LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 18: Sir Paul McCartney performs at The O2 Arena during his ‘Got Back’ world tour on December 18, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
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There’s no way an 83-year-old man can make a marathon rock show look near-effortless, right?
Wrong. Paul McCartney can, of course.
Thursday night in Nashville, McCartney brought his Got Back tour to new concert hall The Pinnacle for a rare, intimate performance that spanned six decades of songs – and then some.
Children sang along to “Hey Jude.” Middle-aged fans pumped fists to “Jet.” And gray-haired onlookers swayed to “Blackbird.” Like most nights when he steps onstage, the performance showed once again that McCartney didn’t write songs for a single generation – he created the soundtrack of a lifetime.
McCartney’s one-night stop in Nashville came near the midpoint of a North American run that kicked off earlier this fall in Southern California. The tour continues through late November, wrapping with two nights at the United Center in Chicago. Unlike larger rooms on the tour – such as U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis and Coors Field in Denver – The Pinnacle reaches capacity at around 4,500 people, making it one of the smallest ticketed shows played by McCartney in recent memory.
And it was a long-awaited reunion between McCartney and Music City; Thursday marked his first Nashville show since headlining Bridgestone Arena in 2014.
“Well, hello, Nashville,” McCartney said early in the night. Noting the show’s no-technology policy (concertgoers locked cell phones, smart watches and other devices in Yondr pouches for the event), he continued, “I think we’re gonna have a little bit of fun in this room tonight. No phones.”
Paul McCartney In Nashville
After stepping onstage with a smile and wave, McCartney and his band kicked into the howling opening notes of “Help!,” a song that’s among the most familiar to Beatles fans, but new to his live show. McCartney introduced “Help!” to his setlist earlier this year, playing it live in full on this tour for the first time since 1965.
The show rolled on as McCartney played the role of time-traveling conductor, stopping at songs from the 1960s (such as “I’ve Just Seen A Face”), ‘70s (“Let ‘Em In”), ’80s (“Coming Up”) and into this century (2018’s “Come On To Me” and 2023’s Grammy Award-winning reconstructed Beatles number “Now & Then,”).
He played the hits, of course – is it a McCartney show without singing along to “Maybe I’m Amazed”? – but not without unearthing songs from less-traveled corners of his discography. Before “Love Me Do,” he took the audience back to 1958 for a stripped-down rendition of “In Spite Of All The Danger,” a song recorded by McCartney’s pre-Beatles band with John Lennon and George Harrison, called The Quarrymen. A few moments later, he gave a nod to his 1970 solo album McCartney by playing a homespun rendition of “Every Night.”
“It’s amazing being [at] this kind of show,” McCartney said before kicking into the kaleidoscopic “Being for The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!” He continued, “We’re so in this room together.”
Music City History
By playing Nashville, McCartney returns to a city with creative history that dates back five decades. In 1974, McCartney and his family retreated to a 133-acre farm in nearby Wilson County for six weeks, where he and Wings spent time rehearsing in the garage.
During the stay, McCartney wrote and recorded “Junior’s Farm,” a Wings single released later that year. According to Tennessean archives, his time in Nashville included visits with Johnny Cash and Chet Atkins, watching movies at the local drive-in cinema and crashing a performance from Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner.
(Original Caption) Lebanon, TENN:Paul McCartney and wife Linda, who have been living the life of country gentlefolk on a farm near Nashville, offer a toast to other “down home folks” as they prepare to end their five-week stay. Mccartney spent most of his stay rehearsing with his band “Wings” and jamming with other local musicians. 7/18/1974
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Got Back To The Hits
And while McCartney didn’t kick into “Junior’s Farm” on Thursday night, he and the band (including longtime members Wix Wickens, Rusty Anderson, Abe Laboriel Jr. and Brian Ray) nonetheless continued a tradition of expert showmanship. The group saluted Harrison with a singalong to “Something,” jammed to Jimi Hendrix’ “Foxy Lady” after a rowdy rendition of “Let Me Roll It” and channeled a voice-over with a video montage from Lennon during “I’ve Got A Feeling.”
The show reached its peak with McCartney rolling through a half-hour of songs that few artists could match – “Band On The Run,” “Get Back,” “Let It Be,” “Live and Let Die” and “Hey Jude.” Jogging between his piano and center stage, he led an extended chant of “na, na, na, na … hey, Jude” while onlookers held up signs quoting the song’s lyrics.
After a brief exit, he and the band returned for an encore, waving a pro-LGBTQ flag alongside the Tennessee state flag, American flag and United Kingdom flag. The encore included the topsy-turvy “Helter Skelter,” self-aware “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and a medley from Abbey Road that often closes McCartney’s shows: “Golden Slumbers,” “The Weight” and “The End.” The band harmonized the final line of the night, singing, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
The best part? After 30-plus songs, he still didn’t seem ready to leave.
Thanking the crowd before the encore, he said, “You’ve been a fantastic crowd here tonight. It’s been pretty hot and sweaty.”