One thing many old Rock Stars have proven is that they need to keep performing. Most 82-year-olds have been retired for about 15 years, but Paul McCartney and other artists from the ‘60s & ‘70s (like The Rolling Stones, the Eagles, & Ringo Starr) keep playing concerts. The latest example is McCartney doing a couple of surprise shows at a small venue in New York City. (Update: A third show was added for the night of Valentine’s Day.)
McCartney regularly sells out arenas and stadiums, but he decided to do three nights of surprise shows (February 11th, 12th, & 14th) at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan. It holds just 575 people….and tickets were only $50! They were only sold at the Bowery on the day of the show.
Above are the exterior and interior of the small venue. It was definitely a more intimate setting than McCartney normally plays, but it was a way to pull off the shows without all the hassles and planning of a tour.
Even though the scale of the concert setting was small, McCartney did a full 90-minutes. Here’s the setlist from the second show, February 12th, 2025.
You can see that 14 of the 20 songs were by The Beatles.
The Rock Stars from our youth don’t need any more money or fame. The only reason they keep performing is they love the thrill of sharing their music with all their fans.
Bonus:
