Fans of The Beatles around the world are celebrating the first ever official Global Beatles Day.
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The Fab Four and Apple Corps Ltd have recognised June 25 as the annual day to honour the legacy of the band, making official a long-running fan-led celebration of The Beatles’ music.
To mark the day, The Beatles have shared a colourised version of their 1967 ‘All You Need Is Love’ performance online for the first time.
The footage comes from the band’s appearance on Our World, the BBC programme that became the first live global satellite television broadcast. On June 25, 1967, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr performed ‘All You Need Is Love’ in front of a small studio audience that included Mick Jagger, from inside Studio One at Abbey Road Studios, sending the song’s message to an estimated 400million viewers around the world.
Although the performance was originally broadcast in black and white, the colourised version has now been released on YouTube for fans to watch for free. Check it out here:
June 25 has long been celebrated by Beatles fans because of that landmark broadcast, but this year marks the first time Global Beatles Day has been formally acknowledged by The Beatles and Apple Corps.
The celebration began as a fan initiative in 2009, founded by lifelong fan Faith Cohen, and has since grown into an annual day of events, singalongs, listening parties and online tributes around the world.
To mark the occasion, the official Beatles account wrote on Instagram: “It’s officially the best day of the year.”
McCartney also shared a message with fans, writing: “Have a great time on what is now Global Beatles Day (good group!).”
The John Lennon account, meanwhile, shared a Lennon quote: “They, whoever they are, don’t stand a chance, because they can’t beat love,” adding: “Wishing fans around the world a very happy Global Beatles Day with love from Yoko and Sean.”
Ringo Starr added his own message of “peace and love”, writing: “All you need is love, love peace and love. I send you all peace and love love love no matter what you choose. Choose love Ringo.”
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Among those marking the day are Jacob Collier, who shared his 15-minute TED performance of ‘All You Need Is Love’ with the VSO School Of Music Orchestra.
“HAPPY GLOBAL BEATLES DAY!” he wrote. “Thank you to TED and The Beatles for trusting me with this crazy idea.”
Elsewhere, Rockin’1000 brought together 1,000 musicians at Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, to perform ‘All You Need Is Love’.
“The biggest rock band on Earth, playing a song by the greatest band on Earth,” the group wrote, adding that the song’s message “still feels remarkably simple: people coming together through music.”
Apple Corps CEO Tom Greene previously said the official recognition of Global Beatles Day felt especially timely.
“More than ever, the message of The Beatles, and of ‘All You Need Is Love’ speaks to something vital for community, connection, and the power of bringing people together,” he said. “That is what makes Global Beatles Day so special. It asks nothing more than for people, wherever they are, to stop, listen, and share a little joy.”
The celebration comes amid a busy period for Beatles fans. Earlier this month, long-lost footage of the band’s first Top Of The Pops performance was reportedly found and is now set for restoration.
The 1964 footage includes performances of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and ‘You Can’t Do That’, recorded the day before the single was released.
It also follows the announcement of ‘The Beatles At 3 Savile Row’, the first ever official Beatles fan destination, which is set to open in London in 2027.
The experience will take fans inside the band’s former Apple Corps headquarters, where they recorded ‘Let It Be’ and played their final public performance on the rooftop in January 1969.
McCartney, meanwhile, dropped his new album ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane‘ last month, which featured his first ever duet with Starr on ‘Home To Us’. McCartney sat down with NME to look forwards and back on his extraordinary career, share his “excitement” at contributing to the new The Rolling Stones album, and also reveal if he has plans to retire.