Paul McCartney's "Got Back" Tour Comes to a Spectacular "The End"

December 19, marked the final show of Paul McCartney’s “Got Back” tour. It was a 2.5-year tour with 59 shows across 13 countries.

I was lucky to be present at the two shows in Paris on December 4th and 5th: two sold-out shows in an arena for 44,000 fans created an electrifying atmosphere.

Paul was very very good on stage. His voice was strong. The setlist was amazing. It seems that he didn’t try to make a big deal out of himself, but on the contrary, tried was very grounded. He didn’t speak a lot on stage and acted very very naturally. For instance, he didn’t pretend to be “fluent” in French with his fans, but instead, he made it very obvious that he was reading from the Teleprompter and was struggling, sometimes saying “This is hard”. He pleased the French audience by singing “Michelle”, displaying the landmarks of Paris on a huge screen behind him.

His family was with him in the audience: his wife Nancy, and his daughters Mary and Stella. On the second Parisian show, Peter Jackson was in the audience. Paul thanked him for coming up with the idea and handling the implementation behind Paul’s singing in a duet with John during the performance of “I’ve Got a Feeling”.

December 19 was the final show and it was in London. My brother was lucky to be present on the first night in London. The show was amazing and he surprised the British audience with the performance of “Wonderful Christmastime” with a choir.

Ringo Starr is in London

However, the last night was even more special. On December 11 there was Ringo Starr’s private gathering celebrating his upcoming album “Look Up” in the “Third Man Records” store in London. David Gilmour, Jools Holland, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Bob Geldof, Gyles Martin, and Melanie C, among others, were present. That quickly raised a question of whether he was going to perform on stage with Paul since he was in London. It didn’t happen on the first night of December 18th.

Paul’s Lost Bass

The other expectation was Paul bringing his “lost” Hofner bass on stage. Paul's original Beatles bass guitar, which he had bought in 1961, was stolen in October 1972. He had another one, which he had bought in 1963, which became his main bass in many of the Beatles’ recordings. Paul couldn’t find his stolen bass, so he used his second one to play the Hofner. For 50 years, Paul McCartney hasn’t played his original bass guitar.

In 2018, The Lost Bass project was created to find any information about the whereabouts of the guitar. It could raise significant media attention, so much so that it appeared in the news. As a result, a lady named Cathy Murphy remembered that she had an old guitar in the attic, which she got through her late husband’s family. She checked it and it looked very similar to Paul’s. She gave it to the people involved in the search for authentication. It indeed turned out to be Paul's original bass!

Paul sent her a note, thanking her for reuniting him with his bass and invited her to the concert in London.

It hinted that he perhaps could play the guitar on the show.

A Starr-studded night

On the first London show on December 18, there was neither an appearance by Ringo nor the lost bass played. My brother said “Hi” to Giles Martin and Mary McCartney. But before the second show on December 19th, lots of pictures started appearing from the audience. Besides Paul’s family people saw Ringo and Ronnie Wood and Olivia Harrison.

Among the famous guests were George Clooney, Dua Lipa, Martin Freeman, Judy Dench, and Brian Cox. They were all sitting among regular fans and who were taking pictures with them.

The Grand Finale

Ronnie came on stage to play “Get Back”. And here it is! The original 1961 Hofner bass, was returned to Paul and restored into working condition after more than 50 years!

And the grand surprise, Ringo Starr joins on stage, and they play “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)” and “Helter Skelter”!

This was a very very special night. The whole tour was amazing. Very happy for everybody who had the chance to see the shows. After each show, Paul would say “See you next time!” or “À la prochaine” as he said in France.

Whether he’s planning an upcoming tour or just saying that we won’t know until he tells us. But what we know which is pretty clear at the moment is that Paul is working on a new album that is almost ready. It seems like he put it on hold to continue his tour, but now that it’s over, he will probably go back to the studio soon, finish the album, and maybe tour again to support the album. We can only hope that will be so. I think this is something that he wants and we should be prepared.