On January 30th, 1969, The Beatles gave what would be their final performance, on the rooftop of their own Apple Corps headquarters. Now, 53 years later, the performance will get its first official release as a full-length album, on January 28th.
The announcement follows the release of Peter Jackson’s highly acclaimed 2021 documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, which documents the making of the final album the band would release, 1970’s Let It Be. While footage of the rooftop performance from this era can be seen in the film, the 2022 album release will mark the debut of the performance audio on streaming platforms.
The Beatles would famously call it quits as a touring band shortly after the release of their album, Revolver, in 1966. The decision was made as a result of the group members’ expanding creative ambitions and dwindling patience with expectations being placed upon them by the public as celebrity figures.
Lead guitarist George Harrison, the most withdrawn member of the group, had grown particularly weary of life on the road during this period. Due to the unprecedented public reception The Beatles received throughout the early 60s – of which a persistent complication was hordes of fans and teeny-boppers physically chasing down the group whenever they appeared in public – the band were generally forced to spend their time in the road hidden away in hotel rooms and armored vehicles.
Furthermore, the capacity crowds which occupied The Beatles’ concerts were so deafeningly loud that the band often couldn’t hear themselves play. Performance monitoring technology was in its infancy during this time so, unable to hear what they were doing, the prospect of live performance lost its capacity as a means of artistic fulfillment.
As a result, the band decided to focus all their energy into the writing and recording of new music. This decision led to some of the greatest artistic achievements in the history of western culture, including albums such as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (The White Album), and Abbey Road.
By 1969, the band had begun reconsidering the notion of live performance. As a means of reintegrating themselves into the form, The Beatles elected to conduct an unannounced performance of material they had been working on from the rooftop of the Apple Corps headquarters. The performance consisted of songs which would be released on the band’s final album, Let It Be.
The performance ran for 42 minutes, and was eventually shut down by the police. Paul McCartney, having anticipated the involvement of local authorities, blithely made reference to their appearance during the final song of the set, “Get Back”.
Though video footage of the concert has been available for years and the audio has been circulated by way of various bootlegs, 2022 will mark the first release of the audio in any official capacity to streaming platforms.
The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Performance will be released at midnight on Friday, January 28th, 2022.