It was a cold day, January 30 1969, when The Beatles took to the rooftop of Apple Record’s headquarters in central London to play there last live gig as a band. Since swearing off concerts years ago, due to the utter mayhem that surrounded them at the time, they had not played together live since 1966 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA. The impromptu show was part of a film they had set out to make documenting their soon-to-be released (and what would be their final) album, “Let It Be”.
They hit the roof around noon that day and were an instant hit with (most of) the lunch crowd out from work in the surrounding business area. The show lasted 42 minutes in which time they blasted through nine songs (including five takes of “Get Back”, two of “Don’t Let Me Down”, and a couple of “Dig A Pony”…as well as “I’ve Got A Feeling”, “One After 909″, and some brief, off-the-cuff versions of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” & “God Save The Queen”…among a few others), not all of which are shown in the video.
Large crowds formed on the streets below, as well as some on the surrounding rooftops, to enjoy the show. Not everyone was pleased with the music however….after complaints came from several neighbors, specifically one Stanley Davis, a wool merchant next door, the police showed up and put an end to the performance…but not before The Fab Four finished their complete set list planned for the day (at one point even having to re-plug in their amps after the cops made their road manager, Mal Evans, pull the plugs).
Several of the actual takes from the roof are the same recordings you hear on the album “Let It Be”, including “I’ve Got A Feeling”, “One After 909″, and “Dig A Pony”….along with others released on the “Anthology” 3 compilation.
Here it is, part one of the performance…with part two & three to come. Hope you enjoy it….for me it is one event in history i would have loved to have been alive and present for….
