Andi Lothian knew The Beatles were going to be something special when he watched the band performing 60 years ago.
The former Dundee music promoter listened to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on stage at Bridge of Allan in January 1963.
He was convinced these lads were the future of pop.
Andi – widely credited with coining the term ‘Beatlemania’ – was right.
The Beatles, of course, went on to become the biggest band in music history before a demise which happened just as quickly as their rise to fame.
Now, more than 53 years after they broke up, John, Paul, George and Ringo have been reunited for the closing chapter of the greatest pop music story of the 20th Century.
It is also on course to become the Fab Four’s 18th UK No1 single.
After his death in 1980, aged 40, Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, gave the 1978 demo Now and Then to the remaining Beatles in 1994, along with Free As A Bird and Real Love.
During this period, Harrison, McCartney and Starr recorded new parts and the song was finally completed and released on Thursday with the help of artificial intelligence.
What does Andi Lothian think of Now and Then?
Andi described the track as “haunting” and said hearing the harmonies of Lennon and McCartney transported him back to those heady days of the Swinging Sixties.
“It was very emotional listening to the new track,” said Andi.
“The song is haunting and it’s in the idiom of songs like Imagine.
“The lyrics sound simple – and they are – but they are deeply personal.
“Everyone can relate to the words.
“The piano-and-vocal from John Lennon begins like a solo track from the Imagine period but once the band come in you are left in no doubt that it’s The Beatles.
“The orchestra section really packs a punch — it’s stunning.
“I found it very spiritual — it makes you think about your own mortality.
“It makes for the perfect finale, although The Beatles songs will live on forever.”
It is epic.
Although Andi has recalled how the crowds didn’t twist and shout about the band’s earliest shows in Scotland, when he first got to know the Fab Four in 1963.
Fellow promoter Albert Bonici had signed The Beatles for their first tour of Scotland, which was due to kick off in Keith on January 2 but was cancelled following a snow storm.
The tour started at Bonici’s club, The 2 Red Shoes, in Elgin the next day, and he employed Andi to look after the Bridge of Allan date on January 5.
“I remember when they played the Museum Hall in Bridge of Allan – it was a complete disaster,” said Andi.
“The crowd consisted mainly of rather inebriated young male farmers who were wary of these four lads in their strange clothes.
“There were punch-ups in every corner, people were talking over the music and coins were flung on stage – one even hit Paul McCartney’s guitar!
“It was chaos.
“To this day, I guess some of them don’t realise they once saw The Beatles!
“But I escaped to the balcony to listen to the music.
“All I can remember is listening to She Loves You and Please Please Me over the din and being paralysed with excitement.”
The risk paid off for Andi Lothian in 1963
Andi admired The Beatles’ nerve in continuing their set and ended up scrambling for coppers on stage with McCartney.
They came to £3.
Not one of the concerts was a sell-out but Andi and Albert boarded a plane for London to meet The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, and begged to have the band again.
Epstein agreed, but on the proviso that it wasn’t for dances, but concerts and it would be £500 rather than £40 a night, which was a major gamble.
The pair took the risk and booked the band for gigs in Glasgow, Kirkcaldy and Dundee in October and prayed they would get a better response than earlier in the year.
It paid off.
From the moment that Please Please Me was released on January 11 1963 and they stormed to the top of the charts, they produced hit after hit and never looked back.
The Beatles were on the cusp of world domination by the time they arrived north of the border again for the three-date mini tour including the Caird Hall on October 7.
Each night of the tour had two performances.
During the Dundee concerts, 70 stewards linked arms facing the audience to stop the stage being stormed during The Beatles’ nine-number, 30-minute sets.
They performed songs including Twist And Shout, She Loves You and I Saw Her Standing There.
Six teenage girls were treated for hysteria at a first aid post set up in the Marryat Hall.
Andi said: “Trying to clear the hall at the end of the evening was very difficult, as young girls surrounded all the exits waiting for the group to emerge.
“I had booked The Beatles into Perth’s Salutation Hotel, thinking it might be safer than a Dundee location, but I still had to get them to the car.
“The city factor at the time, Charles McDonald, suggested going through the building’s innards to the door where coal was delivered on Shore Terrace.
“The image of the four boys clambering over layers of coal in huge bunkers to escape their fans was some sight to behold.
“I remember turning to a reporter and saying: ‘It’s Beatlemania’ and a week later the term had hit the Fleet Street press.”
The Beatles returned to perform at the Caird Hall on October 20 1964, which was the last time they would come to Dundee.
Paul has said the last words John said to him were: “Think of me now and then, old friend.”
Now, with this poignant, final record, we’ve been gifted another chance to think of them all.
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