Unreleased colour footage captures The Beatles’ concert at Barcelona’s La Monumental, sixty years later

Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of The Beatles’ concert in Barcelona’s Plaça de la Monumental on 3 July 1965, Magí Crusells, professor at the Faculty of Geography and History and director of the Film-History Research Centre at the University of Barcelona, has analysed a previously unseen amateur colour film, unpublished to date, that is the most complete visual record of this historic musical event in Spain. 

The two-and-a-half-minute film was shot in 16 mm by an anonymous spectator who attended the concert from the floor, the most expensive seating area at the time (400 pesetas, at a time when the minimum wage was just over 2,000 pesetas). “The fact that he had access to a camera that filmed in colour and from such a good position indicates that its owner belonged to a very wealthy social class”, Crusells points out. 

This piece, which will be broadcast on 3Cat’s Telenotícies vespre on 3 July, shows images of the atmosphere in the place before the Beatles appeared. It shows the performance of one of the opening acts, the Modern Jazz Dancers, who dance and perform acrobatics to the rhythm of the Florida Orchestra, also present in the first part of the show. At a key moment in the documentary, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are seen coming on stage alongside the presenter, the popular Torrebruno, while tuning their instruments. 

The analysis of the images has identified five songs performed during the concert: Twist and Shout, She’s a Woman, Can’t Buy Me Love, Baby’s in Black and Long Tall Sally. The audience, made up largely of young people, shows boundless enthusiasm. “That concert was much more than a musical performance: it was an explosion of freedom for an entire generation living under the grey shadow of Franco’s regime. The Beatles symbolized spontaneity, modernity and a new way of understanding the world”, explains Crusells, who has been studying popular culture and the history of contemporary cinema for decades.

The recording will be partially available through 3Cat’s news coverage. According to Crusells, “the document helps to preserve the visual memory of a unique moment and dignify the city’s cultural heritage”. The family that owns the film, who wish to remain anonymous, have deposited it in the Filmoteca de Catalunya for conservation purposes. 

Ten years ago, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the performance, the University of Barcelona commemorated the concert with an exhibition and a course by Els Juliols dedicated to the impact of the Beatles on Spanish society. The discovery of this new audiovisual material provides invaluable testimony that enriches that memory and reaffirms the historical significance of the Liverpool quartet’s only concert in Barcelona. 

The Film-History Research Centre, founded in 1983 by Professor Josep Maria Caparrós Lera, is a UB research group that uses cinema as a tool to interpret contemporary history and social transformations. Currently directed by Professor Magí Crusells, the centre promotes studies on cinema, memory and visual culture, publishes the online magazine Filmhistoria, and promotes projects for the recovery and dissemination of unpublished audiovisual documents, such as the recent recovery of the No-Do film books in Barcelona. The discovery of this footage of the Beatles is in line with the group’s work to preserve and promote film heritage as a primary historical source.