Paul McCartney Wows London Audience, Welcoming Fellow Beatle ...

Paul McCartney has been enjoying rave reviews for his latest concerts – pleasing thousands of fans with an energetic set that encompasses songs from his entire career, including his time with The Beatles, Wings and his own solo material.

McCartney, now 82, showed no sign of flagging during a set-list that kept him on stage for three hours, but Thursday evening brought an even more special moment for the audience at London’s O2 arena.

More from Deadline

The singer-songwriter, behind some of the world’s most famous tunes including Let It Be, Bond theme Live and Let Die and his own Maybe I’m Amazed, was a couple of hours into his concert when he told the audience, “I have another surprise for you.”

He continued: “Bringing to the stage the mighty, the one and only, the almighty, Mr Ringo Starr.”

Starr,  now aged 84, appeared as a drum kit was wheeled onto stage, and without further ado, the two surviving members of The Beatles launched into a rendition of their hit Helter Skelter.

One member of the audience, Ali Catterall, who had bought his ticket to the show on a whim only an hour before, told Deadline:

“It felt utterly surreal. Normally, you’d be up, and out of your seat and dancing like mad. But in my row alone, and I imagine hundreds of others, our jaws were just hanging. We were literally watching a Beatles reunion. Not ‘as good as. It was the actual Beatles. There came a sound of sobbing. I realised it was me.”

McCartney and Starr formed one half of the Beatles along with John Lennon and George Harrison. Conquering the UK and the US, their popularity has never dimmed. Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980, and Harrison died in 2001. But in 2023 a brand new song Now and Then was compiled from a demo track left behind by Lennon, including vocals by Lennon and guitar by Harrison, so the four appeared together on vinyl one last time, much to fans’ delight.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.