Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Music History on May 24

Beethoven and Bridgewater Perform

1803 Ludwig van Beethoven and black violinist George Bridgewater perform a concert together at the Augarten, Vienna [1]

Alexandra Palace Opens

1873 Alexandra Palace opens on Queen Victoria's 54th birthday with a grand celebration including concerts, recitals and fireworks

  • 1873 Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit" ("The King Has Spoken") premieres at the Opéra-Comique in Paris

Shostakovich's Preludes

1933 Dmitri Shostakovich's Preludes premieres in Moscow

Beggar's Opera

1948 Benjamin Britten's "Beggar's Opera" premieres at Arts Theatre, Cambridge, England

  • 1956 1st Eurovision Song Contest: Lys Assia for Switzerland wins singing "Refrain" in Lugano
  • 1958 Bob Merrill's musical "New Girl in Town", starring Gwen Verdon and Thelma Ritter, closes at 46th St Theater, NYC, after 432 performances and 2 Tony Award wins

Contract of Interest

1962 The Beatles record "Sweet Georgia Brown" & "Swanee" in Hamburg, Germany to close out their contract with producer Bert Kaempfert; Tony Sheridan later dubs vocal over tracks

Meeting of Interest

1963 Barbra Streisand performs "Happy Days Are Here Again" at White House Press Correspondents Dinner, and meets US President John F. Kennedy

The Beatles on Ed Sullivan

1964 The Beatles' 4th appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show", features an interview and pre-recorded performance of "You Can't Do That"

Mame

1966 Jerry Herman's musical "Mame", starring Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur, opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 1508 performances, wins 3 Tony Awards

Music History

1968 Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull arrested for drug possession in England

  • 1969 "Sugar, Sugar" single released by cartoon band The Archies (Billboard Song of the Year, 1969)
  • 1969 The Beatles' "Get Back" single goes #1 and stays #1 for 5 weeks
  • 1970 British guitarist Peter Green quits Fleetwood Mac to join a religious cult

Television Finale

1974 "The Dean Martin Show" last airs on NBC-TV

Diamond Dogs

1974 RCA releases "Diamond Dogs", David Bowie's 8th studio album, recorded in London and the Netherlands, with cover design by artist Guy Peellaert, it peaks in the U.S. charts at No. 5, and goes to No. 1 in the U.K. and Canada

  • 1980 "Rock Lobster" single by B-52s hits #56
  • 1984 Revival of musical "The Wiz" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater, NYC; runs for 13 performances

Music Recording

1989 Weird Al Yankovic records three tracks for his UHF movie soundtrack

  • 1994 Poison singer Bret Michaels is involved in a car crash
  • 2003 48th Eurovision Song Contest: Sertab Erener for Turkey wins singing "Everyway That I Can" in Riga, Laivia

Music Concert

2003 Paul McCartney performs in his first-ever concert in Russia, in Moscow's Red Square, to a crowd of over 100,000 people

  • 2008 53rd Eurovision Song Contest: Dima Bilan for Russia wins singing "Believe" in Belgrade

Music Concert

2022 American rock band Aerosmith cancels planned Las Vegas concerts in June and July as singer Steven Tyler returns to drug rehab