Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first legendary performance on the Ed Sullivan show. The show brought the legendary British rock quartet to the attention of millions of Americans, as 60 percent of the country tuned in to watch four shaggy-haired musicians play their hearts out.
In celebration of the event, CBS aired a two-and-a-half hour special that included clips from the original show, short bios on the Fab Four, and performances from a wide variety of Grammy winning artists–not to mention the reunion of Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney playing on T.V. for the first time in several years.
The choice of artists was obviously well thought out and included musicians from a variety of genres, all who brought energy to the covers of the well-known songs.
After playing the intro that aired that night 50 years ago, the Beatles performance of “All My Loving” faded into Maroon 5 playing the same song.
The ease in the transition from past to present demonstrated how influential the band was– and still is. The majority of the artists, who ranged from Katy Perry to Stevie Wonder, explained the impact that the four Brits had on their lives, which mainly was how much they inspired these artists’ current music.
Cute interviews from McCartney and Starr about the performance half a century ago also gave the stars a human quality, as they explained their nerves and surprise at the size of the crowd, despite having been in the public spotlight in England for several years.
A soulful performance of “We Can Work It Out” by Stevie Wonder was definitely one of the highlights. Wonder said that when he first heard the song, “it had a nice thing to it but I said someday I’m gonna do it again with a little more funky thing with it.”
The true highlights of the star-studded night were both Starr and McCartney’s performances, which included “Yellow Submarine,” performed by Starr, “Get Back,” performed by McCartney and “With a Little Help from my Friends,” performed together. The set got everyone, especially Yoko Ono, dancing and cheering.
The night ended with a rousing performance of “Hey Jude,” where all audience members let out their inner fan and screamed the lyrics alongside the legendary rockers.
