It was 46 years ago today, Sgt. Peppers taught the band to play. The Beatles' historic “Rooftop Concert” happened on the afternoon of January 30, 1969. The once-in-a-lifetime event took place on the rooftop of their Apple Records headquarters at 3 Savile Row in London.
As Ringo Starr recalled, "There was a plan to play live somewhere. We were wondering where we could go—'Oh, the Palladium or the Sahara.' But we would have had to take all the stuff, so we decided, 'Let's get up on the roof'."
The Beatles, along with Billy Preston on keys, played an electric set – which brought the city of London to its knees. Swarms of people devoured the streets and traffic was severely disrupted.
But you can’t please everyone. The police quickly arrived and ordered The Beatles to stop playing and the plug was pulled. But a short while later, they defied the authorities and plugged back in to finish the jam session, which was captured in the 1970 documentary Let It Be.
It was The Beatles' final public performance and John Lennon finished the show with the unforgettable closing statement, “I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition."
-Spencer