As expected on Friday night (September 7th), Paul McCartney played a “secret” show at New York City’s Grand Central Station in celebration of the release of his latest album, Egypt Station. The show, which was broadcast on YouTube, saw the former-Beatle performing a 24-song set, including three songs from the new album, his first U.S. performance of the ‘Fab Four’s,’ “From Me To You,” on U.S. soil since 1964, as well as incorporating a horn section for Wings‘ 1975 classic, “Letting Go,” with the players performing within the crowd.
In addition to McCartney’s wife Nancy Shevell and grandson Arthur Donald, Variety reported that high-profile guests at the show included Sean Lennon, Meryl Streep, Jon Bon Jovi, Steve Buscemi, Chris Rock, Kendall Jenner, Amy Schumer, Jimmy Fallon, Kate Moss, Bobby Cannavale and Egypt Station producer, Greg Kurstin.
Unlike many of his peers who’ve been playing the same songs on the road for decades, Paul McCartney, who only began playing most of his Beatles hits in his late-40’s, finds something still incredibly unique about playing the group’s songs live: “Why does this feel so fresh?’ Y’know, I haven’t done it in a long time. But I realized the only time we ever did it was when we recorded it — the day we recorded it. That was it, as far as the Beatles were concerned, we’d given up touring then. So, we never got to that ever again. I never got to do ‘Hey Jude‘ live. And those songs are really good live. They need to be live.”
Paul McCartney’s Friday night setlist at NYC’s Grand Central Station:
“A Hard Day’s Night”
“Hi, Hi, Hi”
“Can’t Buy Me Love”
“Letting Go”
“I’ve Got A Feeling”
“Come On To Me”
“My Valentine”
“Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five”
“From Me To You”
“Love Me Do”
“FourFiveSeconds”
“Blackbird”
“Dance Tonight”
“Who Cares”
“I Saw Her Standing There”
“Fuh You”
“Back In The U.S.S.R.”
“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
“Birthday”
“Lady Madonna”
“Let It Be”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)”
“Helter Skelter”
“Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End”
Paul McCartney tour dates (subject to change):
September 17 – Quebec City, QC – The Videotron Centre
September 20 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
September 28 – Winnipeg, MB – Bell MTS Place
September 30 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
October 5, 12 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Music Festival
October 31 – Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo Dome
November 1 – Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo Dome
November 8 – Nagoya, Japan – Nagoya Dome
November 28 – Paris, France – U-Arena
November 30 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
December 3 – Krakow, Poland – Tauron Arena
December 5, 6 – Vienna, Austria – Vienna Stadhalle
December 12 – Liverpool, England – Echo Arena
December 14 – Glasgow, Scotland – SSE Hydro
December 16 – London, England – O2 Arena
May 27 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
May 30 – Greenville, SC – Bon Secours Wellness Arena
June 1 – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena
June 6 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center
June 11 – Moline, IL – TaxSlayer Center
