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Paul McCartney did a second surprise show in NYC tonight. Some reviews & news stories of last night's show
But no video, sadly - cell phones were not allowed.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/paul-mccartney-new-york-bowery-ballroom-review-1235264544/
“We had a blast — and you were the blasters!” Paul McCartney told the crowd at the end of his surprise Tuesday show in New York City. McCartney played a spontaneous gig at the Bowery Ballroom, a beloved rock bar on the Lower East Side that holds only 575 people. He was presumably warming up to play the Saturday Night Live anniversary this weekend. But he blew the minds of a few hundred shocked but lucky fans, none of whom woke up that day imagining they might be in store for a McCartney show. “I can’t believe we’re here doing this,” he said with a grin. “But we are. We are here. Doing this.”
Everybody in the room was having the night of our lives — but nobody was having more fun than Paul. He always thrives in a smaller venue, but he made Bowery feel like a cellar full of noise, like the Cavern Club where the Beatles played their early Liverpool gigs. Early on, when a fan yelled, “Billy Shears!” Paul replied, “You are!”
McCartney just announced the gig at noon on Tuesday, with the warning that tickets were available only at the venue — first come, first serve. Fans were grabbing coats and literally running through the streets of lower Manhattan — one fan said it was like seeing the opening chase in A Hard Day’s Night, except instead of teenagers, it was mobs of middle-aged people dashing through the city streets. Sixty years later, Paul inspires that same kind of hysteria. See how they run. (He added to the surprise on Wednesday morning by announcing a second show at the same venue.)
In the hours before the venue opened its doors at 5 p.m., the sidewalk was full of fans, some of whom snagged a ticket in time ($50 — talk about value for money) or just hoped to get lucky, with strangers trading our Paul stories or our crazed theories about what surprises or guests he might have in store. But there were no special guests — just Paul, all boyish energy and vigor at 82, with the magnificent four-man band he’s fronted for the past three decades, ripping through nearly two hours of one classic after another. “We just had one day’s rehearsal, yesterday,” he told the crowd. “We usually rehearse more than that, but we just don’t care.”
-snip-
Everybody in the room was having the night of our lives — but nobody was having more fun than Paul. He always thrives in a smaller venue, but he made Bowery feel like a cellar full of noise, like the Cavern Club where the Beatles played their early Liverpool gigs. Early on, when a fan yelled, “Billy Shears!” Paul replied, “You are!”
McCartney just announced the gig at noon on Tuesday, with the warning that tickets were available only at the venue — first come, first serve. Fans were grabbing coats and literally running through the streets of lower Manhattan — one fan said it was like seeing the opening chase in A Hard Day’s Night, except instead of teenagers, it was mobs of middle-aged people dashing through the city streets. Sixty years later, Paul inspires that same kind of hysteria. See how they run. (He added to the surprise on Wednesday morning by announcing a second show at the same venue.)
In the hours before the venue opened its doors at 5 p.m., the sidewalk was full of fans, some of whom snagged a ticket in time ($50 — talk about value for money) or just hoped to get lucky, with strangers trading our Paul stories or our crazed theories about what surprises or guests he might have in store. But there were no special guests — just Paul, all boyish energy and vigor at 82, with the magnificent four-man band he’s fronted for the past three decades, ripping through nearly two hours of one classic after another. “We just had one day’s rehearsal, yesterday,” he told the crowd. “We usually rehearse more than that, but we just don’t care.”
-snip-
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/paul-mccartney-live-review-bowery-ballroom/
“We were just children,” Paul McCartney mused, around the midpoint of his secret Bowery Ballroom show last night. He was telling of the Beatles’ earliest years in America, when they famously refused to play a segregated show in 1964 in Jacksonville. “I’ve got grandchildren older than that.” He chuckled. “It’s true,” he added dryly. Then he adjusted his acoustic guitar and played “Blackbird.”
Last night’s surprise show was, by most speculative audience accounts, a glorified dress rehearsal for Macca’s performance that weekend as part of the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special. No album announcement, no new songs—although he did offer a piano-led rendition of the Grammy-award-winning Lennon demo, “Now and Then,” recently cleaned up and offered to the world as the “final Beatles song.”
Instead, he offered a career-spanning, 20-song McCartney’s Greatest Hits set fit for the O2 arena but inside the intimate Bowery Ballroom, max capacity 575 people. It was among the most touchingly normal miracles I’ve ever experienced. When he divided the crowd into “just the fellas” and “just the girls” singalongs for the “Hey Jude” “na-na-nahs,” you could hear nearly every individual voice. When he scatted back his “hey jude-ah jude-ah JUDEs,” I was close enough that it felt for three surreal seconds like performing alongside him.
-snip-
We were fantastic, he told us. What a crowd we were. (”He’s 82,” whispered Rowan, to no one.) “Some of us have to get some sleep, you know,” McCartney said, after “Let It Be.” But he didn’t look like an old man in need of sleep. He looked like Paul McCartney. Forever returning for another curtain call, another formal bow before the crowd, a man soaking in the energy emitted by fans like a cat in the sun.
Last night’s surprise show was, by most speculative audience accounts, a glorified dress rehearsal for Macca’s performance that weekend as part of the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special. No album announcement, no new songs—although he did offer a piano-led rendition of the Grammy-award-winning Lennon demo, “Now and Then,” recently cleaned up and offered to the world as the “final Beatles song.”
Instead, he offered a career-spanning, 20-song McCartney’s Greatest Hits set fit for the O2 arena but inside the intimate Bowery Ballroom, max capacity 575 people. It was among the most touchingly normal miracles I’ve ever experienced. When he divided the crowd into “just the fellas” and “just the girls” singalongs for the “Hey Jude” “na-na-nahs,” you could hear nearly every individual voice. When he scatted back his “hey jude-ah jude-ah JUDEs,” I was close enough that it felt for three surreal seconds like performing alongside him.
-snip-
We were fantastic, he told us. What a crowd we were. (”He’s 82,” whispered Rowan, to no one.) “Some of us have to get some sleep, you know,” McCartney said, after “Let It Be.” But he didn’t look like an old man in need of sleep. He looked like Paul McCartney. Forever returning for another curtain call, another formal bow before the crowd, a man soaking in the energy emitted by fans like a cat in the sun.
https://consequence.net/2025/02/paul-mccartney-bowery-ballroom-nyc-concert-review/
-snip-
But McCartney and his band absolutely ripped it for two hours straight. They went wild over a blues-y two-chord groove on second track “Letting Go,” and followed it up with a vibrant rendition of “Got to Get You into My Life.” I was legitimately awestruck watching them play “Maybe I’m Amazed,” a power ballad with a simple ascending-descending structure that McCartney and his band absolutely exploded through when running it live.
-snip-
The Beatles cuts were great, but perhaps surprisingly, the Wings tracks popped off the hardest. “Jet,” what an absolutely ridiculous, incredible song. Everyone shouting “Jet” in unison is one thing, but the funky little chord-and-rhythm changes illuminate McCartney’s compositional genius. Earlier cut “Let Me Roll It” could easily have been mistaken for a Beatles song (or a cover, at that), but McCartney’s towering blues and patient guitar work made it an anthemic highlight.
Due to the set’s limited and impromptu nature, it was unlikely that we’d get one of McCartney’s signature three-hour shows filled with as many Beatles classics as they could fit. While it was pretty much all bangers, his catalogue is so vast, and he’s been responsible for some of the most beloved standards in music (I would have loved a “We Can Work It Out” nod, or even an earlier cut like “Eight Days a Week”). Still, getting “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude” back to back is about as much as you can ask for — though “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” could have probably been cut.
Throughout the show, it was not lost on any of us how unique it was to see such a seismic star in such a pared-down fashion. McCartney’s band seemed invigorated being able to connect with a crowd much more intimately than their usual arena exercises. And overall, McCartney looked like he was having the time of his life playing a rock club again. It was almost like he was reliving those early days in Hamburg, when The Beatles had just started out and had no lines of fans, no backing tracks, and no stadium-sized echo bellowing back at them. It was about raw songs and raw connection, something every one of us felt at the Bowery Ballroom. But hey, that’s just casual ol’ Paul McCartney for you.
But McCartney and his band absolutely ripped it for two hours straight. They went wild over a blues-y two-chord groove on second track “Letting Go,” and followed it up with a vibrant rendition of “Got to Get You into My Life.” I was legitimately awestruck watching them play “Maybe I’m Amazed,” a power ballad with a simple ascending-descending structure that McCartney and his band absolutely exploded through when running it live.
-snip-
The Beatles cuts were great, but perhaps surprisingly, the Wings tracks popped off the hardest. “Jet,” what an absolutely ridiculous, incredible song. Everyone shouting “Jet” in unison is one thing, but the funky little chord-and-rhythm changes illuminate McCartney’s compositional genius. Earlier cut “Let Me Roll It” could easily have been mistaken for a Beatles song (or a cover, at that), but McCartney’s towering blues and patient guitar work made it an anthemic highlight.
Due to the set’s limited and impromptu nature, it was unlikely that we’d get one of McCartney’s signature three-hour shows filled with as many Beatles classics as they could fit. While it was pretty much all bangers, his catalogue is so vast, and he’s been responsible for some of the most beloved standards in music (I would have loved a “We Can Work It Out” nod, or even an earlier cut like “Eight Days a Week”). Still, getting “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude” back to back is about as much as you can ask for — though “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” could have probably been cut.
Throughout the show, it was not lost on any of us how unique it was to see such a seismic star in such a pared-down fashion. McCartney’s band seemed invigorated being able to connect with a crowd much more intimately than their usual arena exercises. And overall, McCartney looked like he was having the time of his life playing a rock club again. It was almost like he was reliving those early days in Hamburg, when The Beatles had just started out and had no lines of fans, no backing tracks, and no stadium-sized echo bellowing back at them. It was about raw songs and raw connection, something every one of us felt at the Bowery Ballroom. But hey, that’s just casual ol’ Paul McCartney for you.
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