When the opportunity to tour Sweden popped up in 1963 they jumped at the chance. The Beatles, at this point, had already started to become a global phenomenon.
Having completed their Swedish tour the night prior, The Beatles made their way back to Stockholm to be a part of the TV show ‘Drop In’. Shared on the Sveriges Television channel, the music show had become a smash-hit in Sweden and was the only destination for the Fab Four. The recording took place at Arenatearten, a small theatre in Stockholm’s Grona Lund amusement park.

The Beatles broke for lunch and welcomed Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall, Klas Burling, presenter Kersti Adams-Ray and a few photographs who happily snapped some of the most iconic images of the day.

The show was set to go off as usual when The Beatles treated the producer Klas Burling to something truly special — a rare acoustic performance of their new song ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’. Burling later said that as soon as he heard the song he knew it would be a hit.

The Beatles also took themselves shopping while in Stockholm but the real pleasure would come when the Fab Four took the stage and kept to their moniker, providing four songs for the audience despite only being scheduled for two. Initially only intending to perform ‘She Loves You’ and ‘Twist and Shout’ before the producer Burling convinced the band to make the audience happy and play one more song.

The Beatles rarely disappointed their crowds so delivered a chorus of ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, after which Kersti Adams-Ray attempted to start up the show’s theme tune. However, the band had other ideas. With the chance of one more song to round off the show, the band played ‘Long Tall Sally’ before joining in with the show’s hand-clapping theme tune.

Watch The Beatles perform on Swedish TV Drop-In 1963 … H E R E .