Abbey Road, Beatles Icon, Opens Its Doors--Briefly

At Abbey Road Studios, four visitors are summoned to a corner of the cavernous Studio Two to recreate an iconic sound made 47 years ago by another quartet: the Beatles.

On instructions, the lucky group is directed to three pianos—Steinway and Challen uprights, and a Steinway concert grand—and place their hands on keys marked with colored tape. On cue, they strike the chord, let it sustain as long as possible, and indulge in a rare act of rock 'n' roll tourism: playing the thundering finale of "A Day in the Life" in the same room, using the same instruments as the Beatles did in 1967. Exclusive music experiences are hard to come by in a world crowded with rock-fantasy camps and backstage ticket packages. Some other famous locales, such as the Sun and Stax studios in Memphis, Tenn., have long courted the tourist trade with museums and memorabilia. Yet Abbey Road has been mostly off limits. It is in London's placid St. John's Wood, where neighbors good-naturedly tolerate a stream of global tourists, even as they slow traffic by recreating the famous Abbey Road album cover in the crosswalk out front.

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Photo Credit:  Getty Images