The Beatles at Candlestick

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the Beatles' final concert performance -- Candlestick Park, San Francisco, August 29th, 1966. The band did of course famously perform on the roof of Apple Studios in London in 1969, but that wasn't so much an authentic concert as a short, staged jam session -- sort of a final public performance for the band (and goodbye to the fans) as the group was in the process of disintegrating.

The Candlestick show was the final engagement on a 14-stop tour that criss-crossed the US and Canada. The short set list includes a nice mix of early Beatles tracks ("Rock and Roll Music", "I Wanna Be Your Man") along with cuts from the 1966 album Rubber Soul ("Nowhere Man", "If I Needed Someone".)

There's a great article with more details about the concert here and if you'd like to download all the tracks, just click this link. A word of warning though -- although this is one of the Beatles most popular bootlegs, the audio quality is pretty terrible; it's almost painful to listen to. If you'd like a better quality concert, try this one from 1964, recorded at Convention Hall in Philadelphia.

Beatles Rock Band is Best at E3

Hello PopCultureFiend readers! Oh wait, I almost forgot, NO ONE READS THIS BLOG. 

But on the off chance that there is someone out there who may be wondering why I was only able to get one blog post up last week, it's because, well... I ran out of gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake... A terrible flood!... Locusts!... IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!! 

 No seriously, I was preoccupied with E3 and other miscellaneous crap. And speaking of E3, with all due respect to Microsoft's motion sensing controls, the PSP redesign, and the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMOG, the news and game that created the most excitement at E3 was when Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr made a brief appearance to plug The Beatles: Rock Band. 

By all accounts, the game offers much more than simply adding Beatles music to the Rock Band franchise (although that in and of itself would more than satisfy many.) Gamers will get brand new Rock Band graphics and menus, incredibly detailed 3D avatars of the Fab 4 that change their look and dress based on the era (mop top, psychedelic, Abbey Road, etc.), and even new instruments, including replicas of John Lennon's Rickenbacker guitar and Paul's Hofner bass. Beatles: Rock Band will also be the first game of its type to allow more than one singer at a time, thereby giving players the chance to imitate the band's signature rich, intricate harmonies. 

 Judging from the opening cinematic and gameplay trailer (below), the game's look is absolutely stunning. Plus, Beatles Rock Band was created with cooperation and input from Paul, Ringo, and John Lennon's and George Harrison's widows, which should give an indication of what to expect from the game in terms of quality since the four have been notoriously protective about how the Beatles' music, likenesses and brand are used. 

Songs from the Beatles' catalog that will be part of the game include "I Saw Her Standing There", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Day Tripper", "Octopus’s Garden", and "Here Comes The Sun" (with the rest of the Abbey Road album to follow shortly after the game's release), plus 40 more tunes. Personally, I'm crossing my fingers for "Helter Skelter", "Nowhere Man", "And I Love Her", "You Won't See Me", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and "Yer Blues".

In anticipation of the game's September 9th release, I've create this official Beatles: Rock Band countdown clock. 

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The Beatles at Candlestick