The Beatles performance at Blokker, Netherlands

Live: Saturday 06/06/1964 Prior to performing two concerts in the village of Blokker in the Netherlands – their only two shows on Dutch soil – The Beatles and Jimmie Nicol toured the canals of Amsterdam in a glass-topped tourist boat. 50,000 people turned out to see them in Amsterdam, and police leave was cancelled so all 15,000 officers were on duty. Some fans dived into the canals to try to reach the group, but were quickly dealt with by police. While on their canal tour The Beatles saw some local students wearing capes, which later inspired their look for the Help! album cover and film. «We were boating along the canals, waving and being fab and we saw a bloke standing in the crowd with a groovy-looking cloak on. We sent Mal to find out where he got it from. Mal jumped off or swam off the boat and about three hours later turned up at our hotel with the cloak, which he’d bought from the guy. When we flew from there to Hong Kong we all had copies made, but they were in cheap material