There are few greater “what if” questions than what a reunion of The Beatles would have looked like.
All four members of the band were quizzed on when a reunion would come to pass, with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all suggesting at one point in time that a performance would be inevitable. But it never came to be, with John Lennon killed in December 1980, ending any chance of an on-stage reunion for the band behind Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road, and Please Please Me. But Lennon, who had worked with both Starr and Harrison on his solo albums after the end of The Beatles, seemed to stray further and further away from the idea of there being a Fab Four show.
In one of his final interviews, Lennon seemed borderline enraged by the suggestion that The Beatles should get back together. “It cannot exist,” he told Playboy Magazine back in 1980. He was right, but went a little further and suggested the “typical” fan was asking far too much not just of him, but all the bandmates. Getting back together just didn’t appear to be on the cards for Lennon, and he explained why shortly before his death.
He said: “Why should the Beatles give more? Didn’t they give everything on God’s earth for ten years? Didn’t they give themselves? You’re like the typical sort of love-hate fan who says, ‘Thank you for everything you did for us in the Sixties… would you just give me another shot? Just one more miracle?'”
Lennon had been asked why it was “unthinkable” that The Beatles would get back together to make more music and play more shows, which the Imagine hitmaker dismissed as a way of living in the past. He added: “Do you want to go back to high school? Why should I go back ten years to provide an illusion for you that I know does not exist? It cannot exist.”
Despite his stance against a reunion, there were a handful of occasions where the Fab Four nearly got back together. Though they technically would return in studio form for the Anthology documentary series, and subsequent songs built around Lennon’s demos, the four would never perform on-stage together after their impromptu rooftop appearance.
Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels once made an on-screen plea to the band, asking them to reform on the show that night. McCartney and Lennon happened to be watching the show together just a few blocks away, and were initially tempted by the idea of a shock performance. They ultimately decided against making an appearance.
Another possible reunion would see the band snub the offer because of the opening act. A lucrative $50million offer was snubbed by the band after it was confirmed their opening act would be a shark. Australian aquatic adventurer Wally Gibbins had been pitched as the opening act alongside the great white shark, which he was set to fight to the death. The Beatles were not keen on the idea.
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