These New Yorkers Aren’t Staring at Their Phones. They’re Dancing to The Beatles
The Meetles are halfway through a three-song Beatles set in the Times Square subway when the commuters around them stop behaving like commuters.People clap, sing along, pull out their phones, and before long, the space in front of the band turns into an impromptu dance floor.
The songs are familiar, but watching a New York subway crowd slowly surrender to them is where the fun really begins.
Video: MeetlesVideos on YouTube
The Crowd Joins In From the Start
The Meetles do not have a stage. Guitars, microphones, amplifiers, and a tip bucket are squeezed into the station, with commuters passing only a few feet away.
But this is not a crowd that needs much convincing. People are already dancing as the band moves through I Want to Hold Your Hand, while others clap, sing along, and hold up their phones to capture the moment.
The energy keeps building through She Loves You, with more people gathering around the musicians and joining the fun.
By the time Twist and Shout arrives, the subway platform already feels like a small dance party. The Meetles keep the songs moving, and the crowd happily becomes part of the performance.
The setting is not unusual for this group.
The Meetles are a New York classic-rock tribute band with a particular love for The Beatles. The group’s roots stretch back to New York Beatles gatherings, and drummer Eric Paulin later brought an early version of the band into the subway in 2009.
Subway performances became a major part of their identity. Over the years, the group regularly played stations including Times Square and 34th Street-Herald Square, often attracting commuters who stopped to sing and dance instead of immediately heading for their trains.
Bassist and vocalist Naomi Paulin told the Midtown Gazette in 2019 that the band even recognized repeat audience members who had been following their subway performances since the early years.
That history helps explain why this 2012 video feels so natural. The Meetles are not trying to recreate a Beatles concert behind velvet ropes. Their version belongs right in the middle of New York, surrounded by people who may not have expected to hear live music at all.
The final song could hardly be better suited to the scene.
The Beatles recorded Twist and Shout on February 11, 1963, during the marathon session for their debut album Please Please Me. John Lennon recorded his famously rough lead vocal near the end of the day, with producer George Martin deliberately saving the demanding song until last.
The Beatles did not write it. Phil Medley and Bert Berns wrote the song, and the Isley Brothers had already turned it into an R&B hit before The Beatles recorded their version.
But The Beatles made it one of their great live crowd songs, and that same quality is still obvious nearly 50 years later in this subway station.
A Few Beatles Songs Change the Commute
The Meetles continued bringing classic rock underground long after this video was filmed. In 2019, they were still drawing listeners at Herald Square, and when the MTA revived its Music Under New York performances after the pandemic shutdown, members of The Meetles were among the musicians happy to return.
That makes this old clip feel like more than a lucky subway encounter.
A band starts playing Beatles songs. A few people stop. Someone begins dancing. Others join in. For nine minutes, catching the next train suddenly seems a little less important.
And in the middle of Times Square, Twist and Shout does exactly what it was made to do.
