It’s been over 54 years since The Beatles broke up, and no one in their right mind in 1970 would have expected to see Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr rocking out together in 2024!
The final night was made extra special when Ringo Starr joined Paul for rocking versions of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “Helter Skelter”. I saw the video, and the two Beatles did a great job on those songs. The 82-year-old McCartney’s voice isn’t quite as good as it once was, but he can still rock the vocals, and the 84-year-old Starr can pounds the drums with authority. Here’s a photo of the two together at the show..
It’s great to see them doing so well as octogenarians since we lost John Lennon at 40, and George Harrison at 58. Paul and Ringo have played together at live shows over the years, have performed on each other’s albums, and have jointly appeared at various Beatles related functions. They obviously love each other like brothers.
McCartney shows amazing stamina by performing shows that approach three hours in length and include 36 songs. Here’s the setlist.
You might have noticed another famous name on the setlist.
Guitarist Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones joined Paul on “Get Back”. Wood is the youngster of the three stars at 77. Actually, there’s another old rocker in the above photo. That’s Paul’s original Hofner bass that he bought in 1961. It had been stolen out of a van in 1972, and only surfaced recently. You can see the instrument has been beautifully restored.
A couple days after his last Got Back concert, McCartney gave fans the good news that he’s been working on a new album. He says the tour interrupted his songwriting, but his New Year’s resolution is to finish the album.