Ringo Starr Reveals The Beatles turned down $50 million for reunion concert

A few years after their breakup, The Beatles were offered a ridiculous sum of money for a one-time reunion concert, but turned it town because the opening act would have featured a shark.

That’s what Ringo Starr is revealing in a new interview with the Sunday Mirror, discussing a “crazy offer” he and the other members of the Fab Four received in 1976.

According to a report from People at the time, the four were offered $50 million by impresario Bill Sargent, a pioneer in pay-per-view events, to reunite for a concert.

“We did talk one time. There was a crazy offer out there,” Starr explained.

According to Starr, the group ultimately decided against it because of the opening act that Sargent had in mind: a man fighting a great white shark.

“We called each other to see what we think,” said Starr, admitting the shark was a dealbreaker. “We decided not to do it because the opening act was a guy biting a shark. So we thought no.”

However, he admitted that until the death of John Lennon in 1980, followed by that of George Harrison in 2001, he’d always been hopeful that The Beatles would reunite.

“If John and George had not died there was surely a possibility of that. Paul and I are still on the road. John would have still been on the road,” he said. “I don’t know about George. We’d still be doing what we love to do. Maybe separately, maybe together. Nobody knows.”

In fact, Starr confessed that he had initially assumed The Beatles’ breakup would be more of a temporary hiatus than a permanent split.

“When we finished Abbey Road I did not walk away thinking that’s the last album. I thought ‘we’ll be back in how many months and we’ll do another’. Between times we did actually break. No one went away thinking ‘That’s it,’” he explained.

“I didn’t leave the studio thinking that will be the last record we’d ever make. I never thought that. I didn’t think it would be the last time we’d ever tour together either,” he added.

Source: etcanada.com