On A Roof, 50 Years Ago

Happy memories from my childhood of getting from the Rag & Bone man –  a plastic Guitar with John’s face on it and I loved it…..

The songs they released are still played and loved all around the World, with many tribute acts travelling constantly to warm receptions, but it was this day back in 1969 that surprised everyone…

It was 50 years ago next month, on 30th January 1969 that the Beatles gave their last public performance.

On the roof of Apple Studios in London. It was their first truly live show since their final tour ended on 29th August 1966, at the Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

They had become less popular in the is after John Lennon’s controversial remark in an interview where he said: ” we’re more popular than Jesus now”. regretting saying it very soon after.

In the rooftop concert, which lasted about 45 minutes, their final song was Get Back and in the recorded version John can be heard saying “I’d like to say thank you ….. I hope we passed the audition”.

It was cold and windy, with a threat of rain. Lennon borrowed Yoko Ono’s fur coat and Ringo wore his wife Maureen’s red raincoat. The group also varied their classic stage placements – Lennon took the middle spot, with Harrison to the left, Keyboard player Billy Preston guested.

The police were widely criticised for breaking up the session, but in fact, they were nearby and could have shut it down after the first song, instead they let it continue and gave the band ten minutes warning that they were about to intervene after complaints from neighbouring businesses, this was a great shame as crowds quickly gathered to listen to the band and try and get a look,  this was considered a brave act back in the day.

The Beatles finally broke up formally in April 1970