Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to late bandmate John Lennon and relived his Beatlemania days at his surprise concert at the iconic Bowery Ballroom in New York City on Tuesday night (11.02.25).
The Liverpool legend, 82, announced the impromptu gig earlier in the day and, unsurprisingly, it swiftly sold out, with 575 lucky fans treated to a once-in-a-lifetime show.
In pure disbelief, McCartney told the crowd: “So, here we are.
“Some little gig. New York. Why not?”
McCartney – backed by guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist and bassist Brian Ray, keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. – kicked off proceedings in style performing the 1964 Beatles hit ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
Up next, he dusted off his other band Wings’ track ‘Letting Go’, which McCartney hadn’t performed in 11 years.
It was then time for another Beatles track in the form of 1966’s Motown-inspired tune ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’.
Other rarities were Wings track ‘Let Me Roll With It’ – which was last featured in his set at the iTunes Festival in 2007 – alongside a jam of ‘Foxy Lady’ by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Elsewhere, McCartney gave a stirring stripped-back acoustic performance of the tear-jerking Beatles tune ‘Blackbird’.
Other Beatles gems included ‘Lady Madonna’, ‘Get Back’, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, ‘Let it Be’ and ‘Hey Jude’, while he performed solo tunes ‘My Valentine’, ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ and ‘Come On To Me’.
McCartney was amused to reminisce about the Beatlemania days when he heard a “Beatles scream” and demanded more shrieking from the “girls”.
He declared: “That was a Beatles scream.”
Before he quipped: “OK, let’s get it out of the way. Girls, give me a Beatles scream.”
And on cue, all 575 fans screamed the room down.
McCartney also paid tribute to late Beatles frontman John Lennon – who was tragically shot and killed on December 8, 1980, outside his residence at The Dakota in New York – when performing The Beatles’ final song, 2023’s ‘Now And Then’, which Lennon had penned in the 1970s and was finished with the help of AI.
McCartney said: “Let’s hear it for John.”
After performing a three-song encore of ‘Golden Slumbers’, ‘Carry The Weight’ and ‘The End’ from ‘Abbey Road’, McCartney declared: “This has been a blast — we’ve loo-ved it.”
Paul McCartney – Bowery Ballroom – 11.02.25 – setlist:
A Hard Day’s Night (The Beatles song)
Letting Go (Wings song)
Got to Get You Into My Life (The Beatles song)
Let Me Roll It (Wings song)
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings song)
Maybe I’m Amazed
I’ve Just Seen a Face (The Beatles song)
From Me to You (The Beatles song)
Mrs. Vandebilt (Wings song)
Blackbird (The Beatles song)
Come On to Me
Jet (Wings song)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles song)
Get Back (The Beatles song)
Now and Then (The Beatles song)
Lady Madonna (The Beatles song)
Let It Be (The Beatles song)
Hey Jude (The Beatles song)
Encore:
Golden Slumbers (The Beatles song)
Carry That Weight (The Beatles song)
The End (The Beatles song)