It was a glorious day. It was a sad day. For 42 minutes on January 30, 1969 The Beatles performed live together in public for the last time ever. This was the famous performance that took place on the roof of the Apple building. It was around lunchtime on a Thursday and it was bitterly cold. Ringo was wearing his wife Maurine's red coat and John was wearing Yoko's fur coat. It had been almost two and a half years since the boys had last performed together, but they were still wonderful! While the band played, the microphones were connected to reel-to-reel tape machines in the basement so that the entire performance could be recorded (with the exception of an impromptu performance of God Save The Queen which was not captured in its entirety because the tapes in the basement were being swapped out during that song).
As wonderful as it is to watch the Fab Four making music together again after so long, it is also sad to think that it would never happen again. The addition of Billy Preston on keyboards is strange to some, but I think it was a marvelous addition to the sound. I love watching footage of the band performing on this cold London afternoon and I am very glad that the performance took place at all!
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