Forty-five years ago today, the Beatles gave their final public performance on a rooftop in London. On January 30, 1969, the band, with keyboardist Billy Preston, surprised a central London business district with an impromptu concert from the roof of Apple headquarters at 3 Savile Row. In a 42-minute set, the Beatles played nine takes of five songs before the Metropolitan Police Service forced them to stop. Footage from the performance was later used in the 1970 documentary film, Let It Be. Although the concert was unannounced, the Beatles had planned on performing live during their Get Back sessions earlier in January. It is uncertain who had the idea for a rooftop concert, but the suggestion was conceived just days before the actual event. George Harrison brought in Preston as an additional musician, in the hope that a talented outside observer would encourage the band to be tight and focused. Ringo Starr remembered: There was a plan to play live somewhere. We were wondering where we could go—Oh, the Palladium or the Sahara. But we would have had to take all the stuff, so we decided, Lets get up on the roof.” The audio was recorded onto two eight-track machines in the basement of Apple by engineer Alan Parsons and film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg brought in a camera crew to capture several angles of the performance—including reactions from people on the street. When the Beatles first started playing, there was some confusion from spectators watching five stories below, many of whom were on their lunch break. As the news of the event spread, crowds of onlookers began to congregate in the streets and on the roofs of local buildings. While most responded positively to the concert, the Metropolitan Police Service grew concerned about noise and traffic issues. Apple employees initially refused to let police inside, ultimately reconsidering when threatened with arrest. As police ascended to the roof, the Beatles realized that the concert would eventually be shut down, but continued to play for several more minutes. Paul McCartney improvised the lyrics of his song Get Back to reflect the situation, Youve been playing on the roofs again, and you know your Momma doesnt like it, shes gonna have you arrested! The concert came to an end with the conclusion of Get Back, and John Lennons famous statement, Id like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope weve passed the audition.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:14:34 +0000
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