Paul McCartney first gained fame as one quarter of the Beatles, penning some of the legendary Liverpool foursome’s most covered hits such as “Eleanor Rigby” and Blackbird.” After a decade of chart domination, McCartney announced in April 1970 that he was officially flying solo. More than a year later, he landed atop the Billboard Hot 100 without his bandmates for the first time. Now 83, McCartney hasn’t left music behind, currently performing a mix of Beatles and solo hits on his North American tour. During a recent stop in California, the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer dusted off an old favorite from his Fab Four Days.
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Paul McCartney Launches U.S. Tour With This Beatles Hit
On Friday (Sept. 26), Paul McCartney kicked off his 2025 U.S. tour with a last-minute warmup gig at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California. And the sold-out crowd of less than 5,000 people got quite the surprise when he began playing the Beatles’ 1965 chart-topper “Help!” at the start of the show.
Although fans had to put away their phones in Yondr pouches for the night, one crowd-goer managed to capture a 30-second sound bite of the performance, which you can watch below.
Paul McCartney singing HELP! Soundcheck at Santa Barbara Bowl, September 25 2025
— DIÁRIO DOS BEATLES (@Diario_Beatles) September 26, 2025
*video All1Song/Youtube*👇https://t.co/PA699c53OQ pic.twitter.com/OD0vL44m32
It was certainly an occasion worth recording, as McCartney hasn’t played “Help!” in full since the Beatles’ December 1965 show at the Capitol Theater in Cardiff, Wales. He last played a section of the song on the final leg of his 1989-90 Flowers in the Dirt tour, as part of a medley of John Lennon songs such as “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Give Peace a Chance.”
[RELATED: The Rock Star Who (Almost) Helped Facilitate a John Lennon and Paul McCartney Reunion]
The Song Was a True Cry For “Help”
Credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the lyrics to “Help!” are quite literal: Help me get my feet back on the ground/Won’t you please, please, help me?
Not much room for nuance there. In a 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon explained that “Help!” was a straightforward response to the stress he was feeling over the Beatles’ rapidly rising fame. “It was my fat Elvis period … I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for help,” he said.
Featured image by: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
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