Two handwritten setlists by The Beatles will be going up for auction at Bonham's auction house, so if owning a Beatles setlist happens to be a dream of yours, it may be about to come true – if you have $250,000 to spare.
Among only eight in existence, each piece is estimated to sell for an astonishing $150,000 to $250,000, and will be auctioned off on October 28.
The first setlist was written by Paul McCartney – who played drums at the time – at a Beatles' gig at Liscard's England Grosvenor Ballroom in 1960. Tracks featured on the list include a cover of Chuck Berry’s Little Queenie, Elvis Presley’s Stuck on You, Little Richard’s Lucille, and Buddy Holly’s Words Of Love, as well as The Beatles original One After 909. The latter would not be officially released until 1970’s Let It Be.
Of the setlist, Bonham’s Senior Specialist of Popular Culture Howard Kramer tells Rolling Stone: “At this point, the Beatles were about to become a band in the truest sense.
"When these gigs took place, Pete Best had yet to join the band and the first Hamburg engagement was about two months out. Pretty soon, there was no looking back.”
The second piece was written at a show at the Majestic Ballroom in Luton, England on April 17 in 1963, also by McCartney. Tracks include Beatles hits Love Me Do and Please Please Me, new originals I Saw Her Standing There, From Me to You, and Thank You Girl, as well as covers such as Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally and Arthur Alexander’s A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues.
Kramer explains, "This setlist shows them as a working band that understands their role as entertainers. This is just one set of two played that night but we can see that they are still balancing their own developing work with songs from other artists and diverse sources.”
Speaking of the impermanent nature of the common setlist, he adds, "Setlists generally have a short life. Once the gig is over, they’ve served their purpose. Collecting scraps of paper from pop bands wasn’t a thing yet in 1960 and 1963.
"The Beatles’ career was relatively brief and there’s very few tangible, physical items directly used by the band that become available to the public. The Beatles are still the most collectible music group, and these two documents reveal their inner workings.”
View the setlists below:
