There is no amount of money large enough, it seems, to entice Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison back together on stage to perform live again.
Geoff Baker, the spokesman for the Beatles anthology projects, confirms that the former band members turned down an offer of $225 million to do 22 concerts in Japan, Europe and the United States. The offer came from a consortium of German and U.S. businessmen, but Baker said he was not authorized to identify them more precisely.Reuters quoted McCartney as saying that the three surviving Beatles were not prepared to do their first live performance in 30 years without John Lennon, who was murdered in New York in 1980.
"The size of the offer is scandalous, it's ridiculous," McCartney said. "From the money point of view, most people would do it. But to me, the three of us isn't as exciting as the four of us. The Beatles were always the four of us."
"The Beatles Anthology," a three-part, six-hour documentary, was shown on TV last year, and a two-CD set of previously un-released Beatles material was released with two more sets to come.