McCartney Performs 'Help!' Live For First Time Since 1965

On Sept. 26 at a last‑minute warmup at the 4,562‑seat Santa Barbara Bowl, Paul McCartney opened with the Beatles' "Help!" sung in full for the first time since Dec. 12, 1965. The two‑hour, sold‑out set mixed Beatles standards, Wings hits and solo material — including "Blackbird," "Let It Be," "Hey Jude" and "Live and Let Die" — and closed with an encore of "Helter Skelter" and the Abbey Road medley. The show used Yondr phone pouches to limit online footage and featured crowd moments such as a requested "Beatles scream" and a waving Pride banner. McCartney was accompanied by his long‑standing backing band (Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Paul "Wix" Wickens and Abe Laboriel Jr.), and commentators noted the emotional significance of reviving a song largely associated with John Lennon. The performance served as a rehearsal ahead of McCartney's Got Back North American tour, which begins Sept. 29 in Palm Springs/Palm Desert and will include roughly 20 stops in 2025.