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.
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 by the music legend.
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.
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 (seen arriving at the venue)
Crowds queued to get a glimpse of Paul as he later left the small venue in snowy New York
He arrived at the Bowery Ballroom in the day in a pair of shades
Other rarities included Wings track Let Me Roll With It – which he last included in his set at the iTunes Festival in 2007 – which included 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.’
In pure disbelief, McCartney told the crowd: ‘So, here we are. Some little gig. New York. Why not?’ (seen performing last year)
Paul and John from The Beatles pose backstage at the Finsbury Park Astoria in London during the band’s Christmas Show residency on December 30 1963
The Beatles legend charged fans just $50 a ticket to see him perform live at iconic Manhattan music venue Bowery Ballroom
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.’
Tickets for the show sold out in just 30 minutes on Tuesday.
Fans raced to the iconic New York City venue at lunch time after The Beatles legend, 82, announced the intimate show on Instagram just before midday.
Alongside a colorful graphic with a New York City theme, the caption read: ‘PAUL McCARTNEY ROCKS THE BOWERY. Tuesday, February 11th.
‘Bowery Ballroom, New York. 5:00pm Doors 6:30pm Showtime.
‘First come, first served. One ticket per person. Avoid purchasing tickets from third-party vendors. Fake tickets will not be honored and entry will be denied.’
The post was later updated to state that tickets had sold out and it’s since been revealed that it took just half an hour for them to all be snapped up.
One lucky fan named Devon Ivie, who works for Vulture, was in line by 12.15pm and later shared a photo of her physical ticket – which cost just $50.
Sharing a video of her on route to the Bowery Ballroom on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as a photo of her paying for her ticket, Vulture shared: ‘When Paul McCartney announced a Bowery Ballroom show tonight, @devonsaysrelax RAN from her apartment to get in line at 12.15pm. (15 minutes after the sho
w was announced!)
‘By 12.30pm, all tickets were sold out, because… well, it’s a Beatle. Not a bad way to spend $50, huh?’
Despite tickets selling out, fans still hung around outside the Lower East Side music venue – which has a capacity of 575 – to catch a glimpse of the musician, who arrived in a black SUV a few hours after announcing the surprise show.
Dressed in dark jeans, a navy blue jacket and a matching scarf, the Let It Be hitmaker wore dark sunglasses as he waved to onlookers before quickly making his way inside.
Those who caught a glimpse of McCartney in the flesh couldn’t believe their luck, as one person posted: ‘PAUL MCCARTNEY IS BACK IN NEW YORK CITY BABY.’
Another fan who was there claimed: ‘I THINK PAUL MCCARTNEY JUST WAVED AT ME.’
Someone else who filmed him arriving wrote: ‘OH MY GOD I JUST SAW PAUL MCCARTNEY NOT GOING TO THE SHOW BUT I SAW HIM.’
Other fans expressed their desperation to see the singer live, as one begged: ‘Is anyone selling tickets to see Paul McCartney tonight at the Bowery? Willing to pay much more than face value. I just flew home for this.’
The Beatles in Birmingham in 1964 (Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison)
Bowery Ballroom, which is located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, has a capacity of 575
Another X user posted: ‘I would do unspeakable things to be able to see Paul McCartney at the Bowery Ballroom tonight.’
A third person posted: ‘I’ll sell my soul for ticket to Paul McCartney at @boweryballroom.’
And a different fan admitted: ‘I heard about the Paul McCartney show tonight and contemplated driving the 30 minutes to NYC for a second but it sold out in 10 minutes anyway.’
Back in December, McCartney delighted fans when he brought his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr on stage during his concert at London’s O2 Arena.
