Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr hope you enjoyed the show.
The surviving Beatles reunited on stage Thursday night at McCartney's I'm back on tour finale in London to perform two of the band's most emblematic songs.
As McCartney, 82, welcomed his surprise guest – “the powerful, the only one, Ringo Starr” – thousands of fans filled the O2 Arena with prolonged applause. Starr, 84, flashed her trademark peace sign and then McCartney asked, “Should we rock?”
“I just rock,” Starr joked before assuming his position on the drums.
The former bandmates joined McCartney’s band for a performance of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise),” then capped off their mini-set with “Helter Skelter.” (Starr joined McCartney for the same two songs when she appeared at the “Maybe I'm Amazed” singer's concert.) sold-out show at Dodger Stadium in 2019.)
“I had a great night and I love you all,” Starr he told the loving crowd when he made his exit on Thursday. “Thanks to this man.”
But that wasn't the only surprise of the night. At the beginning of the show, McCartney had introduced his audience to another old friend: his original bass, which was stolen half a century ago and made his way back to its rightful owner in February.
“It sounds like a bass,” McCartney commented as he played the recovered instrument for the first time in 50 years. “And what's more, we have a special guest for you: Rolling Stone's Ronnie Wood!”
The two embraced before beginning to perform the Beatles' 1969 single “Get Back,” which Starr previously performed with Wood and McCartney at the same London venue in 2018.
“There's a connection between the bassist and the drummer, you know,” Starr said. The times in September when remembering that moment. “You're both the end of everything.”
“Paul is the man and remains the most magical bassist I know,” he said.
Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario and Mikael Wood contributed to this report.
