Beatles News
Directed by Simon Hilton and David Frearson (with graphics and guerilla street art animation by Frearson) and produced by Sean Ono Lennon, Delphine Lamandé-Frearson, Sophie Hilton, Faye Jordan and Grace Davyd, the captivating video illustrates, through a kinetic text narrative and statistics of how many civilians and soldier's lives have been tragically lost from violent conflicts around the world, and the perpetually escalating financial costs incurred - including The Troubles in Ireland, the Vietnam War, the Iran-Iraq War, Lebanon, Tiananmen Square, the Lockerbie bombing, the Bosnian War, the Rwanda and Darfur genocides, the Chechen Wars, 9/11, the Iraq War, Syria, the Ukraine War, the War in Gaza and from mass shootings in the United States of America.
It poignantly ends with the reminder that more than 1.5 million people have been killed by guns in the U.S.A. since John Lennon was shot and killed on 8 December 1980. He would have been 85 on 9 October 2025.
Written about Bloody Sunday, the January 30, 1972, massacre of 13 unarmed protesters, including six children, by British soldiers during a protest march in Derry, Northern Ireland. The tragedy also famously inspired U2’s classic 1983 song of the same name.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is featured on the new box set, POWER TO THE PEOPLE, a 12-disc collection that chronicles and celebrates John & Yoko’s non-violent political activism in NYC in the early ‘70s. Songs from Sometime In New York City have been reordered, rejuvenated and completely reimagined as a new set of Ultimate Mixes, entitled New York City.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE was produced by Sean Ono Lennon and his 5x Grammy Award-winning production team. The centerpiece of the collection is the One To One Concert that took place on 30 August 1972, at Madison Square Garden in NYC featuring John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory and Special Guests. These two performances were John’s only full-length concerts after leaving The Beatles.
Source: Tyler Damara Kelly/thelineofbestfit.com
Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to the late John Lennon by performing Beatles hit Help for the first time in almost four decades amid his US tour in California on Friday.
The music icon, 83, who wrote the track alongside Lennon in 1965, included a whole host of the band's songs in his setlist, with Help featuring for the first time since way back in 1990. McCartney took to the stage for a one-off show at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Palm Desert ahead of the North American leg of his Got Back tour kicking off on Monday.
The Beatles legend also performed a string of the other band's hits including Hey Jude, Let It Be and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Lennon was tragically shot dead at the age of 40 by fan Mark Chapman outside his home in New York City in 1980.
He had left the Beatles in 1969 and in 1970 the split hit headlines when McCartney announced publicly that he was no longer working with the group. Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to the late John Lennon by performing Beatles hit Help for the first time in almost four decades amid his US tour in California on Friday.
The icon, who wrote the track alongside Lennon in 1965, sang Help for the first time since way back in 1990 (L-R Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison 1963) The late musician would go on to become embroiled in legal battles over the band's back catalogue which caused tension between him, his wife and former song-writing partner.
Back in 2022 McCartney projected documentary footage of his late bandmate as he took to stage at Spokane Arena, Washington. He projected footage of the late Lennon behind him and 'duetted' with his bandmate for a touching rendition of I've Got A Feeling.
A touching photograph of the incredible moment showed he performed on stage as Lennon sang and played the guitar on a huge screen behind him. The footage was taken from Peter Jackson's Disney+ documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which aired in November 2021 and followed the making of the band's 1970 album Let It Be.
McCartney told the crowds: 'Peter Jackson said, "I can pull John's voice out if you'd like me to".' Earlier this year the cast for Sam Mendes' upcoming Beatles biopics have been announced, with four huge names set to take on the roles of the Fab Four.
At CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas, Sony confirmed the cast for the four Beatles projects following a sea of speculation, with all four films set to be released in April 2028.
McCartney took to the stage for a one-off show at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Palm Desert ahead of the North American leg of his Got Back tour kicking off on Monday.
Source: dailymail.co.uk/Geraint Llewellyn
Autographs of all four Beatles, collected by a teenage fan in 1963, have been sold at auction.
A photograph of the group – signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with Starr also writing a personal dedication at the top – went for £1,900.
It was taken before a gig in Coventry at the start of the Beatlemania era, and went under the hammer on Monday with Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Lichfield.
Seller Chris Barrows, 74, said his late brother Phil collected the signatures during a trip out with their father Ron, who was a piano tuner.
"My dad came home one day and said he was going to tune the piano ahead of The Beatles' show and other performances," said Mr Barrows.
"I didn't go as at that time I was more interested in football, but my brother had been playing guitar for six months and went along."
Richard Winterton Auctioneers A close-up image of the signed black-and-white photo of the Beatles. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are wearing suits with white shirts and black tiesRichard Winterton Auctioneers
Mr Barrows' late brother Phil, obtained the autographs after meeting the band in Coventry. The Beatles were already there when the pair arrived – and the boys' dad had to ask Ringo to stop playing the drums so he could work.
It gave Mr Barrows' brother, who died in September, the chance to visit the band in their dressing room and even enjoy a quick jam with the stars. "He played guitar with John Lennon and Paul McCartney and even had a go on Paul's left-handed bass," Mr Barrow said.
He returned with a photo signed by the group, with the personal message: "To Philip best wishes from The Beatles."
The photograph had been valued between £1,500 and £2,000.
Source: Shannen Headley/bbc.com
Ringo Starr shared his vision for the Beatles' enduring legacy, expressing delight that their music continues to reach every generation.
In a new interview with the Financial Times, Starr spoke fondly of the Beatles' enduring popularity, and gave a compelling reason for their continued popularity.
"Every generation, if they like music, listens to us. And you know, we still sell records. We have billions of streams a year! It's incredible. I know why. The music was great, the songs were great, the attitude was great," Ringo said.
He took the opportunity to praise his original collaborator, Paul McCartney.
"Paul and I are still doing what we were doing back then. We're touring, we're making records," Ringo stated.
During the interview, he also reflected on the success of the album "Abbey Road", commenting:
"I love the Abbey Road story because we all sat in a circle and said, 'We have this album, let's go to India and do it, let's go to Everest, let's go to the Pyramids or just cross the street.' And that's exactly what we did. A lot of times the Beatles would just sit around and talk about big ideas and then say, 'Let's just cross the crosswalk.' And it turned out great."
Source: Vijesti/en.vijesti.me
A song written by legendary musician Jimmy Page was done so in response to criticism from The Beatles‘ George Harrison.
Led Zeppelin member Page would take on the challenge set by the so-called quiet one of The Beatles. Harrison would be an accidental influence of sorts on one of Led Zeppelin’s best-known songs, Rain Song. Page would tell biographer Brad Tolinski the All Things Must Pass hitmaker had effectively challenged him to write a “ballad” instead of the usual rock and roll work. Harrison had seemed to know of Page from The Yardbirds, being told of Led Zeppelin’s formation by engineer Glyn Johns. Harrison would ask: “Is he the one that was in The Yardbirds?” It may have been an exciting time on the music scene, but it seems a passing comment from Harrison pushed the band into writing one of their very best tracks.
Page would say: “George was talking to Bonzo one evening and said, ‘The problem with you guys is that you never do ballads,’ I said, ‘I’ll give him a ballad,’ and I wrote Rain Song, which appears Houses of the Holy. In fact, you’ll notice I even quote Something in the song’s first two chords.”
nother song featured on Houses of the Holy, No Quarter, has been hailed as a “perfect” version of the track by fans. Some believe the earlier recording of the song is much superior to the one which would feature on the album.
Fans have speculated that this early version was played and recorded in time to feature on Led Zeppelin IV, but was cut. While there is no confirmation of this, it proves to be a popular theory among fans in the comment section of the early version shared YouTube.
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
Paul McCartney’s solo career has seen him revisit countless Beatles songs over the years, from early hits such as Love Me Do and Eight Days A Week to late-period classics such as Let It Be and various elements of the medley that closes Abbey Road.
But there are many more Beatles songs that McCartney has never played live as a solo artist, sometimes partly due to his unofficial policy of steering away from songs that were mostly written by his late bandmate John Lennon.
However, audience members at the opening show of his current US tour, at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California on Friday September 27, got an unexpected surprise when McCartney opened his set with the Fab Four’s 1965 anthem Help! for the first time in 60 years.
McCartney has played a section of the track before, but that was as part of a medley of Lennon songs during Macca’s Flowers In The Dirt tour in 1989 and 1990. The last time Help! was performed in its entirety was by The Beatles themselves on December 12, 1965, at the Capital Theatre in Cardiff, Wales – the same year the song and its parent album of the same name were released.
With a capacity of just over 4500 people, the Santa Barbara Bowl is the smallest venue on McCartney‘s US tour. The show itself was only announced two weeks ago, and fans were required to store their phones in secure pouches.
Much of McCartney‘s set was given over to Beatles songs, including a virtual duet with Lennon on 1970’s I’ve Got A Feeling.
The tour continues on September 29 at Acrisure Arena, Thousand Palms, California.
Help!
Coming Up
Got To Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It
Getting Better
Let 'Em In
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five
I've Just Seen A Face
Love Me Do
Dance Tonight
Blackbird
Now And Then
Lady Madonna
Jet
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Get Back
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore:
I've Got a Feeling
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End
Source: Louder Sound
The iconic dance hit “Twist and Shout” has been through a few iterations. R&B vocal group The Top Notes originally recorded the song, written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns, in February 1961. After their version failed to chart, the Isley Brothers gave us the rendition we know and love, complete with the instantly recognizable bridge, in 1962. By 1964, the Beatles had gotten ahold of the song, recorded it in one single take, and sent it to #2 on Billboard’s singles chart. On this day in 1986, “Twist and Shout” resurfaced on the charts thanks to a John Hughes classic.
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it. However, if you’ve seen the seminal 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, you probably didn’t miss the epic parade scene.
The film centers around the eponymous high school senior, played by Matthew Broderick, who goes to creative and extreme lengths to play hooky from school. Apropos of nothing, he ends up commandeering a float in Chicago’s Von Steuben Day parade, where he lip syncs to “Danke Schoen” and “Twist and Shout.”
Recently, actress Mia Sara, who played Ferris’ girlfriend, Sloane Peterson, reminisced about filming that scene in a June 2025 interview with People. “That was so crazy. Because we would do the dance and then we’d get in a van and they’d drive us blocks away, and the camera would go, and then we’d do the dance again and wait for Matthew to pass,” she recalled. “And so it was just this crazy let’s catch it as many times as we can.”
Source: Erinn Callahan/americansongwriter.com
Beatles fanatics have the chance to see the world as John Lennon did. A pair of his tinted, circular Windsor Glasses are heading for auction at Propstore in October and have been given an upper estimate of £300,000 ($402,000).
Lennon wore the pair of American Optical gilt framed glasses from 1973 to early 1974, a turbulent period of the musician’s life that he would later call his “lost weekend.” He was drinking heavily, partying in public, and on a break from Yoko Ono.
The story of the glasses echoes this rambunctiousness. In 1974, Lennon was watching the Smothers Brothers at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles with his friend and fellow musician Harry Nilsson when the pair began heckling the rock comedy duo. Soon a fight erupted. Before being thrown out, Lennon lost his glasses in the ruckus and they were picked up by the wife of Tommy Smothers. As the story goes, the Smothers brought the glasses to an afterparty at the house of the actor Peter Lawford and the guests spent the rest of the evening donning Lennon’s eyewear.
“Lennon is fondly remembered as a pioneering musician and a strong advocate for peace, and during his career one accessory became his trademark: his circular glasses,” the auction house wrote in a statement.
Lennon first wore Windsor glasses as part of his costume for his role of Musketeer Gripweed in How I Won the War (1967), Richard Lester’s comedy that critiques the British military, monarchy, and class system. He never looked back and the round glasses remain an indelible feature of Lennon’s icon.
The “lost weekend” glasses have appeared twice before at auction. First at Sotheby’s in 1978, where they were given an estimate of $4,000 before selling for an undisclosed price, and second at Christie’s in 2008 where they sold for $78,000. In 2019, a pair of sunglasses that Lennon left on back seat of a car sold at Sotheby’s for $184,000.
The glasses are one of several Beatles-related lots in the Propstore’s Music Memorabilia Live Auction. Most intriguing is a scrap of fabric that Lennon used to protect himself from the Spanish sun during the filming of Lester’s film. He called it his “Shroud of Tourin,” a spoof on the controversial Shroud of Turin that claims to hold the blood and image of Jesus Christ. Lennon covered it with doodles in pencil. In one, he depicts himself wearing two pairs of glasses and a Batman symbol on his chest. In another, he sticks a cross on top of a hill and pairs it with the word “Elvis.” The shroud is signed and dated and has been given an estimate of £25,000 to £50,000 ($33,500 to $67,000).
Source: Richard Whiddington/news.artnet.com
In his mind, Ringo Starr never stopped being 24. When his second son Jason was fretting about turning 40 in 2007, telling his dad that he felt like he was 27, the world’s most famous drummer was compelled to administer a gentle parental put-down. “I said you can’t be 27, I’m only 24,” he tells me, speaking by video call from his home in Los Angeles. He chuckles.
His actual age is . . . well, Ringo doesn’t really like seeing it in the cold glare of print. Suffice to say he first turned 24 in 1964, the year of the “British Invasion”, when the US fell hard for The Beatles and “I Love Ringo” badges were all the rage. In the book The Beatles Anthology, he described this as the moment when, having been the last to join the group, he felt fully accepted: “Suddenly we were equal.”
The perpetual 24-year-old certainly looks trim and fit. There’s no trace of grey in his wavy dark hair and beard. He wears tinted glasses and a necklace with a peace sign symbol. The collar of his denim jacket is upturned in classic rock ’n’ roll style. He speaks from his recording studio in the Beverly Hills house where he and his wife Barbara Bach live.
Ringo — Sir Richard Starkey for official purposes — recently finished recording the vocal and drum parts for a follow-up to the country album he released earlier this year, Look Up. An electric guitar hangs on the wall behind him, covered with stars: a present from one of his sons. A star-shaped abstract painting with vivid streaks of colour is propped next to it.
Source: Ludovic Hunter-Tilney/ft.com
Ringo & His All-Starr Band, made up of Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Hamish Stuart, Warren Ham, Buck Johnson and Gregg Bissonette, are set to return to The Venetian Theatre Sept. 26 and 27.
It all started by picking up a phone book and calling his friends.
“What a great idea in 1989 someone mentioned putting a band together,” Starr told Las Vegas Now.
In addition to the performances, Ringo Starr’s original artwork is on display and for sale at Animazing Gallery in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort, Las Vegas.
This is his first art exhibit since 2022, the first show to feature his original paintings and the first time he’s seen the exhibit.
All of his artwork is for sale, with 100% of artist proceeds going to the Lotus Foundation.
Animazing Gallery owner Nick Leone said it’s an honor to partner with Ringo Starr.
For show tickets, artwork information and more visit ringostarr.com.
Source: Jillian Lopez/8newsnow.com
