In Santa Barbara, Paul McCartney warms up before getting back

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SANTA BARBARA — “In this next song,” said Paul McCartney, “we’d like you to sing along.”

Oh, this was the one?

About an hour into his concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Friday-which felt like a huge backyard venue for the former Beatle-Paul McCartney already had the entire crowd singing along to many of his most famous songs, including “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “Love Me Do,” “Jet,” “Getting Better,” “Lady Madonna,” “Let Me Roll It,” and “Got to Get You Into My Life.”

But for Sir Paul, even (or especially) at age 83, there’s always a way to take an audience higher.

As the keyboardist played the song’s quirky and memorable riff, Paul McCartney and his band launched into a lively and upbeat version of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” that immediately got the crowd dancing and celebrating the simple joys of life.

Friday’s concert sold out quickly and served as a preview for the next phase of Paul McCartney’s ‘Got Back’ world tour. The tour originally started in 2022, paused for nine months, and will continue Monday night in Palm Desert.

While Paul McCartney usually plays massive arenas and stadiums, this concert was held in a much smaller, 4,500-seat outdoor amphitheater. To create a more personal experience, attendees were asked to lock their phones away upon entering. Although a few cameras were filming the performance, the reason wasn’t announced.

After removing his jacket, he joked about it being a simpler show than his 2022 performance at SoFi Stadium. Back then, he played around 36 songs in two and a half hours. This time, on Friday, the concert was shorter – about an hour and 45 minutes with roughly 24 songs, and it didn’t include some of his hits like “Maybe I’m Amazed” or “Band on the Run.”

Music

We’ve looked at Paul McCartney’s career since the Beatles – covering everything from his early independent work, his time with Linda and Wings, and his many collaborations with artists ranging from Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson to Rihanna and Kanye West.

The beauty of the intimate setting was that you could truly appreciate the details of McCartney and his band’s performance: the gentle, folk-style harmonies in “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” the energetic rhythm of “Get Back,” and the raw, slightly messy energy of a surprisingly gritty “Helter Skelter.”

Then again, that assumes that tracking those details is why anybody turned up in Santa Barbara.

Since the popular 2021 documentary “Get Back,” Paul McCartney has largely focused on revisiting his past. This fall, he’ll release a book about his time with Wings and a more comprehensive version of the Beatles’ “Anthology” collection. Next year will bring a documentary about Wings, directed by Morgan Neville, and in 2028, director Sam Mendes plans to release four separate films, each focusing on a different Beatle, with Paul Mescal portraying McCartney.

It’s easy for a longtime fan to get caught up in what they *think* they know about an artist, making it hard to truly experience them in person. Instead of letting a live performance create new memories, our minds sometimes cling to the existing myth – especially when we’ve paid a lot to be there.

You have to admire McCartney-he had a bit of stubble on Friday-because even though everyone in the audience was already ready to enjoy themselves, he performed with the spontaneity of an artist making choices in the moment.

Okay, so the show started *strong*. He kicked things off with a really energetic version of The Beatles’ “Help!” – apparently, he hasn’t played that live since 1990! Then, he went into “Coming Up,” one of his more unusual songs, and it was awesome because he threw in a little bit of the theme from “Peter Gunn” by Henry Mancini. It totally worked, honestly!

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He started with a playful rendition of “Love Me Do” and then playfully asked the female fans for a loud “Beatles scream,” which he seemed to enjoy. He joked about how difficult it would be to perform with all the noise.

Jet had a confident, almost arrogant vibe, and “I’ve Got a Feeling” moved with a cool, seductive energy. “Live and Let Die” was delightfully over-the-top and exactly as campy as you’d expect.

Paul McCartney shared heartwarming stories about encounters with Jimi Hendrix and a dream about his mother that sparked the song “Let It Be.” He also recounted a funny mishap during a performance of “Blackbird” – a song with a tricky guitar part – while Meryl Streep was in the audience. With his wife Nancy present, he performed “My Valentine,” a sentimental piano ballad that, while lovely, might have left other listeners wishing for a more upbeat tune like “Junior’s Farm” or “Drive My Car.”

But then what was that choice if not a commitment to the circumstances of the moment?

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2025-09-28 00:31