The Philly POPS Recreates The Beatles’ Iconic Rooftop Concert At The Independence Visitor Center

The POPS Recreates The Beatles’ Iconic Rooftop Concert At The Independence Visitor Center

-Courtesy of the Philadelphia POPs Orchestra

The POPS rocks out to the hits of The Beatles with special guest Echo Kid at the Independence Visitor Center on March 5, 2022 at 1 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, on the South Terrace at the Independence Visitor Center. 

Local rock group Echo Kid will perform the set list from the The Beatles’ 1969 rooftop concert in its original order, followed by more from the Let It Be album.  

The original rooftop concert took place in January of 1969, while The Beatles were recording Let It Be. The pop-up was intended to be a publicity stunt, but it turned out to be the last time The Beatles performed together publicly. It was the only time songs from Let It Be were performed live by the band. 

For the second set, Echo Kid will perform a selection of the fab four’s greatest hits for a Beatles dance party. The event will feature light refreshments and the opportunity to enter a raffle to win a pair of tickets to POPS Rocks Let it Be on Friday, March 11th.  

As part of the Independence Visitor Center and Independence National Historical Park’s health and safety guidelines, all guests are required to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. 

The band released Let It Be in 1970, eight months after the release of Abbey Road and one month after the group famously broke up. The rooftop performance reentered the mainstream with The Beatles: Get Back documentary on Disney+, which shows the rehearsals and recording process from Let It Be. In January 2021, the rooftop concert was released for the first time on music streaming platforms.  

This event celebrates the upcoming POPS Rocks Let it Be, running March 11, 12 and 13, 2022 at Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Cultural Campus. 

Original rooftop concert repertoire: 

• Get Back  
• Don’t Let Me Down  
• I’ve Got a Feeling  
• One After 909  
• Dig a Pony  

More details at https://www.phillypops.org/concerts-events/pops-rocks-rooftop  

About Echo Kid   
Echo Kid is a sludge rock’n’roll duo from Philadelphia comprised of multi-instrumentalists Brendan McHale and Christian Turzo, formerly of garage rock band RFA. Conceived through a shared love of raw, DIY recording techniques, light-hearted lyrics, and off-kilter rock’n’roll, the pair began writing and recording music in earnest throughout 2019 while living together in Fairmount.  

Since 2017, McHale had been making music under the moniker Whaler Jr., recording everything himself on a handheld tape recorder. After an initial solo release, McHale enlisted the talents of Turzo to help record his subsequent albums, and the pair began writing more and more material together.  

In the spring of 2020, the two decided to release music under a new name—Echo Kid, an homage to one of their favorite albums by Nashville band Turbo Fruits. 

Eager to get new music out, the two introduced The Clementine Session, an improvised jam recorded in a few hours in April 2020 with a single microphone to Turzo on drums and McHale on guitar. Pleased with the raw live sound the two continued laying down the foundation that would become their debut album, Folks at Home.  

After a year spent hunkered down in their Philly studio, the pair most recently released “Lonely Tree,” the first song from their forthcoming second album, Fever Dream, which will be released in April of 2022. 

About The Philly POPS   
The Philly POPS, the largest standalone pops orchestra in the United States, delights audiences with the inspired performance of American popular music. The POPS celebrates this distinctive musical heritage through an expanding repertoire of innovative concert performances and a robust set of educational and engagement initiatives. As the official POPS orchestra of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia’s partner in civic celebration, The Philly POPS serves a consistently growing audience of over 450,000 annually. The 65-piece Philly POPS orchestra keep listeners tapping their toes to an impressive repertoire of songs—from American traditional music up through to today’s chart-toppers.   

In addition to Subscription Series performances at The Kimmel Center, The Philly POPS presents innovative programming with contemporary artists at the Met Philadelphia in The Philly POPS at the Met Philadelphia series. Other ensembles that make up The Philly POPS are: The Philly POPS BIG Band, which plays a rock and rhythm and blues repertoire, and The Philly POPS Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, under the direction of Artistic Director for Jazz, Terell Stafford. 

Outside the concert hall, free Salute Series performances – including Memorial Salute, July 3 POPS on Independence, July 4 POPS at the Celebration of Freedom Ceremony and POPS on the Parkway, Veterans Day activities and the I’ll Be Home for Christmas: A Salute to the Military and First Responders concert – celebrate the American tradition of service around important national holidays. POPS Outside brings POPS music to local communities. The Philly POPS performs as a founding resident company of The Kimmel Cultural Campus, as the Principal Orchestra of the Met Philadelphia, and at venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region.