Beatles Rooftop Concert – 1/3
“Get Back” “Don’t Let Me Down” Thursday – 30 January 1969 Apple Corps (Roof), London The Beatles’ celebrated rooftop show. An idea conceived during a meeting on 26 January, it was the first of two consecutive Beatles/Billy Preston performances which concluded the Get Back project, for on 31 January they ran through numbers inside the basement studio. This day’s work has passed into history as the Beatles’ last live performance, even if it couldn’t be classified as a concert. The 42-minute show (about half of which comprises the sensational close to the Let It Be film) was a lunchtime blast into the cold wind – imagine a high London rooftop in January – that brought part of the capital to a standstill, until the police, in turn, brought the show to an enforced conclusion. Much was commercially used from the 42 minutes on the roof, in the Let It Be film and on the Get Back (unissued) and Let It Be albums. What follows is a detailed description of the full rooftop repertoire, as preserved on EMI’s eight-track tapes, with a guide to how it was made available.
25 Responses to “Beatles Rooftop Concert – 1/3”
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the best concerto ever time
Loves John’s inprov in Don’t Let Me Down, the blachey bloochy bit.
@greenyman21 it was 1970′s what do u expect?
why low qual?
@astrochicken umm hes not dead…hes touring the world right now…and the so called “accident that killed him” was just a motorcycle where he chipped his tooth, as seen in the music video Paperback Writer.
” …they closed with was the version on Anthology where Paul … “You’ve been playing on the roofs again…” But I guess you know that. I responded to your question before I watched the other two parts.
They played Get Back three times. They opened with it, running through it twice and then closed with it. The one they closed with was the version on Anthology where Paul instead of the low necked sweater line, he sings “You’ve been playing on the roofs again, and your mama don’t like that. She gets angry. She’s gonna have you arrested.”
To be alive during that time….so sad that i live in a time where most music is completely awful.
@BloodyknifesAxel Le parkour!!! XD
For some reason I always feel sad when I watch the newer Beatles videos. It’s because they used to be all young and happy, and after nearly a decade they had become depressed drug-using hippies. It’s just sad that their public image could change so much from what it used to be.
@manicalhippieboy if you watch it all , he’s there
q cagada
@manicalhippieboy he flashes for a in the first vid second
@Hooklineansinker shut down by the police..
Then we were young and The Beatles were gods for us. Oh, sweet youth!
@manicalhippieboy your a moron
even tho johns wearin a womens fur coat he still pulls it off a defining moment in rock………
This is history in the making, guys!
@Hooklineansinker They just got shut down… and reluctantly, too. The cops who were sent upstairs refused to arrest The Beatles!
did they get arrested or shut down?
so they played get back twice?
Historic in so many ways – can’t imagine it happening today – our “anti-terror laws” would forbid it with men in balaclavas and guns swarming down from helicopters to shoot everyone – so here’s a challenge for any British band – an impromptu rooftop concert in the heart of London!!! The immediacy of this event was only overshadowed by the knowledge that this marked the end of an era. RIP The Beatles and our dreams, hopes and aspirations.
I always laugh at 2:53 when I see that well dressed guy with his pipe climbing the ladder giving an expression as if “Well jee I wonder what all the rucus is… BLOODY ELL is the BLIMY BEATLES” ;D
This is really cool,, but did anyone see when the B-Sharps did it? Now THAT was a concert!
Yoko Ono looked like Michael Jackson, but without combing hair