Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr performed together for the first time in five years on Thursday night (19.12.24).
The former Beatles reunited for Macca’s ‘Got Back’ concert at London’s O2 arena and treated fans to renditions of the legendary Liverpool group’s classics ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘Helter Skelter’.
Introducing his former bandmate to the stage after earlier welcoming Rolling Stones star Ronnie Wood to perform ‘Get Back’, the 82-year-old bassist said: “We’ve got another surprise for you. Bring to the stage the mighty, the one and only Mr Ringo Starr.”
McCartney asked the drummer: “Should we rock? Get on your kit la.”
After storming through the hits, the 84-year-old sticksman quipped : “Give it up. I’m off now but I’ve had a great night. It’s fantastic, playing with me old mate, but there comes a time when we’ve got to go home. All that remains to be said, I’ll see you next time.”
The last time they performed together was on Macca’s ‘Freshen Up’ tour in 2019.
Around the halfway point, the ‘Let It Be’ hitmaker brought out Wood, 77, to perform The Beatles’ 1969 hit ‘Get Back’, and performed it on his old bass guitar that he hadn’t used in 50 years after it was stolen.
Before charging into the song with his pal from the rival group, he said: “And what is more, we’ve got a special guest for you here. A Rolling Stone. Ronnie Wood.”
The mammoth set also saw McCartney perform the final Beatles song, ‘Now And Then’.
The Fab Four returned to the charts last year with the track that was completed with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) as frontman John Lennon and guitarist George Harrison are no longer alive.
Starr recently said he hopes that the band can add to their awards collection as it is up for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance at the Grammys in February 2025.
He told Music Week: “I’d love to win a Grammy. That’s the business I’m in – and the track is good. The last track ever by the boys.”
‘Now and Then’ was initially written by Lennon before the surviving Beatles members completed the song more than four decades later and the drummer recalled how McCartney got in touch with him to outline the plan to release the record – which topped the charts in the UK and also reached the top 10 in the US.
Paul McCartney’s ‘Got Back’ setlist in London (19.12.24):
‘A Hard Day’s Night’
‘Junior’s Farm’
‘Letting Go’
‘Drive My Car’
‘Got To Get You Into My Life’
‘Come On To Me’
‘Let Me Roll It’
‘Getting Better’
‘Let ‘Em In’
‘My Valentine’
‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five’
‘Maybe I’m Amazed’
‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’
‘In Spite of All the Danger’
‘Love Me Do’
‘Dance Tonight’
‘Blackbird’
‘Here Today’
‘Now and Then’
‘Lady Madonna’
‘Jet’
‘Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!’
‘Something’
‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’
‘Band on the Run’
‘Wonderful Christmastime’
‘Get Back’ (with Ronnie Wood)
‘Let It Be’
‘Live and Let Die’
‘Hey Jude’
‘I’ve Got A Feeling’
‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)’ (with Ringo Starr)
‘Helter Skelter’ (with Ringo Starr)
‘Golden Slumbers’
‘Carry That Weight’
‘The End’