Anticipation was huge before the show. Television had launched in New Zealand in 1960 and the small back and white screen had shown the young band rising to fame, conquering the world and coming to New Zealand.
"Beatlemania" hit Wellington when the Fab Four landed on June 21, 1964, to a riotous reception from 7000 fans.
As the band stepped off the plane, the shrieks of young women drowned out the noise of the turbo prop engines. A concert party performed a haka before doing a hongi and presenting the Beatles with tiki.
Ringo Starr feigned alarm at the greeting: "Hey ... ! We come in peace!" he said.
Similar remarks convinced fans of the band's wit and coolness when they arrived in Auckland a couple of days later, got mauled by young women outside their hotel, and attended a civic reception outside the Town Hall which had a councillor complaining about acknowledging the "hysteria, antics, adulation, rioting, screaming and roaring" associated with "these bewigged musicians". Inside the hall, on the evening of June 24, Johnny Devlin opened.
He'd grown stout since singing Lawdy Miss Clawdy in 1958. That got him called "New Zealand's answer to Elvis Presley". His leather suit was now a very tight fit, but it protected him from splinters as he writhed on his back on stage during an emotional performance.
British instrumental pop group Sounds Incorporated followed with a few solid tunes. And then the show started.
Something totally new to all but the band and a handful of Aucklanders took place for the packed audience when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr took the stage and the music started. Screaming increased to an ecstatic roar that seemed a solid presence, everyone seemed to be standing on their seats and the aisles seethed as phalanxes of sobbing, moaning, screaming girls battered into three lines of police standing with their backs to the stage.
The Beatles dodged missiles - bags, clothes, shoes - raining on to the stage and played on, doing the same 11-song set they performed at all New Zealand shows: I saw her standing there, I want to hold your hand, You can't do that, Till there was you, All my loving, She loves you, Roll over Beethoven, Can't buy me love, This boy, Long tall Sally and Twist and shout. Ringo Starr also sang Boys.
It was stunning. Their performance clocked in at under 30 minutes and then they were gone. The lights came on and the audience, dazed, deafened but elated, left the hall certain that the Beatles delivered - and myself with lifelong memories.