The Beatles Australian tour still fab 50 years later

THE Spin Doctor bunker has become overloaded with Beatles paraphernalia during the past few weeks.

The Beatles at a press conference in Brisbane in 1964.

THE Spin Doctor bunker has become overloaded with Beatles paraphernalia during the past few weeks, as everyone that ever knew a bloke that knew a lady that had a cousin who shook hands with one of the bouncers at the Fabs’ gig in Melbourne in 1964 gears themselves for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles Australian tour.

If you are a Beatles tragic, there is plenty going on around Australia in the coming weeks to help you relive those glory days or to explore it for the first time. The ABC is to screen When the Beatles Drove Us Wild, a documentary on the Beatles’ visit, on June 10. The film features commentary from some who witnessed it close up, among them Glenn Shorrock, Glenn A. Baker and, er ... Bob Katter.

Music guru Baker is involved also in Then and Now, a double album being released by EMI on June 6 that features Australian acts doing covers of Beatles songs. Tracks include the Bee Gees doing From Me to You, the Vines’ rendition of I’m Only Sleeping and the Hoodoo Gurus’ treatment of A Hard Day’s Night.

If you’re in Melbourne, you might like to get along to the Unseen Beatles exhibition, which features shots by photographer Bob Whitaker, who began shooting the band during their Australian visit and continued working with them for the next two years. The exhibition runs at Mario’s Cafe in Fitzroy until June 29.

Also in Melbourne, auction house Leonard Joel will be auctioning a collection of Fabs memorabilia on June 5, including rare and previously unseen photographs taken during their time in Adelaide, where 300,000 people turned out to greet them.

STREAMING service Spotify celebrated the second anniversary of its launch in Australia this week by issuing a wealth of statistics about its position as leader in the local music streaming market.

The company accounts for 71 per cent of all streaming in Australia according to recent Nielsen figures. One of the more surprising stats is that the most popular artist (local or overseas) among Australian Spotify subscribers since its launch has been young Sydney producer Flume, who outstreamed big names such as Kanye West, Coldplay, Lorde, Macklemore & Lewis and Eminem.

Spotify also revealed that 27 million playlists had been created since 2012. Out of these, 200,000 featured the word relaxation in their title, while 80,000 had the word Zen.

HAPPY birthday today to Bob Dylan, who turns 73. If you haven’t heard it, check out his new version of an old song, Full Moon & Empty Arms, here: www.bobdylan.com/us/home.