On a cold January day in 1969, the Beatles played their final live show on a London rooftop — until the police shut them down.
On 30 January 1969, the Beatles performed an unannounced 42-minute concert from the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row in central London. It was the band's final public performance ever, featuring guest keyboardist Billy Preston on electric piano.
The band played nine complete takes of five songs: three takes of "Get Back," two each of "Don't Let Me Down" and "I've Got a Feeling," and one take each of "One After 909" and "Dig a Pony." They also briefly played "God Save the Queen."
The concert was nearly cancelled multiple times. Ringo Starr initially refused to play, George Harrison was reluctant, and up until the last minute the band was undecided — until John Lennon broke the silence saying, "Fuck it — let's go do it."
Engineers Glyn Johns and Alan Parsons bought women's stockings from a local Marks & Spencer to protect the microphones from the winter wind. The audio was captured on two eight-track recorders in the basement studio below.
As crowds gathered on nearby rooftops and streets — many people on their lunch breaks — the Metropolitan Police received noise complaints from local businesses. Officers Ray Dagg and Ray Shayler arrived to shut the show down, but Apple employees stalled them in the reception area.
When police finally reached the roof during "Don't Let Me Down," road manager Mal Evans turned off Lennon and Harrison's amplifiers mid-song — only for Harrison to defiantly turn his back on. Evans then restored Lennon's amplifier too.
Paul McCartney improvised new lyrics to "Get Back" to mock the police intervention: "You've been playing on the roofs again, and that's no good, 'cause you know your Mummy doesn't like that... she's gonna have you arrested!"
Lennon closed the concert with the iconic quip: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we've passed the audition." It was raining, and Starr played the entire set wearing his wife Maureen's red raincoat.
The concert has inspired numerous homages, including U2's 1987 "Where the Streets Have No Name" rooftop video in Los Angeles, and a Simpsons episode where George Harrison himself drives past a similar scene and says, "It's been done!"
Footage from the concert appeared in the 1970 documentary Let It Be, the 2021 Disney+ series The Beatles: Get Back, and was remastered for IMAX release in February 2022. The full audio was released to streaming services on 28 January 2022.