30 January, 1969 - The Beatles play their legendary Rooftop Gig
The Beatles, with Billy Preston, gave their final live performance atop the Apple building at 3 Savile Row, London, on Thursday 30 January 1969, in what became the climax of their Let It Be film.
The Beatles' rooftop concert, Apple building, 30 January 1969
A total of 10 cameras were used to shoot the show. Five were on the Apple rooftop; one was positioned on a roof across the street; three were on ground level outside the building to capture the public reaction; and one was hidden in the reception lobby at 3 Savile Row.
We went on the roof in order to resolve the live concert idea, because it was much simpler than going anywhere else; also nobody had ever done that, so it would be interesting to see what happened when we started playing up there. It was a nice little social study.
We set up a camera in the Apple reception area, behind a window so nobody could see it, and we filmed people coming in. The police and everybody came in saying, ‘You can’t do that! You’ve got to stop.’
30 January 1969 in London was a cold day, and a bitter wind was blowing on the rooftop by midday. To cope with the weather, John Lennon borrowed Yoko Ono’s fur coat, and Ringo Starr wore his wife Maureen Starkey’s red mac.
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.’ We had Mal and Neil set the equipment up on the roof, and we did those tracks. I remember it was cold and windy and damp, but all the people looking out from offices were really enjoying it.
Source: beatlesbible.com
