How the Beatles' famous rooftop concert almost ended up on a yacht
In January 1969, the Beatles were huddled together in the basement of the Apple Corps offices in West London, working on their follow-up to the previous year’s White Album.
In addition to the new album, “Let It Be,” they were planning a concert, their first live performance in front of an audience since 1966, when they vowed to retire from the stage after a disastrous tour of the United States that included too many shrieking girls and protests from the Ku Klux Klan.
Their ideas for a live show ranged from impractical to borderline deranged. Paul McCartney, 26, suggested playing in the rain or a snowstorm, admitting that the water might cause a “few deaths on the set due to electric shocks.”
Yoko Ono, 35, recommended a stadium full of 20,000 empty chairs, arguing that it would be “much more dramatic.”
Source: Eric Spitznagel/nypost.com