{"id":260083,"date":"2025-09-28T01:07:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260083\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T01:07:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:07:20","slug":"paul-mccartney-just-played-this-beatles-classic-for-the-first-time-in-35-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260083\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney Just Played This Beatles Classic for the First Time in 35 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

As anticipation builds for the North American leg of his Got Back Tour<\/a>, Paul McCartney<\/strong><\/a>treated fans to an intimate pre-tour performance in Santa Barbara, California, on Friday night. But this wasn\u2019t just any warm-up show \u2014 he kicked things off with a Beatles classic he hadn\u2019t played live in more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

That song? The 1965 hit \u201cHelp!\u201d \u2014 a track McCartney last included in his live set back in 1990. First released as the title track of the Beatles\u2019 fifth studio album and feature film, \u201cHelp!\u201d remains one of the band\u2019s most recognizable songs. It was primarily written byJohn Lennon<\/strong><\/a> during a period of personal turmoil.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually crying out for help,\u201d he once explained<\/a> in 1980. \u201cMost people think it’s just a fast rock’n’roll song. I didn’t realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. But later, I knew I really was crying out for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surprise show gave fans a sneak peek at what\u2019s in store for McCartney\u2019s upcoming tour, which officially kicks off September 29 in Palm Desert, California. The setlist<\/a> reportedly blended Beatles hits with selections from McCartney\u2019s post-Beatles projects, including beloved tracks from Wings.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most notably, McCartney performed \u201cNow and Then<\/a>,\u201d the 2023 Beatles release created using archival vocals from Lennon, guitar work from George Harrison<\/strong><\/a> and new contributions from McCartney and Ringo Starr<\/strong><\/a>. The song, hailed as the \u201cfinal Beatles track,\u201d was finished using advanced audio restoration developed by Peter Jackson\u2019<\/strong>s team<\/a> during the making of The Beatles: Get Back documentary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joining McCartney on stage, as they have for years, is his seasoned touring band. Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens<\/strong> on keyboards, Brian Ray<\/strong> handling bass and guitar, Rusty Anderson<\/strong> on guitar and Abe Laboriel Jr.<\/strong> on drums, the band came together to deliver an unforgettable performance.<\/p>\n

As McCartney\u2019s Got Back Tour quickly approaches, fans get another chance to see the singer in several major cities across the U.S. and Canada. Locations include Denver, CO, Minneapolis, MN, Atlanta, GA, New Orleans, LA, Montreal, QC, Chicago, IL and more.<\/p>\n

Tickets for many dates are already in high demand, and fans are encouraged to check official ticketing sites<\/a> for availability.<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Parade<\/a> on Sep 27, 2025, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As anticipation builds for the North American leg of his Got Back Tour, Paul McCartneytreated fans to an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":260084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[136361,276,171,975,53324,31399,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-260083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-beatles-release","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-paul-mccartney","13":"tag-santa-barbara","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115279249036337856","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}