Getty Images
It was 53 years ago Sunday (January 30th, 1969), that the Beatles performed for the last time in public, on the roof of their Apple headquarters building in London. For the better part of that January, the group had been filming their rehearsals for a planned comeback concert, before band politics forced them to abort the plan and concentrate on recording a new album, tentatively titled Get Back.
Now available for global streaming is the complete audio for the Beatles’ legendary rooftop performance. The sound has been mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos by Giles Martin and Sam Okell.
Coming to select IMAX theaters for one day only on Sunday, January 30th is The Beatles: Get Back – Rooftop Concert. The 60-minute presentation, which takes place on the 53rd anniversary of the “Fab Four’s” final performance on the rooftop of their Apple Headquarters in London, will also feature a Q&A portion with director Peter Jackson via satellite. The concert will go on to see a global theatrical release from February 11th to February 13th.
The Beatles: Get Back — which also features the group’s entire rooftop performance — premiered on Disney+ over three nights in November and will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 8th.
Peter Jackson said in a statement: “I’m thrilled that the rooftop concert from The Beatles: Get Back is going to be experienced in IMAX, on that huge screen. It’s The Beatles’ last concert, and it’s the absolute perfect way to see and hear it.”
On January 30th, 1969, the Beatles finally gave in to director Michael Lindsay-Hogg‘s request for a live concert finale for the film. Rather than the various exotic locations that had been tossed around for the group’s first public appearance in nearly two-and-a-half years, such as a cruise ship, a mental asylum, or a Roman amphitheater, the group had their equipment set up on top of their business offices at 3 Saville Row for a brief lunchtime set — similar to the ones they used to do years earlier in Liverpool’s Cavern Club.
The Beatles and keyboardist Billy Preston, who were decked out in winter coats, played for about 42 minutes for a handful of fans, their wives, office workers and their personal staff. They performed a total of nine full songs: three versions of “Get Back,” two versions of “Don’t Let Me Down,” two versions of “I’ve Got A Feeling,” and one each of “Dig A Pony,” and “One After 909” — which was one of John Lennon and Paul McCartney‘s earliest compositions, dating back to the 1950’s.
Ken Mansfield, the former U.S. manager of Apple Records, recently published his latest memoir on his time with working with the Beatles, titled The Roof: The Beatles’ Final Concert. Mansfield was among the handful of insiders present at the rooftop concert that day. He recalled prior to the lunchtime gig walking in on the four Beatles who were using one of the Apple offices as a makeshift dressing room: “It was like walking in on a band, a nervous bunch of guys getting ready to do an audition. I don’t know if it’s because they hadn’t played together, or whether they were trying to put the set together, but it was one of those kind of tense things where they were nervous. When we locked the doors upstairs, and the minute they started playing — and y’know all the. . . everything that was going down, all the stuff. It’s like it all went away and I really believe in my mind that they forgot everything and they were what they were. They were the Beatles.”
In between songs, while the film crew was busy setting up, the Beatles briefly ran through a few standards, including a few bars of “Danny Boy,” “A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody,” and “God Save The Queen.”
George Harrison had made it clear prior to the impromptu concert that none of his songs would be played on the roof. Toward the end of the Beatles’ set, the police were called and politely demanded that the group quit disturbing the peace, as dozens of office workers had begun crowding around in the streets near the Beatles’ headquarters to hear the band play.
At the end of the final performance of “Get Back,” Lennon uttered the immortal line, “I’d like to thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.” It was the last time that the Beatles would ever perform in public.
Over the decades, most of the Beatles’ “Rooftop Concert” has been widely bootlegged. The Beatles themselves have also issued a lot of the rooftop concert over various releases. 1970’s Let It Be album featured edited live performances of “Dig A Pony,” “I’ve Got A Feeling,” and “One After 909.” The group’s final performance of “Get Back” was included on 1996’s The Beatles Anthology 3 album, and the 2003 Let It Be. . . Naked collection included new composite takes from different versions of “Don’t Let Me Down,” and “I’ve Got A Feeling.” In one form or another, at least one version of all the songs from the group’s final performance has been officially released.
The version of “Get Back” that closes the Let It Be album, which was long thought to be a live take, is actually a cheat — Lennon and McCartney’s pre and post-song comments were tagged by producer Phil Spector onto an abbreviated version of the studio-recorded single version.
In 1970, after Mick Jagger‘s barbs about the Beatles’ supposed inadequacies as a live band, John Lennon set the record straight, telling Rolling Stone: “Our best work was never recorded, y’know? We were performers — in spite off what Mick (Jagger) says about us — in Liverpool, Hamburg, and around the dance halls, y’know? And what we generated was fantastic, when we played straight rock. And there was nobody to touch us in Britain, y’know?”
Paul McCartney admitted that the footage of the Beatles performing together underlines the core strength of “John, Paul, George, and Ringo”: “The Beatles were the best. And, y’know, the thing about the Beatles is (they’re) a very good little rock band. It really was a little rock band. Four guys, who when we played something — we locked in. And because we worked so much in Liverpool, then in Hamburg, and then in England, and America — we could read each other. So, yeah, I think we were the best (laughs).”
Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney recently reflected back on the legendary rooftop set: (Ringo Starr): “That time was great, but it wasn’t like, the final gig; we thought we’d done the final gig, and that’s why life is always open, and then we went on the roof and played live, which we loved to do.” (Paul McCartney): “But it was great, y’know, it was a lovely concert looking back on it. We were enjoying playing — and we had a very good drummer, y’know, so, it was a great little band. And the memories are just of that. For us, y’know, just as musicians, we had two great guys to play with, and it made for a great little band. . . ” (Ringo): And then there was us (laughs)!”
FAST FORWARD
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced a groundbreaking featured exhibit, titled The Beatles: Get Back To Let It Be, set to open on March 18th, 2022 and run through March 2023. An immersive complement to Peter Jackson‘s Get Back docuseries, the multimedia exhibit will welcome fans to step into the Beatles’ January 1969 rehearsals, sessions, and witness the band’s final rooftop performance, surrounded by large-scale projections and superior sound.
According to the press release: “The scene is thrillingly set with original instruments, clothing, handwritten lyrics, and other unique items, including several on loan directly from Beatles principals. Special events to be hosted by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the exhibit’s run, including interviews, film screenings, panels, and more will be announced throughout the year.
The exhibit will feature such one of a kind Let It Be-era artifacts as:
Paul McCartney‘s black and gray shirt that was worn in the studio and handwritten lyrics for “I’ve Got A Feeling.”
Ringo Starr‘s maple Ludwig drum kit and his borrowed red raincoat from the rooftop performance.
John Lennon‘s iconic eyeglasses, Wrangler jacket, an Epiphone electric guitar, and handwritten lyrics for “Dig A Pony.”
George Harrison‘s pink pinstripe suit and handwritten lyrics for “I Me Mine.”