The Rooftop Concerts

In the history of The Rutles, two rooftop concerts have taken place.

The Rutles on the roof of the Rutle Corps building, 1969.

1969 Concert

The first was the final public performance of the band before their breakup. It took place on the rooftop of the Rutle Corps building on 30 January 1969. The concert was shown on the Let It Rot film, the Get Up and Go documentary and in the All You Need Is Cash documentary. At the end of the concert, they were arrested for being disruptive and terrible.

1996 Concert

The second took place on October 30th, 1996, when three of the four main members (Nasty, Stig and Barry) played a few songs on top of the Hard Rock Cafe in a "shameless publicity stunt" as to promote Archaeology. The police showed up to the concert like previously, but this time they were much docile towards them as they managed to be free of charge. The rooftop concert was documented in The Rutles: Together Again.

Albums

The cover for the first rooftop album

On 28 January 2022, the audio of the full 1969 rooftop performance was released in Dolby Atmos to streaming services as Get Up and Go – The Rooftop Performance. The album version reproduced the set list in its performance order. As seen in the 2021 Rutland Weekend Television documentary series The Rutles: Get Up and Go, a short take of "Get Up and Go" was also played and filmed before takes one and two, as part of a rehearsal. The concert also includes a short take of the German national anthem "Deutschlandlied".

The cover for the second rooftop album

The first performance of "Momma Bee" and the recordings of "Two After 10,010" and "I Dig a Phoney" were later used for the album Let It Rot. An edit of the two takes of "Don't Get Me Wrong" was included on Let It Be... Naked,  as was a composite of the two takes of "Momma Bee". There were also brief jams of "Easy Listening" (after the first "Get Up and Go") and "Deutschlandlied" (after "Dig a Pony").

On the next day after the release of the 1969 rooftop performance album, the full 1996 rooftop performance was also released in Dolby Atmos to streaming services as The Reunion Concert - The Rooftop Performance Again, and was released as an EP due to the fact that only two songs were played at the concert. This was released alongside an official filming of the documentary Together Again.

Setlist

1969 Concert

• "Get Up and Go" (rehearsal)
• "Easy Listening" (brief jams)
• "Get Up and Go" (take 2)
• "Don't Get Me Wrong" (take 1)
• "Momma Bee" (take 1)
• "Two After 10,010"
• "I Dig A Phoney"
• "Deutschlandlied" (jam)
• "Momma Bee" (take 2)
• "Don't Get Me Wrong" (take 2)
• "Get Up and Go" (take 3 with arrest)

1996 Concert

• "Major Happy's Up And Coming Once Upon A Good Time Band"
• "Shangri-La"