Inside Paul McCartney's Ultra-Intimate Surprise Show at N.Y.C.'s Bowery Ballroom: A Night of Rock, Romance and Screams
Music icon Paul McCartney treated a lucky crowd of 500 to a two-hour set that spanned 60-years of hits — for just $50 a ticket!
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Paul McCartney performs a surprise show at New York City's Bowery Ballroom on February 11, 2025. Photo:
MPL Communications Ltd/ Photographer: MJ Kim
“I can’t believe we’re here doing this!” a delighted Paul McCartney repeatedly said from the stage of New York’s Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night. That went double for the exceedingly lucky few who crammed into the 500-capacity venue. Not only was this a rare chance to see the rock icon get back to where he once belonged in a room roughly the size of the Hamburg clubs where his career began. But the ultra-intimate gig was announced with almost no advance warning at noon that same day. Tickets were offered exclusively at the box office for $50 cash. First come, first serve and one per person.
New Yorkers braved the bitter cold and descended on the Bowery, where a mood of giddy hysteria prevailed like a lost scene from A Hard Day’s Night. Lots of laughing, running, waving, yelling, hugging and amped-up anticipation. Some got teary, but the prevailing facial expression conveyed an unmistakable look of “Is this really happening?” Many had abruptly abandoned their desks and offices after seeing the news flash across Macca’s social media. Fifty-six years after disrupting business in Central London with an unscheduled midday performance on a rooftop, the man still has it.
The show sold out within 30 minutes, but that didn’t stop the crowd from lingering in the deep freeze a while longer. Some hoped for a last-minute release of tickets — or even the announcement of a second show — while others took a more proactive approach. One fan (Not this writer. No, seriously.) even withdrew $1,500 in cash in hopes of persuading someone to part with their ticket.
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Paul McCartney arrives at New York City's Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 11, 2025.MPL Communications Ltd/ Photographer: MJ Kim
It's doubtful that anyone was moved by the money. The audience contained far more die-hards than dignitaries. When McCartney descended the narrow steps to the stage, the outpouring of affection in the confined space seemed to threaten the structural integrity of the building. The spry 82-year-old looked simultaneously boyish and stately in his fitted black denim jacket, jeans, and Chelsea boots, with his trademark shag — the source of so much hand-wringing 60 years ago — skimming the collar of his immaculate white shirt.
He was joined by the act you’ve known for all these years: guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist-bassist Brian Ray, keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. They’ve been playing together since 2002, or approximately twice as long as the Beatles were an active unit. For this date, they were joined by the Hot City Horns trio, who added an extra punch to songs like “Got to Get You Into My Life” and “Lady Madonna.”
“We’ve only had one rehearsal,” McCartney admitted soon after opening with “A Hard Day's Night” and “Letting Go” — the latter a nod to the just-announced 50th anniversary special edition half-speed master of Wings’ Venus and Mars due out in March. “Usually we rehearse a little more than that.” Even so, they were clearly still tour-tight. The last show they played was Dec. 19, when they wrapped their 23-date European trek at London’s 20,000 seat O2 arena. Watching them adjust to a significantly smaller stage at the Bowery Ballroom was uniquely charming, since it didn’t take a body-language expert to tell that they seemed ever-so-slightly cramped.
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Paul McCartney performs a surprise show at New York City's Bowery Ballroom on February 11, 2025.MPL Communications Ltd/ Photographer: MJ Kim
The close quarters meant that McCartney could actually joke around with individual members of the audience, a rarity since he graduated from lunchtime sets at Liverpool’s Cavern Club six decades earlier. The rowdy crowd took advantage of the proximity by being unusually chatty. These shouts ranged from expressions of love (“I love you, too.”) to one overly refreshed guy who echoed every line of McCartney’s stage banter by bellowing “Yeah!” (“You’ll say ‘Yeah!’ to anything!”) Some even shouted irreverent requests for the most obscure entries in the Macca canon. “There’s always old folks looking for deep cuts!” he replies, before admitting that sometimes he hears tracks played on the Sirius Beatles channel that even he doesn't remember. A request for 1980's proto-techno “Temporary Secretary," draws a big laugh from McCartney. “Can we work that one in?” he asks his band. (No dice, sadly.)
The set itself was a streamlined version of the one they’ve perfected over the last two decades on the road, spanning from 1963’s “From Me to You” (the first “official” No. 1 McCartney ever wrote) to 2023’s “Now and Then,” the much-touted “Last Beatles Song,” which recently earned the Grammy for best rock performance. New releases traditionally don’t go down well at concerts by “legacy artists,” but the American debut of what may very well be the final musical collaboration between McCartney and John Lennon — on the 51st anniversary, coincidentally, of the Beatles’ first American concert— drew an intense response from the crowd. McCartney took a moment to pay tribute to his fallen friend in the adopted hometown where he’d lived and died. “John had so much love for New York City,” he said. “He loved living here. Let’s hear it for John — we love you, John!”
Another 21st century tune — one of only three in the setlist — served as an additional emotional highlight of the evening. McCartney offered a delicate reading of “My Valentine,” the 2012 ballad written for wife Nancy Shevell during one of their first vacations together in rainy Morocco. Though the song selection didn’t vary drastically from his recent tour, the proximity to Valentine’s Day seemed to add extra heft to love songs like “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Maybe I’m Amazed.”
MPL Communications Ltd/ Photographer: MJ Kim
Oher titles pulled from the sixty-year span ranged from relative deep-cuts like “Got to Get You Into My Life” and the Band on the Run closer “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five,” to sing-alongs like “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Mrs. Vanderbilt,” epic anthems like “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude” and flat out rockers like “Get Back” and “Jet.”
Acoustic numbers were especially impactful in the scaled-down space. A solo run-through of “Blackbird” momentarily transformed the ballroom into a living room as McCartney stood downstage, lit by a single spotlight. He recounted the origins of the song as an message to those fighting for Civil Rights before going on to detail an incident on the Beatles’ first US tour in 1964 when they refused to play a concert in Jacksonville, Florida after learning that the venue was segregated. The practice was unfamiliar to the Fabs and left them shocked. (The show was ultimately integrated.) “We were so innocent,” he said while marveling at their tender ages at the time. “I’ve now got grandchildren older than we were!”
Watching him perform from a dozen feet away, it’s tempting to study his face and try to get a read on what’s possibly going through his mind as he sings these Beatles classics. The closest guess can best be articulated as whatever the opposite of “re-traumatized” is. These songs appear to have a restorative effect on McCartney, as if he draws from the same well of youthful energy and happy memories that all Beatle fans do upon hearing their music. It’s nice to think he does, at least. No wonder he never stops. Neither have his fans, who seem to grow younger every year.
Late in the show, a lone woman’s passionate shriek activates something in McCartney. “Hey, that was a Beatle scream!” he remarks with a grin. “OK, let’s go. Let’s hear your Beatle screams.” What could have descended into corny schtick becomes strangely moving when everyone lets loose with an ear-splitting wail. It’s as if we’re part of a continuum dating back to the earliest days of Beatlemania, participating in a time-honored tradition. The combination of that man and that sound is just as electrifying as it ever was. McCartney nods his approval. “I can’t resist!”
The band close with their equally-traditional closer, the finale of Abbey Road — complete with show-stopping three-way guitar duel. “That was a blast,” McCartney says after taking a bow. “And you were the blasters!”
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MPL Communications Ltd/ Photographer: MJ Kim
As the dazed crowd wandered out into the snow, a question hung in the cold air: could this be the start of something? A tantalizing tease of something more to come? A new album or perhaps a tour? Maybe even a string of surprise club dates? Eagle-eyed fans notice that a concert originally scheduled for the following night at the Bowery Ballroom has been moved to a different venue at the last minute, and the concert merch just says “February” rather than an exact date. Long before anything is official, fans begin lining up outside the venue at 8 AM...just in case. (A second show is eventually announced at 10 a.m.. It sells out in less than 30 minutes.)
Even if it’s just a one-off (or two-off), it was more than enough. For the lucky few who woke up Tuesday morning without the faintest notion that they’d spend dinnertime being serenaded by Sir Paul McCartney, it was a welcome reminder that you never know when a little magic will come your way.
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