There are some moments that emerge in the mire of culture that feel like a fever dream. George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen all coming together to perform ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ might not be the most maddening of those moments, but, as a famed football manager once quipped, it’s certainly in the top one.
So, how on earth did this ever happen? Well, there have been some incredible moments in Rock Hall’s long history, but none rank as highly as the institution’s third-ever event. That night saw The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and The Drifters all inducted into the quickly filling mantle of music hall famers. With such a roster, everyone wanted a ticket.
While The Beatles were being added into the Hall of Fame in 1988, not all the surviving members of the iconic band would attend the event. George Harrison and Ringo Starr would arrive at the show without Paul McCartney. The singer boycotted as a result of ongoing business disputes. Alas, that didn’t sour things too much.
Hi, absences could have been glaringly bittersweet for the fledgling show, but the Rock Hall was about to flex its muscles. Instead of seeing Harrison and Starr perform a Beatles classic on their own, supported by little more than a glaring omission, they would make up for the sadly missing Macca by swarming the stage with some of music’s brightest stars. And when we say brightest, we mean so blinding that the front three rows needed their retinas examined afterwards.
There were even more stars than the wordcount of this headline could hold: Harrison and Starr were joined on stage by Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Ronnie Wood, Les Paul, Neil Young and Jeff Beck. Excuse the french, but that’s fucking nuts – we might not even have a magazine if its wasn’t for those. With the weight of talent threatening to plummet the stage to Australia, this is one of the most smile-inducing moments you’re likely to see.
The jam session is a joy to behold as Billy Joel, Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen excitedly take the mic and sing the 1963 classic. With George Harrison throwing in every back-up “woo” and a classic Beatles headshake for added effect. It results in a moment of beaming pride as the younger musicians in the group gratefully share the stage with their idols.
So, that’s how it literally came about, but once the grin subsides in the wake of the performance, you’re left with an even more maddening proposition. These folks are all icons of an unrivalled magnitude, you likely marvel, and not only are they on a stage together, but they’re there because, somehow, all of their debut singles (discounting Les Paul) emerged within 11 years of each other.
So, beyond smiling at the unfathomable talent gathered in one place, the performance elucidates the pivotal moment in history that the first wave of counterculture represents. These artists found themselves in the whirlwind of anti-war sentiment, new-fangled technologies, presidential assassinations, turmoil, hippie togetherness, LSD, the Pill, a thousand other yins and yangs of hurtling development, happenstance, and a crooked system to battle against.
And it would seem the bewildering nature of this performance alone is proof of how well they seized the mantle in such a way that we’re still reeling from the modern renaissance it represented. You can read more about why it might never be matched again by clicking here.
