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The Beatles took America by storm when they performed on The Ed Sullivan Show on the 9th of February 1964. And this year in celebration, CBS hosted a show of tributes and performances which was aired in the UK this month.
Hosted by LL Cool J, the show saw a number of performances from amazing artists including John Legend and Alicia Keys who took to the stage to perform Let It Be.
LL Cool J started the show by taking us back to the night The Beatles first performed the show 50 years ago, as well as welcoming Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, finishing with a tribute to passed members, John Lennon and George Harrison.
After a clip of the band’s performance was shown, Maroon 5 took to the stage to perform their version of All My Loving.
In between performances, there were also four short biographies of the group, telling the story of their childhoods and how they became the group that inspired millions.
We also are treated to footage of Paul and Ringo revisiting the studio where they performed on the show where they retold their memories.
Both Paul and Ringo were excited to be back in the room that made their American career.
‘The memory that I have is that it was four times bigger than this, there was thousands of them!’
Paul McCartney was looking around the room in awe,
‘It’s like going back to your old school.’
Artists took to the stage to not only perform but to say a few words about the band.
Before his performance of Hey Bulldog, Foo Fighters vocalist Dave Grohl took the time to express his fondness.
‘If it weren’t for The Beatles, I wouldn’t be a musician.’
The singer also explained why he loved the song and while he complimented bassist Paul, Ringo can be seen not-so-subtly pointing to himself waiting for his compliment.
Even Paul couldn’t help but clap along to Dave’s electrifying performance of the song taken from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack.
There were interviews with both Beatles stars. Ringo was extremely excited to be involved with the celebration and was still passionate about how The Beatles changed music.
‘We weren’t just stuck in the rock mode, we could play anything really.’
The show finished with two performances from both Beatles as well as a joint performance of With a Little Help from My Friends and Hey Jude where Ringo took to the drums.
In the performance of With a Little Help from My Friends, Paul seems to tease Ringo.
Paul mimes ‘I would.’ after Ringo sings the line ‘what would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand out and walk out on me?’
Although this seems like a harmless joke, throughout the night, Paul seems to be a little more humble, whereas Ringo seems to be enjoying being in the limelight, maybe a little bit too much.
Fifty years ago The Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show and fifty years later they are still as loved and as inspiring.
Find a behind the scenes video here.