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During his first public performance since April 2024, Paul McCartney broke out the last Beatles song during a public rehearsal for his Got Back Tour, which will resume on October 1, 2024, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The former Beatle played a 16-song set during the rehearsal. While some songs were covers that he had performed before, such as “Twenty Flight Rock” and “San Francisco Bay Blues,” he played other songs that will likely be in the show on October 1. These include “Letting Go,” “A Hard Day's Night,” “Let ‘Em In,” “Let It Be,” and “Blackbird.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise was when the penultimate song, “Now and Then,” was performed. The song is dubbed as the “last” Beatles song and was released on November 2, 2023.
A video from @calicoradio on X, formerly Twitter, shows some of the performance. Videos of the Beatles are displayed on the screen as McCartney performs the song. Perhaps it will make its way into the setlist if they produced a video for it.
Paul McCartney, Now And Then, Montevideo 2024. Mira si la hace! 🥲 pic.twitter.com/i3Sgm5Yi06
— Calico Skies Radio | McCartney 👐🏻 (@calicoradio) October 1, 2024
Either way, it looks like McCartney may have some tricks up his sleeve for the latest leg of the Got Back Tour. He also performed “Women and Wives” from McCartney III during the rehearsal. The song has not been performed at a proper McCartney show since his May 17, 2022, show in Fort Worth, Texas.
What is the Beatles' “Now and Then”?
“Now and Then” is the “last” Beatles song and originated from a demo from the late John Lennon. The song was conceived years after the Beatles broke up, along with “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” The remaining Beatles at the time—McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison—recorded over the demos to release the two songs for the Beatles Anthology album.
They abandoned “Now and Then” before starting to work on it again years later. Thanks to technology commissioned by Get Back director Peter Jackson, they extracted and cleaned up Lennon's vocals from the demo.
The song was released as a double A-side single. The Beatles' last single was paired with the band's first, “Love Me Do.” McCartney and Giles Martin are credited as producers of it.
Paul McCartney 2024 Got Back Tour
The Got Back Tour originally started in 2022 with a North American leg. The initial run of shows culminated with a headlining set at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival.
In 2023, he resumed the tour with 18 shows across Australia, Mexico, and Brazil. After McCartney kicks off another leg of the tour starting in Uruguay, he will then travel to Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
Additionally, McCartney will return to Europe for the first time in years with shows in France, Spain, and England. The Got Back Tour is set to conclude on December 19, 2024, with a show at the O2 Arena.
Of course, McCartney will be joined by his legendary touring band. Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Paul “Wix” Wickens, and Abe Laboriel Jr. will all tour with him. They have been touring with him since the 2002 Driving World Tour. They have performed over 500 shows together.
