real-life Beatlemania that arose wherever the crew were shooting on a given day. Some reviewers felt that its concert scene, filmed at a London theatre with an audience of fans who were paid extras, had been deliberately sanitised in its depiction of Beatlemania. A Hard Day's Night had its world premiere on 6 July, attended by members of the royal family; 12,000 fans filled Piccadilly Circus in central London, which had to be closed to traffic. A separate premiere was held for the north of England on 10 July, for which the Beatles returned to Liverpool. A crowd estimated at 200,000 (a quarter of the city's population) lined the streets as the band members were driven to Liverpool Town Hall to meet local dignitaries; once there, in Barry Miles' description, Lennon "enlivened proceedings by making a series of Hitler salutes to the crowd". Stanley highlights the Hard Day's Night LP as the album that best demonstrates the band's international appeal, saying: "There was adventure, knowingness, love, and abundant charm [in the songs] ... the drug was adrenaline. The world loved them, and the world was their plaything." The album spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top LPs chart during a 56-week stay – the longest run of any album that year. In the UK, it was number one for 21 weeks and became the second best selling album of the year, behind the group's December 1964 release, Beatles for Sale, which replaced it at the top of the chart. First US tour The band returned to the US for a second visit on 18 August 1964, this time remaining for a month-long tour. The Beatles performed 30 concerts in 23 cities, starting in California and ending in New York. One of the major stipulations was that the band would not perform for segregated audiences or at venues which excluded blacks. The tour was characterised by intense levels of hysteria and high-pitched screaming by female fans, both at concerts and during their travels. At each venue, the concert was treated as a major event by the local press and attended by 10,000 to 20,000 fans whose enthusiastic response produced sound levels that left the music only semi-audible. George Martin, the Beatles' record producer, assisted in taping the band's 23 August Hollywood Bowl concert for a proposed live album; given the audience's relentless screaming, he said it was "like