Teenage photographer Timothy Eagan had worked his way right up to the edge of the stage by the time he captured this shot of John Lennon playing guitar and singing. John is attired in one of the signature outfits of the early Beatles, the single-breasted suit with velvet collar, shirt and tie. This formal wear was enforced by band manager Brian Epstein, who did not think the tight leather outfits in which the Beatles returned from their Hamburg tour in 1960 would go over well in England. Lennon bristled at the change, but finally relented, saying, "Yeah, man, all right, I'll wear a suit. I'll wear a bloody balloon if somebody's going to pay me." Eagan shot this photo near the end of the Beatles 29-minute set. John may be singing "A Hard Day's Night," the band's last song before the finale of "Long, Tall Sally." After the show, the Beatles waited an hour before leaving the venue hidden in the back of an ambulance, and returned to the heavily-guarded Edgewater Inn on the Seattle waterfront. The band earned $34,569 for their performance.

Caption information source: "Beatles play at the Seattle Center Coliseum on August 21, 1964," HistoryLink.org Essay 5435; "Nowhere Man" by Glenn Frankel, Washington Post, August 26, 2007 at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/21/AR2007082101714.html