A collection of private photographs taken by Paul McCartney at the height of Beatlemania in 1963-64 is going on display in central London later this month.
Backstage at The Beatles Christmas Show, Finsbury Park Astoria, December 1963. (c) Paul McCartney / Courtesy Gagosian
Each picture was taken with McCartney’s 35mm Pentax camera, acquired in late 1963 around the time that the term “Beatlemania” was coined to describe the unprecedented mass hysteria that followed the band’s every move.
Shot with unassuming candour, they offer an intimate account of the band as they toured across the UK and in Paris in the formative weeks before their debut visit to America. They show the in-between moments tied to key events in The Beatles’ trajectory: their autumn 1963 UK tour, their first as headliners; their appearance on the BBC’s Juke Box Jury, which garnered a record 23 million viewers; The Beatles Christmas Show, which greatly broadened their appeal; and their three-week residency at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, an early proving ground.
The group are also captured in atmospheric scenes backstage at the Lewisham Odeon, London Palladium, and Finsbury Park Astoria, while enlarged contact sheets include the charged moments before the band’s transatlantic flight took off for New York.
At London Airport (with Brian Epstein, Mal Evans, and Neil Aspinall) for Pan Am flight 101 to New York City, 7 February 1964 (c) Paul McCartney / Courtesy Gagosian
The photos on display have been remastered from original negatives and contact sheets thought to have been lost for over half a century. They will go on display at Gagosian Gallery on Davies Street in Mayfair – a short walk from Bond Street station.
The exhibition, Rearview Mirror: Liverpool–London–Paris runs from Thursday 28th August 2025 to Friday 3rd October 2025 and will be open Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm.
It’s free to visit.