Ringo Starr Joins Paul McCartney on Stage in Surprise Live Appearance
The remaining Beatles reunited Saturday night for an impromptu special moment as Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr was invited on stage to play alongside his former bandmate Paul McCartney.
In the final U.S. stop of the Freshen Up World Tour in Los Angeles, 58,000 dedicated fans of the longtime Beatles singer, were on hand at Dodger Stadium were pleasantly surprised at the very rare reunion by the legendary Beatles greats. Decades have passed since the last time the two played together on stage. Starr joined McCartney during the second song of the encore. They stunned those in attendance by singing their renditions of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Helter Skelter.”
McCartney, 77, and Starr, 79, are the only remaining members of the “Fab Four.” The last time they played together was in the mid-’60s so this was something that wasn’t preconceived or rehearsed; it was just two old friends reuniting to create a magical moment for themselves and every longtime Beatles fan. It was quite fitting to have Ringo Starr join Paul McCartney on stage as the majority of the songs on McCartney’s set list were some of the Beatles’ biggest hits. After the Beatles broke up in 1970, McCartney formed the band Wings in 1971 that produced many hits, including “Band on the Run” and “Let ‘Em In,” both of which were played Saturday night.
The Freshen Up tour kicked off last September 2018 in Canada and took McCartney along with his band to 13 countries worldwide. McCartney’s band includes many notable players, including Rusty Anderson (backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Brian Ray (backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass), Paul Wickens (backing vocals, keyboards, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bongos, percussion, harmonica, accordion), and Abe Laboriel, Jr. (backing vocals, drums, percussion).
Ringo Starr is set to kick off a short U.S. summer tour starting on August 3 in Highland Park, Illinois. The tour will carry him throughout major cities across America, concluding on September 1 in Los Angeles.
Set List: A Hard Day’s Night (The Beatles song), Junior’s Farm (Wings song), Can’t Buy Me Love (The Beatles song), Letting Go (Wings song), Who Cares, Got to Get You Into My Life (The Beatles song), Come On to Me, Let Me Roll It (Wings song), I’ve Got a Feeling (The Beatles song), Let ‘Em In (Wings song), My Valentine, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings song), Maybe I’m Amazed, I’ve Just Seen a Face (The Beatles song), In Spite of All the Danger (The Quarrymen song), From Me to You (The Beatles song), Dance Tonight, Love Me Do (The Beatles song), Blackbird (The Beatles song), Here Today, Queenie Eye, Lady Madonna (The Beatles song), Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles song), Fuh You, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles song), Something (The Beatles song), Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles song), Band on the Run (Wings song), Back in the U.S.S.R. (The Beatles song), Let It Be (The Beatles song), Live and Let Die (Wings song), Hey Jude (The Beatles song), Encore: Birthday (The Beatles song), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (The Beatles song) (with Ringo Starr) Helter Skelter (The Beatles song) (with Ringo Starr), Golden Slumbers (The Beatles song), Carry That Weight (The Beatles song), The End (The Beatles song) (with Joe Walsh)