The Beatles visit to Kirkcaldy is Fife’s most celebrated and talked about gig and 60 years on it’s still fresh in the memory of Rita Page who didn’t just see the show but got to meet the Fab Four too.
It’s almost inconceivable now but on a chilly night in October 1963, with the Beatles sitting on the top of the hit parade with She Loves You and the nation engulfed by Beatlemania, John, Paul, George and Ringo, arrived in the Lang Toun ready to play.
It was part of a hastily arranged mini-tour of Scotland which saw the Kirkcaldy gigs sandwiched between shows in Glasgow and Dundee.
For Rita Page, then a fresh faced 17-year-old Rita Muir and already an ardent Beatles fan, the Fab Four’s visit to Kirkcaldy was a dream come true.
The Beatles played two shows on the same evening at Kirkcaldy’s Carlton Theatre
What’s more, a quickly scripted poem penned by her mum and entered into a newspaper competition had only gone and won her a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet her idols.
Rita’s mum loved writing poetry and only a month before had won a similar prize for a friend to meet Cliff Richard and had now come up trumps once more.
“I was flabbergasted when I found out I was one of six winners who were going to meet the band,” said Rita.
“George Harrison was my favourite so I was so excited.”
“The prize was high tea at the Station with John, Paul George and Ringo then see the show.
“I was 17 and working at Lockhart Linen factory at the time so had a little of my own money.
“The day was spent getting my hair done and I bought a new outfit especially for the occasion which had long pointed collars.
Beatles also played Glasgow and Dundee as part of a mini tour
“I got the bus up to the hotel only to be told that Brian Epstein had called off the boys visit and that we would get to meet them after the show.
“Obviously we were all disappointed but I do remember the High Tea being lovely.”
The Beatles had initially been booked to play the Raith Ballroom as part of the three-night mini Scottish tour.
By now the Beatles had already topped the charts in May with From Me To You and Beatlemania was erupting across the UK.
The group had hit number one again with She Loves You by the time the Kirkcaldy engagement arrived.
Epstein ruled that his boys no longer played ballroom and an alternative venue was to be found.
Two shows – a 6.30pm matinee and a 9pm show were hastily arranged at the 1,500 seater Carlton Theatre on Park Road.
Tickets for both shows were snapped up in hours proving Beatlemania had indeed reached the Kingdom of Fife too.
Future singing star, Barbara Dixon, at the time 14 and living in Dunfermline recalled in in her biography – A Shirt Box Full Of Memories – that she cycled to Kirkcaldy and back just to secure a ticket.
One thing that sticks in Rita’s memory was how hot the Carlton was when she got inside.
‘Noise from the screaming was like nothing I’d ever experienced before or since’
“It was boiling in there, but I should have expected it given there had been hundreds of fans going wild at the earlier show.
“First on the bill was the Andy Ross Orchestra with the addition of singer Sue Taylor, who was from Kirkcaldy.
“Then came The Fortunes who were unknown at the time but were really good.
“Then it happened.
“I got a glimpse of four men wearing the famous collarless Pierre Cardin grey suits entering the stage.
“People went berserk.
“The noise from the screaming was like nothing I’d ever experienced before or since.
“It was deafening and quite shocking while exhilarating at the same time.”
Asked what the Beatles opened the show with, sitting at her Kirkcaldy home 60 years on she shook her head and laughed.
“To this day I’ve absolutely no idea.
“But nobody really cared, just to be there was everything.”
And better was to come.
Ushered into a cramped changing room behind the stage Rita was at last meeting the band and in doing so becoming the envy of every teenager in the land.
Meeting the Beatles in Kirkcaldy
“John was very welcoming and chatty asking us our names and where we had come from.
“Meanwhile, Ringo was joking around and was very funny.
“Paul, however, was a little distant and though he signed autographs didn’t seem to be interested in us being there.
“Then there was George who was my favourite.
“He came across quite shy but was chatting and was happy to meet us.”
And then the moment was gone.
However it was never lost with Rita admitting there’s hardly a day goes by where she’s not transported back to her Beatles encounter.
“If you’d told me back then as a wide eyed teenager that I’d still be talking about that night I’d have said you were mad.
“But there’s never been anyone like them before or since.
“When I hear one of their early songs I can close my eyes and be transported back to that very moment.
“That’s a pretty special memory to have.”
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