Paul McCartney Honors John Lennon With Emotional Virtual Duet as He Launches His Got Back Tour

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Paul McCartney opened the latest chapter of his Got Back Tour with a deeply nostalgic tribute to his late Beatles bandmate John Lennon, bringing Lennon back to the stage in a way that gave the concert an unmistakably emotional edge.

At the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California, on Friday, September 26, McCartney performed “I’ve Got a Feeling” alongside a projection of Lennon taken from Peter Jackson’s 2021 Disney+ documentary The Beatles: Get Back. Using Lennon’s original vocals and footage, the performance recreated a duet between two musicians whose partnership helped define popular music.

McCartney, 83, is set to begin the North American leg of his tour on Monday, September 29, in Palm Desert, California. The Santa Barbara performance served as a warm-up for the tour.

A Lennon tribute woven throughout the concert

 

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The tribute to Lennon began even before the virtual duet.

McCartney opened the show with the Beatles classic “Help!”, performing the song live for the first time since 1990. The choice carried particular significance given Lennon’s role as its co-writer and original performer.

The setlist continued to draw heavily from the Beatles catalog, with McCartney performing “Blackbird,” “Love Me Do,” “Lady Madonna” and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”

He also revisited material from his post-Beatles career with Wings, including “Jet,” “Let Me Roll It” and “Live and Let Die.”

For the encore, McCartney continued moving between different chapters of his musical history. He performed “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “Helter Skelter,” before closing with “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End” from Abbey Road.

Together, the songs created a set that connected McCartney’s Beatles years with his decades-long solo and Wings career.

McCartney shares a glimpse of the special night

After the Santa Barbara concert, McCartney shared photographs from the evening on Instagram on Monday, September 29.

“Amazing night in Santa Barbara on Friday! Notice anything missing from these pictures? 📸,” he wrote, pointing out that there were no cell phones visible among the audience.

He then marked the beginning of the next stage of his tour, writing that “Got Back 2025 takes flight in North America tonight” before signing off with a message to fans in Palm Desert.

The moment also offered a glimpse at how McCartney continues to bring Beatles history into his modern performances. Rather than simply recreating old concerts, the virtual appearance allowed Lennon’s archival footage and vocals to become part of a live performance decades after his death.

19 shows across 16 cities

Paul McCartney in London in December 2024.Credit : Jo Hale/Redferns

Following the Santa Barbara show, McCartney’s Got Back Tour is scheduled to travel across North America for 19 concerts in 16 cities.

The tour includes stops in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Denver, New Orleans and Montreal, before concluding with two performances in Chicago.

The concert series brings together songs spanning more than six decades of McCartney’s career, from his Beatles material to his work with Wings and his solo catalog.

As described in the announcement for the tour, the performances feature songs including “Hey Jude,” “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run” and “Let It Be,” alongside many other songs that have become part of McCartney’s enduring musical legacy.

McCartney continues to revisit Beatles history

The Santa Barbara concert is only the latest in a series of major appearances for McCartney in 2025.

In February, he performed at the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special, where he sang “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End.”

Just days earlier, he had also played three sold-out surprise shows at New York’s Bowery Ballroom.

But the appearance with Lennon at the Santa Barbara Bowl carried a different kind of weight. By combining McCartney’s live performance with footage and vocals recorded by Lennon decades earlier, the concert created a rare moment in which two members of the Beatles could once again appear together onstage.

For McCartney, it was another way to keep the music — and the memory of his longtime bandmate — at the heart of his performances.