Right now I am watching the Beatles tribute concert in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Ed Sullivan appearance. They’ve had some great covers, but now Ringo and Paul are taking the stage (not together yet–that’ll be at the very end).
Sir Paul just launched into “I Saw Her Standing There”…the first song he says that he and John wrote together. My GOD, the man can still rock!
Oh, I thought you meant the first one. Saw it, but there was too much screaming to enjoy it. Thought that kid from Oliver had potential, though. Well, no, I didn’t really. He annoyed me. Wasn’t the last time.
I wonder if Julian received an invitation.
You know, you’re right–now that it’s over I realize Julian wasn’t there. I guess that was Sean with the long hair and beard next to Yoko?
(Yoko actually looks better now in her older years than she did in her youth–she has a more flattering haircut and smiles more often. She really isn’t a bad-looking woman–it was just that shapeless, stringy hair and that grim expression she always wore in her early days with John that did her appearance no favors.)
I didn’t even notice Peter Frampton until the ending sing-along. Did he perform during the show?
I’d really like to know about Julian. Was he invited? Did he decline the invitation? Inquiring minds want to know!
Julian talks briefly about the special in a recent interview. No mention of whether or not he was asked to attend:
I love Paul McCartney, he is a legend, but I think it’s time he hangs it up.
I don’t know what’s going on with his voice but he was really struggling.
Now that he’s had this big 50 year bash it would be a good way to end his live performances.
I feel bad saying that because he has so much enthusiasm to perform. When other people were on stage he was in the audience singing along.
I have to knock that big video background they had for being pretty lame. Most of the imagery was cornball. It was like a high-def version of a planetarium laser light show.
Frampton was part of the backing band, along with Steve Lukather, an incredibly well-respected session guitarist. Both were there for the Grammy’s, too…
I watched a bit of this special - some was okay; others not so much. I will see how Paul and Ringo did via DVR. I did not like Katy Perry’s overly breathy, high-drama yesterday, and most of the other performances were okay at best. Ed Sheeran did a decent job on In My Life…
For the most part, it was formulaic tribute show schlock intended more to sell advertising and showcase today’s money makers in the industry than to recall the spirit of that night 50 years ago. Thank goodness I could fast forward through all the commercials and the gushing intros and most of the overly serious and “expressive” performances. Best parts were the memories of CBS staffers who worked the show and fans who were in the audience. And I loved the way Ringo got the crowd rocking after all the other dreck. He seemed to be really enjoying himself, so for that reason alone, I guess it was worth it.
Not being a Beatles fan, I enjoyed the show. Especially the parts with David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater and, as said above, the interviews with Paul and Ringo and the audience members and ‘rilly big shoe’ people.
some of the performances were good but misplaced, like Ed Sheeran.
I wonder if there will any kind of observance on the 100th anniversary.
I really enjoyed the whole thing. Except for Katy “I buh-lieve in yesterday” Perry.
I liked while my guitar gently weeps that was the highlight of the show for me
I fell into the hype of the commercials and got hyped to see this
but then I remembered I only like 5 beatles songs and this was the only one they played
I have to totally agree. For 50 years, Paul has been my favorite. But Ringo is finally the better-looking one, and boy can he move! Did you see Ringo shaking it up? Pretty damn good for a 73 1/2 year old! Maybe even for a 50-year-old!
Terry McDermott, 1964 Gold Medalist in speedskating was on the same Sullivan show, and has a cool pic where he’s mock-cutting Paul’s hair (he was IRL a barber): http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2014/02/09/u-s-speedskating-legend-terry-mcdermott-shares-special-anniversary-with-the-beatles/
Last week Letterman had an all-Beatles tribute. All the break music plus musical guests did Beatles songs. Last night we watched the Thursday show which had Flaming Lips and Sean Lennon doing “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”. It was awful. I could link to video of it, but I’ll save you from that. Don’t Google it, okay?
Before, Lenny Kravitz did “Get Back” and that was okay.
Has anybody else notices that whenever Paul is paying tribute to the Beatles, he never does John songs or George songs. It’s always the songs associated with him, or a few early collaborations at most.
John, in fact, once called “Birthday” garbage. He was probably right at the time, although it sure works as a big-band get-the-crowd-cheering raver.
I have noticed, but not read anything into it. Singing their songs might lead to even more of a kerfuffle - how dare he sing In My Life!
John slammed a few of Paul’s songs and Paul’s lyric-writing overall. That’s John for ya - always a bit of a dick (he’s my favorite Beatle, btw, but still had his asshole moments)…I just assume Paul is doing what he does best - sing his own songs…