Apple’s 50th Anniversary Finale: Is Sir Paul Coming to the Ring?
Toggle Dark Mode
This Wednesday, Apple will be celebrating a pretty significant milestone for a tech company. It was 50 years ago, on April 1, 1976, that Apple Computer Inc. was officially founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. While it dropped the “Computer” from its name in 2007 while announcing the first iPhone, it can still trace its roots back to its late co-founder’s garage.
While Microsoft actually has nearly a year on Apple, and rival hardware companies like Samsung and Motorola will soon be celebrating their 100th anniversaries, it’s still an impressive feat in an era when most “big tech” have barely reached 30 years.
Needless to say, it’s also become a cause for celebration, and that’s a pretty big deal for a company that typically spends more time looking ahead than looking back.
Apple officially announced its plans for a half-century celebration in mid-March, with Apple CEO Tim Cook penning one of his relatively rare open letters, in which he echoes the words of Steve Jobs and emphasizes that the company remains “more focused on building tomorrow than remembering yesterday.”
Not long after that, it hosted a surprise concert in New York with Alicia Keys, a musician who has long been closely associated with Apple, at its Grand Central Terminal Apple Store. While the store was closed to the public, its placement within one of the world’s busiest transit hubs allowed many passers-by to stop and enjoy Keys’ performance from a distance as she tickled the ivories on her signature pink piano.
Apple followed that up the next week by taking its “Anniversary World Tour” on the road to Asia, presenting a special Today at Apple session with South Korean boy band CORTIS at its Myeongdong Store in Seoul, and another surprise concert with Li Yuchun (Chris Lee) at China’s Taikoo Li store in Chengdu. That continued with Mumford & Sons playing Apple Store Battersea in London.
While the pop-up concerts have been less common, Apple has run special celebrity Today at Apple sessions around the globe, including an appearance with figure skating icon Elladj Baldé in Vancouver, four sessions in Paris with DJ Myd, graphic designer So Me, the ambient vibes of SOPORI FM, and Trente, and Molly of the Crybaby art toy in Bangkok.
Now, Apple is reportedly set to close things off this week with a grand finale in Cupertino, where employees at Apple Park will be able to enjoy a special appearance by a legendary headliner that many are speculating will be none other than Paul McCartney.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, at least some Apple staffers have already been told who to expect, and they’re reportedly “pumped” at the chance to see a headliner who was “part of the British Invasion,” and would have also appealed very much to Steve Jobs, whose admiration for the Beatles’ “collaborative model” is legendary.
Based on the evidence, it would be shocking if it wasn’t McCartney, especially since he’s not only “still going strong,” as Gurman says, but also just finished a tour in November and is already in Los Angeles where he played a pair of shows. He also has a new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, coming on May 29.
It’s also apt that the lead single from McCartney’s new album, “Days We Left Behind,” officially hit streaming services today. The introspective track about his early days in Liverpool feels perfectly thematic for a 50th-anniversary appearance, and it’s hard to imagine the timing being entirely coincidental.
It’s an ironic twist, considering how long it took for the Beatles’ music to come to iTunes. A big part of that was a long-running dispute between the Fab Four’s own record label, Apple Corps, and Apple Computer Inc. That was resolved by the Mac maker promising to never enter the music business, but then along came the iPod and iTunes Music Store.
Nevertheless, when the Beatles finally landed on iTunes in 2010, it was a big enough deal for its own press release, including a quote by Steve Jobs expressing his love for the group and McCartney expressing his enthusiasm for the digital deal. Meanwhile, Ringo Starr just said he was happy that people would stop asking him when the Beatles are coming to iTunes.
“We’re really excited to bring the Beatles’ music to iTunes,” said Sir Paul McCartney. “It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.”
“We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes ten years ago.”
Having Paul McCartney play Apple Park for its 50th Anniversary would be the ultimate grand finale to illustrate how Apple has come full circle. The Apple Park Visitor Center is closing early tomorrow, which confirms that something is going on, and the concert itself will undoubtedly occur on the rainbow stage in the center of the Apple Park ring. It will be limited to employees and possibly their close family members, and it’s unknown whether Apple plans to stream it, or at least record it and later release it to the general public, but we certainly hope so.
