Rihanna was a surprise special guest of Sir Paul McCartney at California’s Desert Trip festival. In thevideo below, the two perform their hit single “FourFiveSeconds” together for the first time since the 2015 Grammy Awards. The song has been a regular on the set-lists of both artists on their recent respective tours, as well as featuring on co-writer Kanye West’s recent Saint Pablo tour too.
This was the second weekend performance of Desert Trip, a classic rock festival organised by the same team behind Coachella, and taking place at the same location in Indio, California. The festival’s bill also featured musical royalty of the likes of Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Who and, and recent Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.
The age of the festival’s line-up has led to many renaming the festival ‘Oldchella,’ a sentiment recognised by Sir Paul himself, joking that “we finally found someone under the age of 50″ as the 28-year-old Rihanna made her way offstage. Seeming to anticipate the older audience’s potential unfamiliarity with the song, McCartney also had the song’s lyrics emblazoned across the massive screen behind him, so that the audience could sing along. Neil Young also joined the former Beatle onstage to perform a medley, including “A Day in The Life”, as well as John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.”
McCartney’s headline performance at Desert Trip follows a surprise gig at Pappy & Harriet’s, a local venue close to the festival’s California site, on October 13. McCartney played an intimate set to just 300 fans, who rushed to get the tickets on a first come, first served basis. McCartney enthused about the gig on his Instagram page, as seen below.