# Let It Be: a legal question about the concert **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667 "2012-10-14T04:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/21 "2012-10-15T07:28:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But how might such a principle apply in other situations. You may have seen the commercials that show people lined up outside Apple stores waiting for a new product. Could the police go into the store and tell them they had to stop selling their product because it was causing lines to form on the sidewalk outside? Not if the line stays on the sidewalk, and doesn’t extend into the street and block traffic. That’s why you usually see the line extending sideways, parallel to the street. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/22 "2012-10-15T09:16:02Z")
IIRC, the police in my city have threatened to shut down stores on Black Friday because of rowdy lines. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/23 "2012-10-15T09:44:30Z")
Jefferson Airplane did the same thing in New York City two months before the Beatles did. New York’s Finest shut them down after one song for disturbing the peace, making too much noise. > **[Guerrilla gig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_gig)** > > A guerrilla gig is a type of concert performed in a non-traditional setting or arranged in an unusual fashion. It became associated with punk rock, and noise rock bands in UK and the United States during the early to mid-2000s. Bands who perform at such events are sometimes referred to as "guerrilla rockers". > There are two major elements that characterise a guerrilla gig. The first is similar in concept to a flash mob, and involves a band or artist performing in an unexpected, sometimes unannoun... You also have the possibility, however remote, that an emergency vehicle such as a fire truck or ambulance can’t get through if a crowd has gathered in the street to watch an impromptu concert. No one was preventing the Beatles from renting a concert hall, they had decided on their own several years earlier they weren’t going to play their 35 minute concert gigs, for various reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/24 "2012-10-15T11:11:10Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > The concert took place in a part of London with stuffy banking offices and such, like New York’s Wall Street, so the Beatles knew the onlookers would tend to not be young fans, but rather old financiers in tailored suits – just right for maximum contrast with their amplified rock music. No it didn’t, it happened in Saville Row which is in the West End, which while it now has Hedge Funds in it has never really been a banking area. It is, and was even more so then, however an extremely rich area. Saville Row is in Mayfair, which is the most expensive property on the London Monopoly board. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/25 "2012-10-15T11:29:23Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > No it didn’t, it happened in Saville Row which is in the West End, which while it now has Hedge Funds in it has never really been a banking area. > > It is, and was even more so then, however an extremely rich area. Saville Row is in Mayfair, which is the most expensive property on the London Monopoly board. Ah, thanks for the correction. Same Nowhere Men hanging around there, though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/26 "2012-10-15T13:01:06Z")
I seem to recall that one needed a music license to play to the public in the UK back then, eg in pubs, on the street, wherever. That’s how buskers (street entertainers) were always falling foul of the law. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/27 "2012-10-15T16:11:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Is that true for all events? Even non-commercial events occurring on private property? If the event is entirely self contained no. If you are creating traffic and pedestrian disruption outside the venue, then yes. Your event is disruping the neighborhood around it probably requiring traffic direction and such. For 5 minutes… nobody is really gonna notice, an hour, cops will be all over it and wondering why nobody told them so they could manage it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/28 "2012-10-16T23:11:44Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > If the event is entirely self contained no. If you are creating traffic and pedestrian disruption outside the venue, then yes. Your event is disruping the neighborhood around it probably requiring traffic direction and such. Except I’m not doing anything. The audience are the ones impeding traffic and causing pedestrian disruption. Why are they allowed to punish me for the actions of others? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667/29 "2012-10-17T01:43:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Except I’m not doing anything. The audience are the ones impeding traffic and causing pedestrian disruption. Why are they allowed to punish me for the actions of others? Yes, I was wondering what the law was if I was just playing my guitar on my front porch and a crowd gathered on the sidewalk to listen to me. Am I responsible because they’re blocking the sidewalk in front of my house? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-it-be-a-legal-question-about-the-concert/637667.md?page=1)