With a surprising reunion with the Fab Four’s lone survivor, Paul McCartney concluded his Got Back tour.
Before the band’s incredible performance, McCartney invited former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr to the stage during his final performance at London’s O2 Arena on Friday.
When McCartney presented his lifelong friend in a video that was uploaded to X, the friend hugged him and said to the cheering audience, “I want to tell you, I’ve had a great night tonight.”
“Shall we rock?” Starr was questioned by McCartney.
The pair played beloved songs including “Helter Skelter” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
Starr talked candidly about his Beatle days last year.
“We all went mad at different times,” the musician stated in an interview with AARP The Magazine. You have no idea what it was like to be a member of the Beatles. It grew larger and more bizarre.
“After performing in clubs, we recorded a song called ‘Love Me Do.'” Nothing compares to it, our very first vinyl, my god. We pulled over when we learned that the BBC would be playing “Love Me Do” at 2:17, or whatever time it was. “Wow!” “Dude, we’re on the radio!”
After seeing the band play in a German nightclub with Pete Best on drums, Starr became a fan and joined them. Once Starr joined the band, he and the other members—McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison—formed a legendary partnership.
Reflecting on the band’s dynamics, Starr joked he “used to be a rock drummer” before his bandmates “ruined [his] whole career” by continuing to write songs for him. During his time in the Beatles, Starr sang lead on “Yellow Submarine,” “Act, Naturally,” “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “Octopus’s Garden.”
Lennon was gunned down Dec. 8, 1980, by a crazed fan. Harrison died of cancer in 2001. Starr said while the four were once as close as siblings in the early days, he and Paul have a close bond that continues.
“Paul loves me as much as I love him,” he said. “He’s the brother I never had. As an only child, suddenly I got three brothers.”
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