Sir Paul McCartney gave a special surprise to Beatles fans on the last stop of his “Got Back” tour, reuniting with bandmate Sir Ringo Star at London’s O2 Arena.
Introduced by Paul, Ringo walked onstage to a roaring crowd, before the two Beatles performed their old hits “Helter Skelter” and “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. After playing through the two songs, he bid farewell to the audience, saying “I’ve had a great night and I love you all.”
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood also made a guest appearance, joining McCartney for a performance of “Get Back”, with the Beatles bassist playing his original Hofner 500/1 guitar for the first time in over 50 years.
Sir Paul’s tour has treated fans to a packed setlist of nearly 40 songs, including tunes from his first band with John Lennon and George Harrison, The Quarrymen, classics from the many eras of The Beatles, and a few numbers from Wings as well as some solo material.
He gave the O2 crowd members another musical reunion, in an emotional rendition of what’s been branded the Beatles final song, “Now and Then”. With a backing of John’s vocals, he sang and played the piano, harmonizing with the late rock and roll hero.
The soft ballad was created with the help of AI technology, using stem separation to isolate Lennon’s voice and piano from a home recording made in 1977. Both McCartney and Starr have spoken in favour of their use of AI to clean up Lennon’s performance, with the Fab Four drummer saying saying, “The good side is the way we used it,” but sharing concerns about its possibilities for imitation: “Anyone who knows how to use it can steal you. If they just play any five of my songs into the computer, AI gets all of it… They can have me sing anything and it will sound like me.”
McCartney has recently joined a campaign with other musicians like Kate Bush and Thom Yorke to petition against the unauthorized use of their work to train generative AI systems.
The Liverpudlian legend recently issued a statement ahead of a parliament debate over amending its data bill to let artists exclude their work from AI training data. He warned that AI “could just take over, and we don’t want that to happen, particularly for the young composers and writers, for who it may be the only way they’re gonna make a career.”
The “Got Back” tour itself has been given rave reviews, with The Guardian calling it “extraordinarily sublime and humblingly beautiful”, and Metro hailing it as “three hours of Beatles, Wings and Macca magic”.
Also featured in his lengthy setlist was his holiday hit “Wonderful Christmastime”. A rarity at concerts, McCartney has been performing the seasonal solo tune on his tour alongside a children’s choir and elf-dressed percussionists to set the festive feeling, with fake snow falling during the performance.
Macca has seen Top 40 success recently, with “Wonderful Christmastime” re-entering the charts, as well as other winter anthems, with “Last Christmas” by Wham currently sitting at the number one spot. Read our recent article here revisiting the Christmas classics that dominate our charts and the elements of nostalgia and musicality that make them endure throughout the years.
