SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In August 1965, The Beatles ended their North American tour with two concerts at San Francisco's Cow Palace. This video includes Channel 7 reporters with The Beatles as they arrive, excited fans who got to see them and a wide ranging news conference held in between performances.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr answered questions in their own sly style on everything from police protection to criticism of music with electronic amplification to what they think of San Francisco.
Lately The Beatles’ final live performance has been marked in London with a blue plaque, 50 years on.
David Rosen, 60, has spent 18 months working to get it installed. He said he wanted to commemorate the momentous occasion when “the world’s greatest band performed together for the very last time”.
David Rosen, who works on Savile Row, and London Beatles Tour Guide, Richard Porter, spent almost two years lobbying Westminster Council to get it installed.
The pair wanted to commemorate the significance of the occasion when “the world’s greatest band performed together for the very last time”.
On 5 April (19), they were joined by actor Bill Nighy and British GQ editor Dylan Jones to watch the plaque, which reads “The Beatles played their last live performance on the roof of this building, 30th January 1969”, being installed on 3 Savile Row.
It was once the home of the band’s company Apple Recor A big celebration will be held on the street later this month.
The Beatles‘ rooftop concert was the climax of a project originally titled Get Back. It was conceived as exactly that, a return to their rock roots in a desperate effort to restore unity when business and personal chaos threatened to destroy the band. A documentary crew filmed the Beatles rehearsing and recording new material for an “honest” album, free from the studio wizardry that had dominated their recent work. The experience pushed the group to the point of disintegration, but they needed an end to the film.
So 47 years ago — on January 30th, 1969 — the band climbed five stories to the top of their Apple Corps headquarters and played their last concert together. The album and film were ultimately released in May 1970 as Let It Be, their swan song. Here are 15 little-known facts about the Beatles’ final bow on the world stage.
The concert was originally going to take place in an ancient amphitheater. Or on a cruise ship. Or in the desert.
The Beatles had many ideas about where to perform the climactic concert for their new film — too many ideas. London venues like the Palladium and the Roundhouse were some of the more levelheaded propositions, but most were pretty far-out. The Sahara desert was floated as a potential location, as were the Giza pyramids, and even the QE2 ocean liner. A 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater in Tunisia was seriously considered, and location scouts were sent to investigate. “The Beatles were to start playing as the sun came up,” explained director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, “and you’d see crowds flocking towards them through the day.”
Billy Preston recalls that it was John Lennon who had the idea to stage the concert on the roof of Appleheadquarters. Lindsay-Hogg says it was his idea. Others attribute it to Ringo Starr. The concept sounds inspired, but in retrospect it speaks less to creativity and more to laziness.
A few minutes before the concert was due to start, the band huddled in a small vestibule at the top of the stairs. They had cold feet. “George didn’t want to do it, and Ringo started saying he didn’t really see the point,” says Lindsay-Hogg. “Then John said, ‘Oh, fuck it — let’s do it.'”
