Amongst the Beatles on iTunes anti-climactic hoo-ha, there is something really worth checking out

Everyone agrees Apple's announcement today (2,613 articles...really!? Who needs to pay for publicity, eh?) was a bit of an anti-climax. (Not to mention the other big story of the day...3,827 articles, REALLY!?) In the unlikely event you care and don't already have the songs, you can get the The Beatles 1967-1970 set on Amazon for 7.99, a saving of TEN POUNDS on the iTunes price. And you can rip it at a better bitrate, give a copy to your friends, etc, etc.

But let's thank Apple for one thing: a full length video of their first ever US concert. It's wonderful. Inexplicably, Apple are touting this as an extra in their Beatles box set even though they're offering it free to everyone. Maybe that means it will be pulled - watch it while you can.

I'm not an obsessive, but I would certainly count myself as a fairly zealous Beatles fan, and I've never seen a whole early concert. Fasincating stuff: a band who just two days earlier set the highest ratings ever on American television have to set up their own equipment and shift it around the stage. When Ringo takes lead vocals on I Wanna Be Your Man, you can hardly hear him as he sings across the top of the mike hastily set up by Paul, and no roadie appears to fix it. It's rock's age of innocence.

This is before they became complacent about live gigs, unable to even hear themselves amongst the screaming. (Though I wonder what people actually at this concert would have heard - I'm sure the boffins have done a nice job making the music audible above the crowd.) Here, their famous charm and raw musicality shine through clearly. Watch it.