The Beatles January 1969

Title: The Rooftop Concert Day 20 (Let It Be/Get Back)
Type: Feature Film
Filming Location: Apple Studios, Twickenham, England
Filming Date: January 30th 1969
Broadcast Date: May 13th 1970 (New York); May 20th 1970 (London); November 2021 (Get Back)
Country Of Broadcast: UK/USA
Duration: 37:21 Minutes
Quality: B+
Source: "The Savile Row Sessions" (Adam Bound)
Other Sources: "The Beatles Get Back Chronicles Vol 3" (FAB Productions)

Notes: In the morning, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg and his team did all the setup on the roof. Five cameras were set up on the
rooftop, one camera on the building across the street. Three cameras captured events at street level. And there was a "hidden camera" in the reception area.

In the basement studio, George Martin and Glyn Johns were ready to record the rooftop performance ; they would monitor events
on the roof via a closed-circuit TV camera.The Beatles met in a room downstairs, still uncertain about performing on the roof. But ultimately, they decided to go and play.

It was a cold winter day, with a bitter wind, but no rain.Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were the first Beatles on the roof,
accompanied by Maureen Starkey and Billy Preston (Ringo had borrowed Maureen`s red mac). Ringo repositioned his drum kit after
discovering that Mal Evans had "nailed me down in the wrong place".Behind Ringo`s kit was a painting by Tom Newman, singer
with British psychedelic band July.Newman was an aspiring artist and happened to call by at Apple that morning. He can be seen
in the live scenes wearing a maroon jacket and standing beside a chimney stack behind The Beatles, and at the end of the
concert retrieving the painting.John Lennon, wearing Yoko Ono`s fur coat, and George Harrison joined in, and the concert
starting at around midday. The timing coincided with the lunch hour of many nearby workplaces, which led to crowds quickly
forming. Although few people could see them, crowds gathered in the streets below to hear The Beatles play.

Traffic in Savile Row and neighbouring streets came to a halt, until police from the nearby West End Central police station,
further up Savile Row, entered Apple and ordered the group to stop playing.Police constables Ray Dagg and Ray Shayler entered
the Apple building during "I`ve Got A Feeling". They initially believed the music to be coming from the basement studio, and
realised belatedly that it was coming from the roof.The officers were stalled by Apple doorman Jimmy Clark, who purposefully
kept them talking to allow The Beatles to continue performing. "They`re just doing a couple of numbers, that`s all," Clark told
them, also informing them that it was for an album and film. "Turn it down now, or else I`m going to start arresting
people," 19-year-old PC Dagg told him.Jimmy Clark went to the roof and The Beatles road manager Mal Evans went down and had been
stalling the police officers, telling them that the PA had been turned off and that he needed to make changes in the basement studio.

During the second "I`ve Got A Feeling", however, PCs Dagg and Shayler demanded that Evans take them to the rooftop.The police
arrived on the rooftop just as "Don`t Let Me Down" began. The Beatles were alerted to their presence by the camera crew`s
shifted focus. McCartney turned round and, seeing the constables, smiled and sang "Whoo!" Also during "Don`t Let Me Down", a
more senior policeman, Sgt David Kendrick, arrived at Apple. He introduced himself to the receptionist, Debbie Wellum, and
assertively yet politely asked to be allowed onto the rooftop. "You can go up," Wellum told him, "but don`t go actually on the
roof, because it`s overweight. Go in the lift, to the fourth floor." The performance lasted 42 minutes.

Thanks to The Paul McCartney Project for the notes.