W Hotel exhibit showcases Beatle-mania in Minneapolis

Sunday, July 27, 2014

For anyone who wasn't alive in 1965, it might be hard to imagine what Beatle-mania looked like in Minneapolis -- but almost 50 years after the concert, it's back in the form of a special exhibit. For more than 20 years, the old Met Stadium was home to both the Minnesota Vikings and Twins -- but for one special night in August, it became the beachhead for a British invasion. "The Beatles were my favorite," John Andradi told Fox 9 News. "I've played music for over 40 years now. I played all their stuff. I fell in love with them."

Andradi was 14 years old when the Beatles landed in the Twin Cities for their first and only concert in Minnesota. Because of the pandemonium at the airport, the promoter didn't allow anyone -- including police or professional photographers -- on the field, much to the disappointment of 25,000 screaming fans. A few months ago, the son of the band's U.S. tour manager, Bob Bonis, found 32 photographs from that historic night in his parents' basement after they died. Now, those images are on display in the lobby of the W Hotel in the Foshay Tower -- and they give a rare glimpse of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr at the peak of their popularity from just a few feet away.