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Paul McCartney “duets” with John Lennon on first night of new world tour

Clips were used from Peter Jackson's documentary 'Get Back' to give the impression of a duet between the pair

By Sam Moore

Paul McCartney performs live on stage in Washington. CREDIT: MPL Communications/MJ Kim
Paul McCartney performs live on stage in Washington. (Picture: MPL Communications/MJ Kim)

Paul McCartney has begun the North American leg of his world tour in Washington for his performance in two years.

During the gig he “performed” a duet of ‘I’ve Got a Feeling” with his late Beatles bandmate John Lennon with the help of some digital trickery.

Using clips from Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ documentary where the Beatles performed on the rooftop of their Apple Records offices in Savile Row, McCartney and Lennon got to perform together again.

McCartney told the audience about the footage which only features Lennon’s vocals: “Peter Jackson said ‘I can pull John’s voice out if you’d like me to.”

During the lengthy gig, McCartney performed 36 songs including Beatles classics such as ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Get Back’ and ‘Let it Be’.

He also performed several tracks from the Wings back catalogue including ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Band on the Run’ and ‘Let Me Roll It’ which featured prominently in the Paul Thomas Anderson film ‘Licorice Pizza’.

McCartney also brought out several deep cuts from his extensive discography including ‘She Came in Through The Bathroom Window’ from ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Getting Better’ which he has not performed live since 2003.

He also performed ‘Women and Wives’ from ‘McCartney III’ for the first time.

The Beatle ended the show draped in the Ukrainian flag in an expression of solidarity with the country currently in conflict with Russia.

McCartney’s tour is set to take him across America including cities such as Boston, Los Angeles and Baltimore.

The tour will run until 16 June with the final date taking place in New Jersey.

He will return to the UK this summer as a headliner at Glastonbury alongside Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar.

Other artists set to play Glastonbury include Diana Ross, Sam Fender, Haim, Pet Shop Boys and Wolf Alice.