The Beatles earned more spotlight after they started touring globally, but they decided to stop one day following a disastrous tour leg.

The Fab Four received the most headaches in their career in 1966 during which death threats and even the weather affected their live shows and performances. The year also saw the band's final year of touring due to a worrying reason.

Why The Beatles Stopped Touring

The Beatles marked their third and final concert in North America in August 1966, but what should have been a fun leg for the band became their worst nightmare as they started feeling they were in danger. The death threats started after Lennon said The Beatles were more popular than Jesus - the line that eventually led to his murder.

In "The Beatles Anthology," a show that ran for a year from 1995 to 1996, Lennon revealed the disastrous North American shows they had that led them to decide that it would be their final tour.

One of the incidents involved a concertgoer in Memphis letting off a firecracker while they were on stage.

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"There had been threats to shoot us, the Klan were burning Beatle records outside and a lot of the crew-cut kids were joining in with them," the late Beatle said. "Somebody let off a firecracker and every one of us - I think it's on film - look at each other, because each thought it was the other that had been shot. It was that bad."

After what happened, Paul McCartney told his bandmates they needed to stop open-air concerts already.

Road Manager Mal Evans described The Beatles' experience as something terrible, while McCartney said that the rainy show during the leg was "the worst little gig" they ever played.

The Beatles Stopped at The Right Time

While the decision to hold their final tour broke their fans' hearts, The Beatles felt that having live performances could no longer benefit them.

Although their fans were hyped during their shows, they realized nobody was listening to the shows anymore. According to George Harrison, he knew they were playing really band as they could not hear themselves play anymore because of their audience's screams.


Their fans at San Francisco's Candlestick Park were the last ones to see The Beatles during the band's last North American tour. Their final tour was already decided at that time, but they did not want to let anyone know about it.

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