Beatlemania on the streets of Dublin
ON NOV 7 1963 Beatlemania hit Dublin like a tsunami. As 6pm approached, anyone negotiating the usually sedate thoroughfare of Abbey St would have been struck by the sight of thousands of teenagers spilled onto the road, blocking traffic. Around the corner on O’Connell St windows were smashed, a car overturned, and a terrified taxi driver was dragged from his vehicle. People fainted, scuffles broke out. Gardaí rushing to the scene were confounded by the uproar.
What could have prompted such an orgy of unrest? The answer was to be found at 98-101 Middle Abbey St, behind the worn facade of the Adelphi cinema. Today that address is home to a multi-storey carpark. Standing outside in the late autumn drizzle, doing your best to side-step the junkies and beggars who occasionally make their way from the nearby Luas stop, it is hard to imagine that, 50 years ago, it was, for a few dizzying hours, the centre of the rock ‘n’ roll universe.
