Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have Beatles reunion on stage for tour Staff, 12/21/2024 Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited on stage during the finale of McCartney's Got Back tour, performing fan-favorite tracks. Special guests included Ronnie Wood and Olivia Harrison, adding to the nostalgia. McCartney also played his recovered original bass, marking a historic moment in his musical journey. The surviving Beatles members played two fan-favorite tracks at the final concert of McCartney's Got Back tour in London on Thursday.
"Please welcome to the stage the mighty, the one and only, Ringo Starr!" McCartney said during the show's encore.
"I want to tell you, I've had a great night tonight," Starr said as he joined his former bandmate.
"Should we rock?" McCartney asked as the crowd screamed. "Get on your kit, lad!" he urged the drummer.
Starr hopped on the drum set and joined McCartney and his band in a rendition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)," from the Beatles' iconic 1967 album of the same name. After that, they launched into "Helter Skelter," from the group's 1968 self-titled album, also known as The White Album.
Despite the latter song's towering stature in the Beatles' discography and in the rock canon, McCartney and Starr have performed it together just a handful of times. Since the Beatles retired from live performances two years before The White Album's release, the pair have played "Helter Skelter" together only at McCartney's solo shows following the band's breakup. Starr previously teamed up with McCartney on the track at a London show in 2018 and at Dodger Stadium in 2019.
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Starr wasn't the only special guest at McCartney's final Got Back show. The "Yesterday" songwriter also welcomed Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood to perform "Get Back," from the Beatles' 1970 final studio album, Let It Be, shortly before the encore.
Additionally, Olivia Harrison, the wife of late Beatle George Harrison, popped up at the show, appearing in a backstage video captured by McCartney's daughter Mary McCartney. Mary's chronicling of her dad's backstage antics also revealed him singing "(Theme From) The Monkees" by the Beatles-inspired 1960s band the Monkees.
The show also marked McCartney's first live performance with his original bass in more than 50 years. After the songwriter recorded many of the Beatles' earliest hits with the instrument, his signature 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass was stolen from the back of a van in 1972. It was eventually recovered by a dedicated group of fans and returned to the musician earlier this year.
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