The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles

• 1. Introduction

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  The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles brought together the two surviving members of the Beatles on a single stage for the first time in years. On the 9th of February, 2014, CBS broadcast a concert filmed three weeks earlier at the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. The date was chosen deliberately: it marked exactly fifty years since the Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and, in the view of many who witnessed that original broadcast, altered the course of popular music in America. What drew Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr back to perform? What made a roster of artists spanning rock, pop, country, and soul each want a piece of this tribute? And what did McCartney himself confess to wondering when the whole idea was first put to him?

• 2. Fifty Years On

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  the 27th of January 2014 was the day the cameras rolled at the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center, one day after the 56th Annual Grammy Awards had wrapped nearby. The Recording Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures, and the CBS television network jointly presented the production. Kenneth Ehrlich served as executive producer and shared a writing credit with David Wild; Rac Clark was co-executive producer; and Gregg Gelfand directed the broadcast. The original Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, renamed Studio 50 by the time of this program, provided another thread connecting past and present: David Letterman sat with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr there for an interview that was woven into the broadcast. Archival clips of the Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 were also folded into the program, anchoring the anniversary in footage that many American viewers would remember as a living memory.

• 3. McCartney's Hesitation

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  McCartney did not immediately embrace the idea of a tribute evening built around his own band. He said of the night, "What can I say about this evening, it's just amazing," but before arriving at that sentiment he had turned the question over in his mind. "At first when I was asked to do the show, I was wondering if it was the right thing to do," he admitted. "Was it seemly to tribute yourself?" What shifted his thinking was a conversation with a pair of Americans who pressed on him something he had not fully registered before: how profound the Ed Sullivan appearance had been for a generation of viewers in the United States. "I didn't realize that," he said plainly. The confession is striking because McCartney was present for the original broadcast, yet the depth of its impact on American audiences was, by his own account, something he had underestimated for fifty years.

• 4. The Stage and Its Players

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  Don Was served as bass player and musical director for the house band, a role that placed him at the center of every performance that night. Flanking him on guitars were Steve Lukather and Peter Frampton, two players whose own careers had run through the rock mainstream for decades. The keyboard section was split between Rami Jaffee on organ, Greg Phillinganes on keyboards and piano, and Chris Caswell on a second keyboard station. Kenny Aronoff held the drum chair, with Lenny Castro on percussion. A full brass section completed the ensemble: Larry Hall on trumpet, Nick Lane on trombone, Dylan Hart, Justin Hageman, Paul Klintworth, and Annie Bosler on horns, and Larry Williams covering saxophone and woodwind. Background vocals were handled by Kari Kimmel, Judith Hill, and Carmel Echols. McCartney brought his own touring band: Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray on guitars, Paul "Wix" Wickens on keyboards, and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums.

• 5. A Remarkable Performance List

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  Maroon 5 opened with "All My Loving" and "Ticket to Ride," while Stevie Wonder performed "We Can Work It Out" twice during the evening. Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, and Dhani Harrison joined to perform "Something," the George Harrison composition whose presence in the set was a pointed acknowledgment of the absent members. Ed Sheeran took on "In My Life," John Mayer and Keith Urban shared "Don't Let Me Down," and Katy Perry sang "Yesterday." Imagine Dragons performed "Revolution 1"; Eurythmics took "The Fool on the Hill"; John Legend and Alicia Keys joined for "Let It Be"; and Brad Paisley and Pharrell Williams covered "Here Comes the Sun." Gary Clark Jr., Dave Grohl, and Joe Walsh performed "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Ringo Starr sang "Matchbox," "Boys," and "Yellow Submarine." Paul McCartney performed "Birthday," "Get Back," "I Saw Her Standing There," and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"; a performance of "Magical Mystery Tour" was filmed but not broadcast. The two surviving Beatles closed together on "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Hey Jude," performed with the full ensemble.

• 6. Broadcast and Presenters

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  CBS aired the program on the 9th of February, 2014, with a rerun on the 12th of February, 2014. Viewers in the United Kingdom could see it on ITV on the 2nd of May, 2014. Presenters appeared in a specific order across the broadcast: LL Cool J, Johnny Depp, Eric Idle, Kate Beckinsale, Anna Kendrick, Jeff Bridges, and Sean Penn. Two of those appearances, Eric Idle's and Jeff Bridges's, were edited before the broadcast aired. The range of presenters, from a rapper to a former Python to a country-rock actress, reflected the deliberate broadness of the tribute's appeal. The program's reach across two networks on two continents underlined just how widely the anniversary was felt. Ringo Starr's "Boys" that night was a song the Beatles had recorded for their first album, Starr's vocal showcase from the very beginning of their career.