The Beatles’ Iconic 1969 Rooftop Performance to Screen at IMAX Theaters

The Beatles’ legendary rooftop performance atop the Savil Row headquarters of Apple Corps in London on Jan. 30, 1969, has been digitally remastered and is set to screen at IMAX theaters.

To celebrate the 53rd anniversary of the rooftop concert, IMAX will host a special 60-minute screening premiere of The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert, followed by a Q & A with Jackson on Jan. 30. The Q&A will be broadcast via satellite simultaneously to all connected IMAX locations following the screening.

Peter Jackson’s recent The Beatles: Get Back docuseries on Disney+, which included footage of The Beatles’s iconic concert, which would ultimately be their final performance, follows the band during the 1969 recording sessions for their final studio album Let It Be.

“Ever since Peter Jackson’s beautiful and illuminating docuseries debuted, we’ve heard non-stop from fans who want to experience its unforgettable rooftop performance in IMAX,” said Megan Colligan, president, IMAX Entertainment, in statement. “We are so excited to partner with Disney to bring ‘Get Back’ to an entirely new stage and give Beatles fans everywhere a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch and hear their heroes in the unrivalled sight and sound of IMAX.”

The 60-minute film has been optimized for IMAX screens, and digitally remastered using the proprietary IMAX DMR (digital remastering) technology.

Talking on the making of the Get Back series, which was assembled from an archive of 55 hours of unseen footage shot by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and 140 hours of unheard audio tapes, Jackson said the restoration was the most exciting part.

“We made some huge breakthroughs in audio,” said Jackson. “We developed a machine learning system that we taught what a guitar sounds like, what a bass sounds like, what a voice sounds like. In fact, we taught the computer what John [Lennon] sounds like and what Paul [McCartney] sounds like. So we can take these mono tracks and split up all the instruments we can just hear the vocals, the guitars.” He added, “You see Ringo [Starr] thumping the drums in the background but you don’t hear the drums at all. That that allows us to remix it really cleanly.”

Following its theatrical premiere, The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert will continue to screen at IMAX theaters, Feb. 11-13.

“I’m thrilled that the rooftop concert from ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ is going to be experienced in IMAX, on that huge screen,” said Jackson. ”It’s The Beatles’ last concert, and it’s the absolute perfect way to see and hear it.”

Photo: Courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd./Disney+