Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr topped the star-studded bill of a tribute show to The Beatles, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the group’s US invasion.
The Night That Changed America – A Grammy Salute to the Beatles took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Hollywood.
In addition to the former Beatles, performers included Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, Dave Grohl, Stevie Wonder and a reunion of Eurythmics.
Other guests who took part included Johny Depp, Eric Idle (as The Rutles reporter), Jeff Bridges, Kate Beckinsale and LL Cool J. Watching the show were Nancy Shevell, Barbara Bach, Olivia Harrison, Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon.
Wow what a night IN LA CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEATLES LANDING IN AMERICA peace and love to everybody who participatedR ***?
— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) January 28, 2014
The show featured a three-song set by Starr, before McCartney and his band performed seven songs. Starr joined McCartney for the final two, singing on ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ and playing drums on ‘Hey Jude’.
Ringo and Paul on stage together for "The Night That Changed America: A GRAMMY Salute To The Beatles." #thebeatles50 pic.twitter.com/HRD0XfjkOK
— The Beatles (@thebeatles) January 29, 2014
The show was filmed and will be broadcast in the US by CBS on 9 February 2014, the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
The show will be broadcast on CBS Sunday 9th February at 8pm 50 years to the day, date and time of the band's first appearance #TheBeatles50
— The Beatles (@thebeatles) January 27, 2014
Here’s a silent clip featuring photos from the event:
Concert setlist
- ‘All My Loving’ – Maroon 5
- ‘Ticket To Ride’ – Maroon 5
- ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ – John Mayer and Keith Urban
- ‘In My Life’ – Ed Sheeran
- ‘Let It Be’ – Alicia Keyes and John Legend
- ‘Revolution’ – Imagine Dragons
- ‘Yesterday’ – Katy Perry
- ‘The Fool On The Hill’ – Eurythmics
- ‘Here Comes The Sun’ – Pharrell Williams, Brad Paisley, Cirque du Soliel acrobats
- ‘Hey Bulldog’ – David Grohl, Jeff Lynne
- ‘Something’ – Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, Dhani Harrison
- ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ – Gary Clark Jr, Joe Walsh, David Grohl
- ‘We Can Work It Out’ – Stevie Wonder
Jeff Bridges introduces Ringo Starr set:
Sean Penn introduces Paul McCartney set:
- ‘Magical Mystery Tour’
- ‘Birthday’
- ‘Get Back’
- I Saw Her Standing There
- ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
- ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ – with Ringo Starr (vocals)
- ‘Hey Jude’ – with Ringo Starr (drums)
Also on this day...
- 1970: Recording: Instant Karma! by Plastic Ono Band
- 1970: Ringo Starr appears on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In
- 1970: Mixing: The Inner Light
- 1969: Get Back/Let It Be sessions: day 18
- 1968: Radio: The Kenny Everett Show
- 1964: The Beatles live: Olympia Theatre, Paris
- 1964: The Beatles at the George V Hotel, Paris
- 1964: US single release: My Bonnie/The Saints
- 1963: The Beatles live: Three Coins Club, Manchester
- 1962: The Beatles live: Aintree Institute, Liverpool
- 1961: The Beatles live: Aintree Institute, Liverpool
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
just cant wait to see this
SPOILER ALERT – show details follow!
Most importantly, it was GREAT to see ringo so healthy! last time i saw a clip of him he seemed kindof out of it. Damn healthy. healthier than me (51yo).
It was really well done. Technically near-perfect (Did anyone else notice the stagehand who didn’t quite get out of the way in time?), Top performances and performers. Due reverence given, it wasn’t overdone at all. The bios were perfect for the viewing audience. I thought they were generally a little heavy on the arrangements, given they were a 4 man band some of the backup singing and even some of the instruments could have been reduced…but this is only a serious problem to me in one song, Here Comes the Sun, . The letterman interviews were great, learned some things. A few of the comments are pretty picky and I’d be interested in some responses, The merging into the live versions was a cool effect. In while my guitar gently weeps,. who knew joe walsh could still belt out those high notes in his low register! And the guitar duel was one for the ages. really. i’ll make a separate post to cover paul and ringo’s performances. They could have showed Yoko (the showoff – obligatory yoko bash) less and other people more (dhani?). Dhani’s voice sounds so much like his father it gave me chills. Joe walsh on Something – am i imagining it or did he play george’s version note by note, but muddle just a couple riffs that i know he could have played, in deference to George perhaps?
Don’t let me down – nice that they included it for the millions who didn’t even know about it
– and they included the part where john muddled the first refrain
– nice merge to john and keith
– great rendition, lots of feeling
– great guitar, reverently understated
– very excellent guitar jam (not the best of the night though)
Paul re yesterday – “Are you nervous” – whoa! How the heck did they pull off that first show anyway? Bulldog was a rockin version, at least paul knew the lyrics. Part 2 (the boys’ performances) to come.
I feel like John was undercelebrated in this program, which as an American Beatlemaniac I had been looking forward to with unbelievable excitement. I wish I had been born earlier so that I could have been a Beatles fan and watched them live on TV and heard them on the radio, and followed them around the country hearing them perform live and trying to contain my screams and tears. Since I was not, I was waiting with bated breath for this celebration/ tribute/look back to that incredible time. I was deeply saddened as the show drew to a close, despite adoring all the things they DID celebrate (and singing along with Jude and all that.) I don’t feel like there were enough John songs, or at least enough deep and/or meaningful performances of John songs. I am aware of the small controversy regarding Paul’s (slight) hand in writing “In My Life,” but this tribute was not the time nor the place to be attributing the song to “Lennon-McCartney.” We all know that song is a John Lennon song. I wish they had worked in a few more poignant moments honoring him. But most of all, I wish he had not been murdered so cruelly and senselessly. Cheers to you John, we miss you so.
A band who sold more than a billion of records!!!
Katy Perry should be banned from ever singing again. What she did to Yesterday was criminal. You don’t ad-lib a Beatle song, especially one that’s as popular as this. Her agent must still be in damage control mode.
This is a joke right? the ” crappy” awards ( even homer simpson threw his out of a window!) Remember the most powerful, innovative, important of bands in popular music were nominated 19 times between 1964 and 1970. and won 5 . I believe Seargent Pepper” regaqrdless of what opinions are now, was given a best engineered record thats it ! seriously if I won a grammy i know i would be bottom of the heap. long live the BEATLES. thanks for listening ( to me rant)
The highlights for me were While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something, and John Legend’s voice, and it was great to see Ringo running around like a teenager.