One of the event’s standout performances was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The lineup included McCartney, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison, and Eric Clapton. Clapton had also supplied the featured lead-guitar work heard on the song’s original recording.
Tyler’s choices for the closing portion of his Kennedy Center set were especially fitting. He finished with the three-song sequence that concludes Abbey Road: “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” and “The End.” Abbey Road was the final album the Beatles recorded, and McCartney wrote all three parts of the medley.
McCartney composed the sequence with the knowledge that the Beatles were nearing their breakup and that these pieces would become the group’s swansong. That awareness informed the words, which look back on the Beatles’ legacy and consider the responsibility the members would take with them as they entered their post-Beatles lives.
