up until the previous year, "Now it was mob revolt, violence, political backlash, and threats of assassination." In George Harrison's recollection: "More popular than Jesus" and third US tour The Beatles returned to the US on 11 August, shortly after the release of Revolver, for what became their last tour. It coincided with a storm of American public protest caused by Lennon's remark that the Beatles had become more popular than Christ. Epstein had considered cancelling the 14-concert tour, fearing for their lives because of the severity of the protests, which included Beatles' records publicly burned and claims that the Beatles were "anti-Christ". There were disturbances on the tour, and one performance was brought to a temporary halt when a member of the audience threw a firecracker, leading the Beatles to believe that they were being shot at. They received telephone threats, and the Ku Klux Klan picketed some concerts. An ITN news team sent from London to cover the controversy reported that many teenagers in the US Bible Belt were among those offended by the Beatles. Lennon's comments had caused no upset when originally published in the UK, in March. However, John Grigg, in his column for The Guardian, had applied Lennon's description of Christ's disciples as "thick and ordinary" to the band's fans, saying: "Beatle maniacs are a distinct obstacle to higher appreciation of the Beatles." When the group arrived in New York, midtown traffic was brought to a standstill as two female fans, perched on a 22nd-storey ledge above Sixth Avenue, threatened to jump unless the Beatles visited them. Outside the Warwick Hotel, where the band stayed, clashes ensued between Christian demonstrators and the crowd of adoring fans. Throughout the tour, the US press nevertheless seized the opportunity to predict the end of Beatlemania, citing the bonfires and radio bans, but also, as detrimental factors to the Beatles' teenage appeal, the group's financial wealth and the artiness of their latest records. The US tour ended on 29 August with a concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. While commercially successful, the tour had been affected by the prevailing mood of controversy; there were rows of empty seats at some venues and, according to Schaffner, "The screaming had also abated somewhat – one could occasionally even hear snatches of music." Comparing the 1966 Shea Stadium concert with the previous year's event, one commentator recalled that as before, "when