm throughout the performances of the four warm-up bands, but exploded into screams as the Beatles appeared. An article in the Seattle Times the following day, headlined "Beatles' Fan Stir Terrifying Noise, Danger," likened the experience to "being sealed in a crazed capsule pitching through the chasms of space" where "scenes beyond the worst horror movies unreeled without letup." In this photo, the crowd simply looks happy and excited.

Caption information source: Seattle Times, August 22, 1964, p. 2.