Stephen Chernin/Associated PressFormer Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed at the “Change Begins Within” concert on Saturday in New York.
Half a Beatles reunion, or some approximation of it, took place Saturday night at “Change Begins Within,” a benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall for the David Lynch Foundation. Paul McCartney was headlining; Ringo Starr was also on the bill, and yes, after letting the anticipation build, the two surviving Beatles did perform together, as they did in 2002 for a memorial after the death of George Harrison.
After an exuberant set of songs from the Beatles, Wings and his solo albums, with video clips full of Beatles footage, Mr. McCartney said, “At this point we would like to introduce somebody to you who you know, you’ve heard his name. He’s going to come out here and play you a little song this joyful night. Ladies and gentlemen: Billy Shears!”
And just as on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” there was Mr. Starr to sing “With a Little Help From My Friends,” sharing a microphone with Mr. McCartney during the song and embraces afterward.
It had been clear something was up when Mr. McCartney’s band appeared onstage with a second, empty drum kit set up. And Mr. Starr, who had sung “Yellow Submarine” and “Boys” during his own set, wasn’t done after the one song.
As the concert’s entire lineup–including Donovan, Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Moby, Bettye LaVette, Ben Harper and Mike Love (from the Beach Boys)–filled the stage, Mr. Starr took his place at the second drum kit. And Mr. McCartney unveiled a song that could suprise even Beatles fanatics: “Cosmically Conscious,” an excerpt of which appeared as a hidden track on his 1993 album “Off the Ground.”
Mr. McCartney explained that he wrote it during the Beatles’ 1968 sojourn to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi‘s ashram in Rishikesh, India for intense meditation study; two other performers at the concert, Donovan and the flutist Paul Horn, were also there. “Maharishi would always say that he wanted everyone to be cosmically conscious and he’d do his little giggle.” Mr. McCartney reminisced onstage. “He’d also say, ‘It’s such a joy.'”
Those were most of the lyrics to the song–“Come and be cosmically conscious, cosmically conscious with me/It’s such a joy joy”–on the way to a vocal-harmony la-la-la chorale that it seemed the assembled stars had rehearsed. After Mr. Lynch read a brief, benediction-like poem “of unknown origin,” Mr. McCartney called for “peace and rock and roll,” and it was back to the Beatles: “I Saw Her Standing There,” with Mr. Starr socking the backbeat behind Mr. McCartney’s still boyish enthusiasm. Afterward, Mr. Starr (who was wearing a Krishna T-shirt) flashed two-handed peace signs, jokingly upstaging Mr. McCartney, who upstaged him in return before the stage dissolved into rounds of all-star hugs.
What cause could summon that elusive event, a more-or-less Beatles reunion? Peace, human rights, poverty, AIDS, the environment? Well, no. The David Lynch Foundation supports teaching Transcendental Meditation to a million students in their schools. “Every child should have one class period a day to dive within himself,” reads the manifesto at davidlynchfoundation.org. “This is the way to save the coming generation.”
Although the Beatles’ 1968 trip to Rishikesh ended in disarray, Mr. Starr and Mr. McCartney prized their meditation mantras and have said they continue to use them. The concert was full of testimonials to Transcendental Meditation–from Mr. Lynch, Laura Dern, Jerry Seinfeld and Howard Stern as well as the musicians–along with songs about spiritual quests and nostalgia for the 1960’s and the Beatles in particular. Ms. Crow sang George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord,” and Mr. McCartney’s set included his elegy for John Lennon, “Here Today.” No pre-announced reunion could live up to the Beatles’ legacy, so Mr. McCartney and Mr. Starr treated it as light-heartedly as they could: a few songs by old bandmates as mementos of vivid, bygone times.
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