In the hall with a capacity of less than 600 people, everyone had the night of their lives, but no one had fun as much as the artist himself
Article published on February 12, 2025 at Rolling Stone. To read the original in English, click here.
“We had a lot of fun – and you were explosive!” Paul McCartney To the crowd at the end of his Tuesday surprise show in New York City. The formerBeatlesmade a surprise show on Bowery Ballrooma worshiped rock bar that holds less than 600 people.
He was probably warming up to play the birthday of Saturday Night Live This weekend. But it was surprised a few hundred fans as shocked as lucky. No one woke up that day by imagining that he could wait for a show McCarntey. “I can’t believe we’re doing this here,” he said with a smile. “But we are. We are here. Doing this. ”
Everyone in the room was living an unforgettable night – but no one was having more fun than Paul. He always thrives in a smaller place, but he did Bowery look like a noise, like the Cavern Club where the Beatles They did their first shows in Liverpool. At first, when a fan shouted, “Billy Shears!” : Paul), the artist replied, “You are!”
McCartney He announced the show at noon on Tuesday (11), with the warning that the tickets were available only on site and in order of arrival. Fans caught the coats and literally ran through the streets of Manhattan – one of them said it was like seeing the opening chase in A Hard Day’s Nightexcept that instead of teenagers, they were crowds of middle-aged people running through the city streets.
Sixty years later, Paul It inspires the same type of hysteria-and if it depends on it, the story will be repeated on Wednesday (12), with another “edition” of the intimate show, in the same Bowery Ballroom.
How was Paul McCartney’s surprise show in NY
Hours before the place opened the doors at five o’clock in the afternoon, the sidewalk was full of fans, some of whom got a ticket on time (for the incredible cost benefit of $ 50) or just expected to have luck, with strangers discussing stories about Paul Or the crazy theories about which surprises and guests he could have kept.
But there were no special guests – just McCartneyfull of energy and juvenile vigor at the age of 82, with the magnificent band of four men he led in the last three decades, detonating almost two hours from one classic after another.
We had only one day of rehearsal yesterday. We usually rehearse more than that, but we just don’t care, “he told the crowd.
All night had that impulsive energy from “Suddenly I See You, Did I Tell You I Need You” [De repente eu te vejo, eu te disse que preciso de você?]as the Beatles in “GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE”. He started with “A Hard Day’s Night”then mixed successes – “Blackbird”, “Jet”, “Let it be”, “Maybe I’m Amazed” – With delights like “Mrs. Vanderbilt”.
Paul made a surprisingly warm “Come on to me”from the magnificent Egypt Station 2018, a choice that no one expected. The trio Hot City Horns joined jams as “GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-da” and the dusty groove of Wings “Letting go”.
The audience was crowded with young women, a fact that Paul He did not fail to notice, while they shouted and danced. It is a universally recognized fact that the musician gains superhuman powers for being in a room full of female energy. “Okay, let’s end this soon,” he said in his painted psychedelic piano. “Girls, give me a scream of Beatles. “The room exploded, while Paul I drank even the last drop of those shouts, admitting, “I can’t resist!”
Bowery Ballroom was also full of noisy fans asking him to sing songs from the solo catalog, like “CALICO SKIES” and “RAM ON”. Paul laughed out loud when a fan shouted for “Flying to My Home”: “There are always old people looking for deep cuts!” He said.
The artist told a great story about listening to the channel of Beatles in Sirius in his car and listen to a song he liked. “I made the driver increase the volume”, Paul marveled.
“He said it was a song called ‘Sweet Sweet Memories’ And I said, ‘I don’t remember that!’ “It’s a 1993 version of Off the Ground . “He said it was a side B of a Single on CD! They have B sides, CD singles? Maybe they have.”
See this photo on InstagramA publication shared by Paul McCartney (@paulmccartney)
He sat on the piano for a beautiful “My Valentine”for your wife, Nancyremembering how he wrote it on his first trip to Morocco. The presentation took place on the same day that the 60th anniversary of the wedding of Ringo Starr with Maureen Coxdeceased in 1994. (Paul did not mention, but perhaps that is why it seemed that Cox I was there in spirit to “Get Back”)
The high point? You mean, besides “Blackbird”? The jewel of White album 1968 has been at the center of live shows for almost 25 years, only Paul and your guitar. When he asked if those present at the scene had heard the story of how he wrote the song, everyone shouted yes, but he naturally shrugged.
“I’ll tell you anyway,” a moment Macca Beautifully typical. He remembered the arrival of Beatles To the US in February 1964, his shock seeing racism and his refusal to do a segregated show in Jacksonville, Florida. “We were just children,” he said McCartney. “I have older grandchildren than that now.”
But there was an even larger emotional watershed. To the piano, shortly after absorbing the “Beatles Scream” of the public, McCartney casually a rare presentation of “Now and then”the demo of John Lennon 1977 that he lovingly transformed the farewell single from Beatles.
To hear Paul sing “Now and then” In the foster city of his old friend was intensely exciting for him and also to the public. “John I had so much love for the city of New York, “he said.” We love you, John. Let’s applaud John!
Playing in New York often seems to evoke the presence of Lennon For him. Node Gardena few years ago, he surprised the crowd by saying, “This is for my friend John“, before casually played “A Day In The Life” For the first time on that tour.
But there was something especially intimate about “Now and then”. Lennon He wrote the song alone in New York, feeling away from old friends, dreaming of them and singing to them. But the thousands of people who heard this demo over the years, Paul It was the only one who really understood what the oldest friend was trying to express.
He spent years in a search to bring the companion’s unfinished music to life. So it was devastatingly powerful to hear Paul sing “Now and then” in the city where John He wrote it, bringing everything back home. It was a moment that seemed intensely private – as if we were spying both – but huge, for he summed up the whole painful story of his friendship in a presentation.
It was the American debut of “Now and then”. 61 years after the Beatles invaded Big Apple to the The Ed Sullivan Showin February 1964, Paul It made the same magic happen, on a winter night with snow. The emotional sense of urgency was deep at times like “Let Me Roll It” – one of the great audience grinders of the night – when he gave a little more intensity to the verse“I Want to Tell You, and Now’s the Time” [Eu quero te contar, e agora é a hora].
Even for the standards of Paulthe whole show was a cheerful explosion, full of spontaneous flowers like the joke “You were the blasts”, which seems to be new, with the chemistry of your united band: Wix Wickens on keyboards, Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray on guitars and the powerful ABE LABORIEL Jr. on the battery.
The last time McCartney played in the New York area, in Metlife Stadium In June 2022, it was the night before his 80th birthday. That night he sent everyone home with the four words that every fan of Paul McCartney He wants to hear: “Until next time.”
He ended the surprise show with the same words and made them sound like a statement of purpose. Now is the time, now and then, now and forever.
Paul McCartney’s surprise show setlist
“A Hard Day’s Night”
“Letting go”
“Got to Get You into My Life”
“Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady”
“My Valentine”
“Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five”
“Maybe I’m Amazed”
“I”ve just seen the face”
“From me to you”
“Mrs. Vanderbilt ”
“Blackbird”
“Come on to me”
“Jet”
“Ob-La-di, Ob-La-da”
“Get Back”
“Now and then”
“Lady Madonna”
“Let it be”
“Hey Jude”
BIS:
“Golden Slumbers”
“Carry That Weight”
“The End”
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Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
