What would music be without the Beatles? It’s a question we certainly don’t enjoy pondering because the legacy the Beatles created in just 10 years is nothing short of astronomical. It is interesting, though, that their success was created in a relatively short period of time, and their years spent performing live were even shorter. As one of the bands that rarely played live after finding their audience, each performance carries weight.
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So, after searching through what film is still available to the public, we’ve rounded up just five of these notable performances. Read and watch below for a few unforgettable performances from Britain’s most beloved mop tops.
1. Arenatearten Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 30, 1963
By late 1963, the Beatles had only released their debut studio album, Please Please Me, with their sophomore release, With the Beatles, on the way. The band was, however, watching its fanbase grow at an unprecedented rate. So, by the time they were presented with the opportunity to perform live on the Swedish TV show Drop In, they were standing right at the precipice of worldwide acclaim. For their Drop In performance, recorded at the Arenatearten Theatre, The Beatles reportedly played two more songs after their initial two-song set. Watch The Beatles perform “She Loves You,” “Twist And Shout,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Long Tall Sally” below.
2. The Ed Sullivan Show in New York City, New York on February 9, 1964
It wasn’t until 1964 that The Beatles performed in front of an American audience. On February 9, the band played a live set on The Ed Sullivan Show for around 73 million viewers. It was a turning point in The Beatles’ international career as well as a career-high for Sullivan. That one show even inspired other musicians, including Billy Joel.
3. Shea Stadium in New York City, New York on August 15, 1965
By 1965, Beatlemania was in full swing. On top of that, The Beatles’ performance at Shea Stadium saw the largest crowd in the band’s career at that point with 55,600 people in attendance. And, as you would expect, it was raining chaos in the stadium. The screams from the crowd are thunderous, and the venue’s security guards were often kept busy with fans desperately trying to reach the stage.
4. Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California on August 29, 1966
At Candlestick Park in 1966, The Beatles gave their final performance in front of fans. By this time, The Beatles were weary of touring, and Lennon’s infamous “more popular than Jesus” had ignited deep anger in faith-based populations in the U.S. So, the band determined that Candlestick would be their touring swan song.
“It wasn’t fun anymore,” McCartney said in the Beatles Anthology documentary. “And that was the main point: We’d always tried to keep some fun in it for ourselves. In anything you do you have to do that, and we’d been pretty good at it. But even now America was beginning to pall because of the conditions of the tour, and because we’d done it so many times. So by Candlestick Park it was like, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but this is probably our last gig.'”
5. Apple Corps Headquarters’ Rooftop in London, England on January 30, 1969
The true and final Beatles performance was just one year before they officially disbanded. Concocted in secret and left unadvertised, the famous rooftop concert was filmed for what would first appear in the 1970 documentary Let It Be. It was undoubtedly the end of an era.
Photo Courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd.
