The Beatles' Final Rooftop Concert 1969

# January 10, 1969: The Rooftop Concert That Ended an Era

On January 10, 1969, The Beatles climbed five flights of stairs to the roof of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row in London and performed what would become the most legendary impromptu concert in rock history – and their final public performance as a band.

It was a cold, grey London afternoon when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, along with keyboardist Billy Preston, set up their equipment on the rooftop and began playing at around 12:30 PM. The performance was being filmed for what would eventually become the documentary "Let It Be."

The setlist was raw and stripped-down, featuring songs from their upcoming album: "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," "I've Got a Feeling," "One After 909," and "Dig a Pony." They played several takes of each song, with "Get Back" being performed three times. The band was bundled in heavy coats against the January chill – Lennon wore Yoko Ono's fur coat, Ringo sported his wife Maureen's red mac, and George Harrison wore a green coat.

As they played, the streets below erupted in chaos. Office workers poured out of buildings, traffic ground to a halt, and people climbed onto neighboring rooftops to catch a glimpse. The sound carried across the West End, causing confusion and excitement in equal measure. Some people thought it was a disturbance; others recognized it as history in the making.

The police eventually arrived after noise complaints, and you can see them in the footage negotiating with Apple Corps staff. The concert concluded with the iconic final take of "Get Back," ending with Lennon's immortal quip: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition."

The rooftop concert lasted just 42 minutes, but it represented everything The Beatles were about – spontaneity, innovation, and pushing boundaries. It was simultaneously a beginning and an ending: the birth of the "surprise concert" concept that artists still replicate today, and the swan song of the world's most influential band performing together in public.

The performance captured The Beatles at their most genuine – no screaming fans drowning out the music, no elaborate stage production, just four musicians playing together one last time. It was a stark contrast to their final official concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966, which had been overwhelmed by Beatlemania.

This rooftop performance would become the stuff of legend, inspiring countless tributes and recreations, most notably U2's own rooftop concert in downtown Los Angeles in 2009. The footage remains one of the most watched and celebrated moments in music history, a bittersweet reminder of when the greatest band in the world stopped the city of London for one magical lunch hour.


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