May 14: Song of the Day. The Beatles–Get Back
On January 30, 1969, The Beatles, accompanied by Billy Preston on electric piano, made their last public concert appearance together as a band. The performance was entirely unannounced and took place on the rooftop of Apple Records. They performed five songs before the whole thing was shut down by the police. Here’s the first of those final five songs, “Get Back” from the band’s final album Let It Be.
Get Back by The Beatles
Personally I don’t know that I’ve ever witnessed a completely unannounced show. An old college buddy use to tell the story of going to see the unannounced Grateful Dead shows at Hampton Coliseum back in the late 80’s when The Dead performed under the name The Warlocks. (He was actually tipped off by Bruce Hornsby, who gave him the heads up at a Williamsburg-area high school football game).
I’ve also heard that Gillian Welch and David Rawlings once performed an unannounced show at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar one night, but I’ve never talked to anyone who was actually there. Maybe it’s an urban legend for all I know.
Anyone out there got any great unannounced concert stories? Maybe you showed up to see Band “X” and out of the blue stepped Artist “Y” on stage? Or maybe you had the inside scoop and had a front row seat or just happened to be in the right place at the right time?
However it happened, share your tales you lucky dogs you.
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Tagged as: 05/14, Song of the Day, The Beatles
Not that they weren’t awesome without him, but Billy Preston really did a lot to that band. The “5th Beattle” so he’s called.
Agreed Newman, Preston gave the band’s sound a little bit more swagger. You’ve got to think that had the Beatles not broken up, that Preston would have toured with the band following the release of Let it Be.
Any other bands that we can think of that added a member long after the group was established to the benefit of the band’s sound? Just off the top of my head I can think of Nels Cline, who has helped push Wilco to new heights. Any others?
On the flip side of that…I always thought the Dead lost a lot of swagger after Pigpen passed away. He just added a rawness on tunes like Hard to Handle, Smokestack Lightning, and Midnight Hour that gave the Dead a blues dimension that is still some of my favorite GD material. I’ll stop rambling now.
If I had a dream concert to go to where there were unannounced guests, I can’t imagine better than The Last Waltz. I never have understood why more people don’t idolize The Band.
Trevor Rabin to Yes. LOLOLOL
@3. Plus there was a Thanksgiving Day feast thrown in for good measure! One of my favorite all-time rock n roll movies and performances.
A couple of other Band related notes, I actually met Garth Hudson in Nashville a couple years ago at B.B. Kings when he was performing with the band Burrito Deluxe. Super nice guy! And if you haven’t heard Levon Helm’s latest album Dirt Farmer…I highly recommend. (BTW–more than one person has mentioned Helm’s name to me as one to watch for in Cville. Take it with a grain of salt but I’m just repeating what I’ve heard)
[…] mention of The Band’s magnificent Last Waltz (another thread you can follow here) I thought we’d explore the finer points of music documentaries and music-related films and […]