Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were reunited on stage at London’s O2 Arena on Thursday night.
McCartney brought his Beatles bandmate on to raucous applause before the pair played hits such as “Helter Skelter” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in what was McCartney’s final show on his “Got Back” tour, which kicked off in April 2022. “Should we rock? Get on your kit la,” McCartney said to Starr as he came on.
It was an emotional moment for the last two surviving members of the Beatles and their audience: “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’ve had a great night and I love you all,” Starr said as he departed the stage. The duo have performed several times together since the band broke up in 1969.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood was also introduced by McCartney to play a rendition of “Get Back.” It saw McCartney reunite with his original Hofner 500/1 bass guitar for the first time in more than 50 years. The instrument was stolen in 1972, but he was reunited with it earlier this year.
The Got Back Tour has run for over two years with 59 concerts in 13 countries for the 82-year-old, who was forced to cancel a European leg of his Freshen Up Tour in 2020 due to COVID-19. The tour has seen him stop in Mexico, Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica and his native U.K.
McCartney played nearly 40 songs Thursday night from a vast catalog of hits, not only with the Beatles but with the band Wings and his solo albums.
The Liverpool-born Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, selling an estimated 1.6 billion singles in the U.S. and over 600 million albums worldwide. They have 20 No.1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the most of any band in history.
John Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980 and George Harrison died from cancer in 2001.
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