Whereas, according to John in 1970, The Beatles “used to jump around and do all the things they’re doing now, like going on stage with toilet seats and shitting and pissing” when they were in Hamburg, everything changed when fame and fortune came knocking.

“As soon as we made it, we made it, but the edges were knocked off,” he told Rolling Stone. “The music was dead before we even went on the theatre tour of Britain. We were feeling shit already because we had to reduce an hour or two’s playing—which we were glad about in one way—to 20 minutes every night. The Beatles’ music died then, as musicians. That’s why we never improved as musicians: we killed ourselves then to make it. And that was the end of it.”

In some respects, certainly. But during 1963 and 1964 they were still on fire onstage, feeding off the energy of their rabid fans—before ultimately feeling like they were being fed to those same fans. In this show, we run through some of their best recorded performances in front of an audience during the touring years—on radio, TV and in concert. A future episode will focus on their most interesting ones.