It was the closest thing to a Beatles reunion and it was all for world peace.
Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr came together on stage for the first time in seven years, at a charity concert in Radio City Music Hall, New York.
They performed Beatles classics including With a Little Help From my Friends.
The concert was to raise money for the David Lynch foundation, which according to the Guardian, “…aims to teach transcendental meditation to children, encourage world peace and promote understanding through what Lynch himself appeared on stage to describe as the ‘ocean of consciousness’.”
“The Maharishi said he wants us all to be cosmically conscious,” McCartney reportedly said, addressing the 6000 strong crowd who had paid a minimum of $500 for tickets to the show. (He then apparently went on to sing the song Cosmically Conscious.)
The Times archive, August 3, 1967
It would appear that one would happily cough up the money and put debates about the credibility of transcendental meditation (TM) on hold to watch the two remaining Beatles on stage together.
And to think the whole Beatles-Maharishi saga could have started with this little ad in the Times.
Forty Two 