FEATURES ARCHIVE

Christie's sits down and talks to photographer Mike Mitchell who, in his own words, illuminates the story behind the story of the Beatles' first U.S. concert.

I heard their music, and I thought it was amazing. I hadn’t heard anything like it before.

The sound was bigger than itself, almost as if its volume was spatial, not just audible. I could tell at the time that this was something huge, but who knew how huge it really would be?

I was forced to be really observant, looking at what light was doing and how it was suggesting the photograph. It was the beginning of a 40-year process of learning to take my cues from what light is showing me. The selection of images here is driven by the power of light.

For the Washington concert, I went to a magazine client and said that I really wanted to photograph the concert. I asked if they could get me a press pass. There were maybe about 150 people at the press conference, and the Beatles were up on the stage that they would perform on, which was actually a boxing ring.

I was always looking for ways to go beyond what other people were doing, so I got up on the stage. Nobody stopped me! Security was basically nonexistent at the time.

At the Baltimore concert, I was on assignment for Teen Magazine, part of the Washington Evening Star. The reporter that I was with knew the disc jockey, Carroll James, who was one of the first American D.J.’s to play a Beatles song. He arranged for us to have a few minutes with the Beatles outside their hotel suite. Just before we met with them, I took a peek out the window to see what was going on. As soon as I moved the curtain, the screaming started, and I got a taste, even for just a moment, of the phenomenon they were experiencing.

Nobody at the D.C. concert could really hear the music because the screaming was so loud. But the press was right next to the amps, so we could hear everything. That music has stayed with me over the years, almost as if it was emblazoned into the very structure of my DNA.

At the end of the D.C. concert the M.C. was so excited. He turned to the audience and said, “Thank you so much for being so fabulous and so good!” like he was talking to 12-year-olds, which I guess he really was. Seeing it again on concert footage 40 years later, it was such an incredibly innocent moment.

As a photographer, I was focused, I was really locked on. You’re watching for the moments— it was intense. And it really set the bar for me as an artist. Their sound was so unique, so singular and so authentic. That’s what I wanted—to be able to convey that kind of singularity in my own work.

The thing I like about this image is that it seems as if he’s saying to himself, “My God, this is really happening.” It was interesting coming up to this interview on the train because I noticed that the awning is still there, believe it or not. (Lot 24)

My viewpoint as a photographer at age 18 was influenced by the city I lived in, a city full of monuments and memorials. There’s a monumentality that got bred into the way I look at things, and I think you can see that
especially through this image. What I was trying to do was not so much depict or document the events but to really create portraits of these guys, portraits that came out of the spirit of the moment. (Lot 1)

When I was examining this image, I spotted what I thought was a little piece of dust, but after looking at it more closely, I realized it was actually light, a heart-shaped reflection of light on the heel. This discovery has served as an inspiration with regard to the rest of the works that will be sold here at Christie’s. I have embedded this small, heart-shaped expression of light into each work presented in the July auction. It will be a secret moniker, a “uniqueifier” as I like to call it. Because of that, each print in the auction will be one-of-a-kind. (Lot 22)