NewsThe Beatles / ‘Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years’ gets autumn release
Beatles film about the early years on the road – watch the trailer
Ron Howard’s much anticipated (and authorised) Beatles film, The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years, will be released theatrically in September, it has been announced.
The film is based on the early part of The Beatles’ career (1962-1966) when they toured and therefore starts right back at the beginning in the Cavern Club era in Liverpool and goes right up to the band’s famous last concert in Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966. The film will feature ‘rare and exclusive’ footage, and includes new interviews with Paul and Ringo (separately). It has been produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.
There will be a world premiere in London on 15th September, and the film will be officially released the next day in America. It will then roll out theatrically worldwide with release dates set in Japan (September 22nd), Australia and New Zealand (September 16th) and UK, France and Germany (15th September). Watch the trailer below
SDE helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.
Related Content
SDEtv
I’m super excited to see this new movie/doco, I’m not fussed about reviews because they don’t matter to me seeing as I have ALWAYS loved The Beatles since I read about them. I think it will be a great film because it serves a purpose for Beatles fans alike. Come on it’s The Beatles!
I may only be a teenager but in a way The Beatles have and still will change my life, I have spent hours pouring over as many library books as I can find and I still find that there is not enough I can know about this long reigning band. I will never get over the great and tragic things I have read and learnt so I will definitely be seeing it!
I think Beatles fans will consider it a MUST see! Can’t wait!
Carnegie Hall?
By the way wasn’t there other film footage from Double Fantasy sessions?
I seem to recall reading that Yoko had the film destroyed after the murder.
It’s quite amusing to think how many well recorded live Jazz albums that were well recorded in the late 50s early 60s but nobody within EMI thought to record one Beatles (the biggest band in the world) gig between 1962 to 1966 well???
A fair point, although audience noise was always an issue. There are some good recordings, but generally not done by EMI or Capitol other than perhaps Washington 1964. Several US radio stations did good live broadcasts, most of which are on You Tube, such as Atlanta, Philadelphia whilst the Australian 1964 shows in Melbourne and Sydney are great. In the UK.
For Stevieb…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wanna-Hold-Your-Hand-Blu-ray/dp/B01FXMVOOA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466646644&sr=8-1&keywords=I+Wanna+Hold+Your+Hand
I’ve yet to see the quality of the blu-ray, but the film itself is a small gem, capturing the hysteria and passion of teenage fandom. While you never actually see The Beatles, the soundtrack is wall-to-wall original material.
Thanks Jim, looks like I may have to buy this.
As far as ‘deluxe’ editions of each Beatles Lp go, I am totally happy with the Purple Chick deluxe edition set. The care and attention gone into each of those is far better than Apple would probably churn out anyway. The same goes for the set of live recordings. Well worth trying to ‘find’ a set somehow even if you don’t want to listen to ten takes of There’s a Place.
A shame to see most posters underwhelmed by this. As Philip Cohen says, there is no ‘treasure trove footage’ out there, al la say the Jimi Hendrix Albert Hall footage [and where is the marketplace for that now anyway, given the poor sales of Atlanta], so one can only assume Ron Howard has done the best he can with what there is. [With regard to James’ comment, one might posit that with, a lot of heads cut in half, Howard is very close indeed to being Peckinpah!]. Providing the sound is up to speed, then I’m content to stand in the ‘better out than in [the vaults]’ camp, although with two clouds showing in that the two most ‘interesting’ Fabs are no longer with us, and so the Paul and Ringo interviews do not bode well [remember how enthralling – and lengthy – the commentaries on ‘1’ were!], and of course there is John’s assertion that “[The Beatles’] best stuff was never recorded – the early days and Hamburg”, and so we can only expect to get the ‘clean’ Beatles, not the ‘dirty’ ones [Anthology 1 never, to my recollection, even mentioned Stu Sutcliffe dying, so slight was it on the Pete era]. Re the Anthologies, I myself thought the revamp of ‘Free As A Bird’ on ‘1’ was pretty good. Whenever they do come out, I’m still lobbying for ‘Across The Universe’ to get an official single release [I still maintain it is the great lost Fabs 45].
Philip, thanks for the info. Time to dust off the old Anthologies then and for me to stop moaning.
Underwhelmed. Also this probably means yet another year without remastered re-packaged Anthologies as I reckon there will be a ‘soundtrack’ album to tie in with this movie focussed on the run up to Christmas market.
They could at least release the Washington concert as a stand alone item for DVD and Blu Ray as it’s currently only available if you buy the stereo box set from iTunes. And I don’t mean a colourised version (or if they want to do that then make it available as a second disc). Or how about a CD/DVD or CD/Blu Ray version so that you can listen to the performance as a live album as well. I don’t claim to know much about film formats or ratios but if people on here who do are concerned about this aspect of the Ron Howard documentary then I’ll share those concerns.
I’ve heard the remastered “Anthologies” losslessly. The only audibly improved song is the acetate version of “Please Please Me” with session drummer Andy White. It has been cleaned up much better than on the original “Anthology 1” CD set.
@Philip, interesting what you are saying, thanks. I have also head them and I do not agree. When I heard that they have been remastered, I thought that there cannot be much improvement as many mixes were made in the 90s. But I was wrong. I hear many improvements… corrections of bass amount where applicable, more clarity in many of the tracks. But that’s just my view, of course
Worth mentioning the greatest film that captures the Bealtemania spirit was released on blu-ray this week – ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’.
James, I can’t find this listed as a Blu Ray on Amazon either here in the UK or in the USA. Never seen the film but it sounds from the reviews that I should. Can you post a link for the Blu Ray release please?
Truly bizarre to use the Scope format for this doco when all the original footage would have been standard / 1.66:1 at best. Just look at all those heads cut in half in the trailer.
Even the current interviews are framed all wrong – Ron Howard ain’t no Peckinpah.
I’m not very excited. The audio will likely be doctored, pitch modified, and will have “flown-in” bits of the studio versions. And, there isn’t any Beatles concert footage that we haven’t already seen. In various legal or illegal releases, we’ve got Washington D.C. 1964, Hollywood Bowl 1964, Melbourne 1964, Paris 1965, Shea Stadium 1965, Munich 1966 & Tokyo 1966. There isn’t anything more on film or videotape.
This documentary is for a new generation of fans. They’ll enjoy it. Maybe for Christmas 2017, Apple Corps will release something more interesting…..or maybe they won’t. The vault doors seems to be slammed shut for Beatles group or solo material.
I noticed colorized footage from the Washington DC concert in there…
me too
It’s 2016, and the Fabs are still generating interest and debate.
Can’t wait – I’ll buy, it’s simple, it’s THE BEATLES ;-)
So, is this to be the Beatles offering for 2016? They have a pattern of releasing a single item just before the holidays, and if this is in theaters in September, a Blu-Ray and DVD in December will happen. It will be promoted in a way that promises the moon, but delivers a good deal less.
Another year and I am still disappointed that those in charge do not even seem to be considering a reissue campaign that treats each of the Beatles albums as they deserve to be issued (see any XTC blu-ray for the ideal specimen).
As I have stated here many times before, the fans aren’t getting any younger. Open the vaults, warts and all, and officially release studio out-takes, alternate versions, etc…. They’d sell far more if they released this material before their original fans are dead and gone… Just saying.
100% Correct and while we are on the subject, where is Let it be ? Do they really think
that it will affect their global status to release a remastered cleaned up version of the
break up film as per the recent 1 dvd? Hurry up boys your fan base is trudging up cemetery
road wallets in pocket!
Something tells me they’ll be producing the DVD and Br release before the film hits the theatres. So a December release for them.
Ron Howard has obviously never heard of The Beatles Anthology as he appears to have remade the first half of it!
This idea originally for this project was to compile as much of the live footage that was available of The Beatles and his production company put out a call to fans a few years ago for them to send them any footage they had, except they didn’t, so it’s changed into an overall documentary about the first half of The Beatles career. Sadly without George to prick Paul pomposity as he did in the Anthology it’s going be very one side.
Why doesn’t Apple do something interesting like release Carnival of Light?
I’ve just seen it (in the UK). You get a lot more bang for your buck in Anthology. The footage is interesting though a lot of the ‘unseen’ footage is mainly a few seconds of wobbly audience filmed Super 8 or footage anyone who saw in Anthology that is B/W footage colourised. – Notably the Washington gig
Don’t hold your breathe, nothing is that straight forward with Apple
So basically no restored Shea stadium release this year then.
Maybe on the Blu-Ray as a special feature?
After the credits there is about 30 mins of Shea, that has been remastered both visually and sonically. Very good
Maybe we’ll finally see an official Beatles live-release on CD as a tie-in…?
Not the most thrilling trailer considering the subject matter.
I think they’re keeping their powder dry…
Why would they do that? The purpose of a trailer is to get people into the cinema.
It’s three months away… they need to build it up a bit. This is an early tease.
Ok, hope so.
I’m sure the McCartney and Starr interviews won’t tell a great untold story…..
Now Darren, you never know.
Maybe Paul will tell us that the Beatles were just a good little band.
They don’t