Rooftop Concert

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Front view of 3  Savile Row in the City of Westminster , London , on the roof of which the concert took place

The Rooftop Concert (roof concert) was the Beatles' last live performance . It took place on January 30, 1969 in London. Since there were no promotions or tickets , the audience consisted mainly of people who happened to be nearby.

prehistory

The Beatles gave their last concert in front of a paying audience on August 29, 1966 in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. At that time they came to the conclusion that the ecstasy of the fans accompanying Beatlemania impaired the quality of the concerts too much and that the constant tours were too stressful for them. In addition, they had started to record albums that were so technically sophisticated that they could no longer be reproduced live. These albums - above all Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - then set technical and musical standards, but the abandonment of the concerts also led to the Beatles becoming alienated from one another.

Paul McCartney wanted to counteract this by suggesting an album that reflected on the qualities of the Beatles as a live band: Get Back - the later Let It Be . The rehearsals and recordings for this album were documented by the film of the same name . The highlight of this film was a single concert, if possible in a spectacular location like the Roundhouse or the Sahara . For convenience, however, the Beatles decided to simply play on their then headquarters on Savile Row .

Appearance

The Rooftop Concert took place at lunchtime on January 30, 1969 on the roof of Apple Corps at 3 Savile Row. George Martin , Glyn Johns and Alan Parsons sat at the two 8-track recorders in the basement , while Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall had set up the equipment on the roof .

The Beatles appeared in the following line-up:

As a sideman was Billy Preston ( electric piano ) there.

The rooftop concert was filmed by several cameramen who were on the roof, in houses opposite and on the street. The original plan to use a helicopter for filming was not carried out.

title

The Beatles and Billy Preston played the following songs at the Rooftop Concert :

  1. Get Back ( Lennon / McCartney ) - 3:05
  2. I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Lennon / McCartney) - 0:18
  3. Get Back - 3:04
  4. Don't Let Me Down (Lennon / McCartney) - 3:12
  5. I've Got a Feeling (Lennon / McCartney) - 3:30
  6. One After 909 (Lennon / McCartney) - 2:46
  7. Danny Boy (Weatherly) - 0:06
  8. Dig a Pony (Lennon / McCartney) - 3:44
  9. God Save the Queen ( Traditional ) - 0:32
  10. I've Got a Feeling - 3:33
  11. A Pretty Girl Is like a Melody ( Berlin ) - 0:05
  12. Don't Let Me Down - 3:19
  13. Get Back - 3:01

Overall, the rooftop concert lasted just under three quarters of an hour.

Reactions

From Savile Row, the rooftop concert could only be heard, not seen. So some people climbed the surrounding rooftops to watch the Beatles. Crowds formed on the street; the assembled residents and passers-by reacted partly pleased and partly angry to the music. An older lady said indignantly: "I just can't see any point in it." On the other hand, a young woman said with a laugh: "Yeah - that's great!"

Due to the large number of listeners, there was a risk of traffic chaos on Savile Row, which the police, who had meanwhile arrived, tried to prevent. The police eventually gained access to the roof of the Apple headquarters. There they warned the Beatles to play quieter, but did not break up the performance. But that is exactly what the Beatles had hoped for. Therefore, the director Michael Lindsay-Hogg later cut the film Let It Be in such a way that the impression arises that the Beatles' last live performance had been canceled by the police.

Publications

The songs that the Beatles played at the Rooftop Concert have been published variously:

There are also several bootlegs in circulation on which the complete performance can be heard.

Others

Since the concert took place on a winter's day, Ringo Starr wore a shiny red coat that he had borrowed from his then wife Maureen .

John Lennon ended the Rooftop Concert with the words: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition." ("I want to thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition.") He was probably referring to an audition the Beatles failed: the Decca Audition .

See also

literature

  • Tony Barrell: The Beatles on the Roof. London: Omnibus Press 2017, ISBN 978-1-78558-578-4 .
  • Ken Mansfield: The Roof. The Beatles' Final Concert. New York: Post Hill Press 2018.
  • Friedhelm Rathjen: Get Back. The Beatles in Twickenham, 2. – 14. January 1969. Südwesthörn: Edition ReJoyce 2018, ISBN 978-3-947261-08-6 .
  • Friedhelm Rathjen: Let It Be. The Beatles in the Apple Studio, 21. – 31. January 1969. Südwesthörn: Edition ReJoyce 2019, ISBN 978-3-947261-09-3 .
  • Doug Sulpy with Ray Schweighardt: Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image. The Complete, Unauthorized Story of The Beatles' "Get Back" Sessions. Albrightsville PA: The 910 2007, ISBN 978-0-9643869-8-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f www.beatlesbible.com: Rooftop Concert (history of origin)
  2. ↑ Friedhelm Rathjen: From Get Back to Let it Be - The Beginning of the End of the Beatles . Rogner & Bernhard, 2009; P. 11 ff.
  3. ↑ www.beatlesbible.com: Let It Be (history of origin)
  4. ↑ a b c d Friedhelm Rathjen: From Get Back to Let it Be - The Beginning of the End of the Beatles . Rogner & Bernhard, 2009; P. 285 ff.
  5. ↑ The Beatles: The Complete Rooftop Concert (Liner Notes)
  6. ↑ www.discogs.com: Rooftop Concert (Bootlegs)
  7. ↑ Kenneth Womack: The Beatles Encyclopedia - Everything Fab Four. Greenwood, 2014; P. 787