Imagine this scenario had John lived:

 

Bob Geldof nervously awaited backstage for Lennon's arrival. Lennon had not been to England in a few years. The Beatles hadn't played in a live venue as a foursome since January 1969, now on this hot July 1985 afternoon, all the planets seemed to be in place.

Zeppelin was still to perform their first reunion on the Philadelphia stage with Phil Collins on drums flying in from the Concorde after playing in the British version of events. This event would top it all, and although there were still several hours left on the American side, this would be a show topper. A young Madonna hit the stage in Philadelphia, but MTV started to build the hype- "we have been informed that John and Yoko departed from JFK for a flight to London" a pixie-like Martha Quinn squeaked.

 

George just refused to fly to Philadelphia and while it would have been more appropriate to finish the US show which would end much later, this would just have to do. After all it was the Beatles, and John was coming out to play, hot off his Milk and Honey world tour with Yoko, where Paul had joined him on stage in the Garden to sing of all tunes "I Want to Hold Your Hand", as did Ringo in LA dueting on "Only You", but never all four at the same time.  John later returned the favor to Paul, playing in a cameo as the crusty old executive boss in “Give My Regards to Broad Street”

 

It was agreed before hand which four songs would be performed, one by each of the Beatles with a possible encore if all went well.

Paul, George and Ringo rehearsed at George's home studio, while John practiced with his tour band, which included Klass Voorman, Billy Preston and Jim Keltner. The three long standing "solo years fifth Beatles" would in fact be on stage for all the songs, George, Ringo and John had all insisted to Paul's so so response. Eric Clapton was to perform in Philly and wouldn't be available.

 

But now it was getting time to close the London Wembley show, and no John. "No John no show" George bellowed, in a tone reminiscent of the movie "Let it Be". Paul told Bob Geldof, he would do his songs alone on a piano if need be, still trying to persuade George to do a Threetle thing if necessary. "I'm, not trying to put pressure on you"  Paul whispered to George. "Alright, but let’s keep it short!!!" George belted back. Voorman, Preston and Keltner had come ahead of John on an earlier flight and worked on the songs quickly backstage with the Threetles. There was a little tension as to who would play bass on George and Ringo's numbers, and Paul actually swallowed some serious ego and said he would strum an electric or acoustic to all but his tunes. He did have to make a comment, "why did you have me practice my parts on bass if you knew I wasn't going to play it?" George kind of made a "now you know how it feels" sneer and just shrugged. Geldof, sensing a breakdown, stepped in "remember why we're here!" George looked at him a bit perplexed and replied, "um, it's been done"!

 

Suddenly, the press started buzzing they're here!!! Sure enough John and Yoko walked into the room, and instead of more tension, it turned into a bit of a high school reunion, with Yoko actually greeting Linda, Olivia and Barbara like dear old friends. After all there was bit of bonding that took place at Ringo's wedding to Barbara in 1981, when all four were last together. And the impromptu Beatles reunion with Ringo on spoons and buckets did make the cover of LIFE, but didn't really count.

 

Ringo would open the show, and George would follow, but there was some debate on who would close. Paul said "John, your song is a solo tune and mine is an actual Beatle tune, so it's not just because I'm singing it." John replied "don't forget the encore song with everyone is really your tune too."

 

Back in Philadelphia, Madonna was in the middle of a song when the video screen behind her showed a very excited Bob Geldof with a give away behind him which was in fact, Ringo's Ludwig drum with the trademark Beatle insignia on it. Madonna was forced to stop her song mid tune and dejected, pouted and stormed off the stage. On MTV, Madonna was already pre-empted by the hype crazy Vjays, who by now knew for certain this was going down.

 

ABC was to air parts of the concert later in the day, but with their equipment in place interrupted their regular broadcast. CBS and NBC immediately followed in an unprecedented

special news event breaking into their regular broadcasts.

 

Bob Geldof, so excited he was mumbling a bit, said "it gives me great honor and courage, uh I mean privilege to introdue um...the Beatles. The house came down in Wembeley and Philadelphia and three Beatles and three "fifth" Beatles took to the stage, with Keltner getting on a dual kit. The opening notes of “It Don't Come Easy” kicked in and Ringo comes running down to the front of the stage, and grabbing a mic belts out "It Don't Come Easy".

The crowd was deafening beyond deafening, and even Paul on an electric lefty Gibson was amused. As the song finished up, the crowds at both venues roared for five solid minutes

giving Ringo plenty of time to take to the famous Ludwig kit. Another famous George riff opened up. It was the intro to "Here Comes the Sun", with Paul and John playing pretty good acoustics and adding some great background vocals. Again, there was a five minute roar, as Paul stepped over to a grand piano on the right of the stage, with the recognizable chords of a Beatle song. He sang Let it Be with Voorman on bass, and Preston recreating his organ lead. He thanked the crowd, although the roar was like a 200 decibel jet engine.

 

By now the concert was being aired on almost every radio and tv station in the free world.

News broadcasts and shows were interrupted everywhere to capture this piece of history.

 

Paul then introduced John Lennon and called him to the piano. The roar continued as John sat down. He nervously asked Yoko to join him and comfort him "before I throw up". John's tour took him in front of crowds of 80 thousand, but not two billion people worldwide.

Again, there were recognizable chords as the Beatles performed Imagine. George and Paul added beautiful acoustic guitars and harmony vocals out of this world. After the song, the four stood side by side on the front of the stage and did a 1965 style bow. Ten minutes of pure roar continued as Geldof called all the day’s performers back to the stage. The Beatles re-manned their instruments with Paul back on piano and closed the show with Hey Jude, with a fade out lasting fifteen minutes, like no one wanted it to end. They earlier debated on performing "All You Need is love", but it needed an orchestra (so did Hey Jude, but they used the audience as an "orchestra"), and the song already had been performed to a world wide audience 18 years previous. Besides, Elvis Costello had already performed the tune earlier in the day, not knowing that all four Beatles were to perform that day.

 

Well, the US show still had Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and CSNY, but acts like Halls and Oates were so anti-climatic, that MTV actually kept re-airing the reunion clip instead. Martha Quinn's backstage interview with the Beatles was also aired including the now infamous "where is Mike Nesmith?" faux pas. John, ever the quick wit responded, “he’s busy at home mixing our new Sgt. Monkee’s Album!!”

ABC ended their prime time show with a rebroadcast of the Beatle reunion after a US version of "We Are the World".

 

Those could have been the days indeed.

 

© 2003 by Mike Visco

 

 

HOSTED BY THE BEATLES FAN FICTION DIRECTORY