Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.<\/p>\n
Get back, Jojo. Pop icon Paul McCartney brought his Got Back tour to Montreal for the first of two nights at a packed Bell Centre on Monday, taking fans on a magical, mysterious tour through decades of music history during which he has been an enduring and evolving presence.<\/p>\n
And the former Beatle is not slowing down. McCartney is contributing a virtually silent song called Bonus Track to the upcoming compilation album Is This What We Want?, protesting against copyright theft by artificial intelligence companies \u2014 you can\u2019t get more current than that.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s got a new book coming out, Wings, revisiting his personal and artistic transition to a post-Fab Four career in music in the early 1970s. It\u2019s hard to imagine, but there was a time where McCartney wondered what he would do without the band that first made him famous. More than 50 years later, he\u2019s still going strong.<\/p>\n
He is the subject of Morgan Neville\u2019s new documentary Man On the Run, which recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. And he\u2019s got a yet-untitled solo album coming in 2026, as does his old pal Ringo Starr.<\/p>\n
Paul McCartney is the subject of Morgan Neville\u2019s new documentary Man On the Run. Dave Sidaway \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Super-fan Scott Fowler, 35, was seeing McCartney for the 15th time. What keeps him coming back: \u201cGood sound quality, good quality concert, good music,\u201d he said. \u201cHe has so many songs, such a big catalog.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fowler was with his fianc\u00e9e of two days, Jen Halligan, who was celebrating her 29th birthday at her very first McCartney concert.<\/p>\n
\u201cScott and his family love The Beatles and love Paul McCartney,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s the founding father of everyone I listen to today. He\u2019s the teacher of every artist I love.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Vandernoot, 67, and his partner Delphine, are visiting Montreal from the French-speaking Caribbean island of Saint Barth\u00e9lemy, where McCartney frequently vacations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often see him around but we\u2019ve never caught him live,\u201d Vandernoot said. \u201cWe came to see how he does it at 83, to keep singing. He\u2019s a living legend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul McCartney played hit after hit in a nearly three-hour concert at the Bell Centre in Montreal Nov. 17, 2025.<\/p>\n
McCartney brought the legend to life Monday night, playing hit after hit in a nearly three-hour concert that had a few lulls but for the most part felt like one big nostalgic love-in. There were Beatles favourites galore, beginning with opener Help!, followed soon after by Drive My Car and Getting Better.<\/p>\n
Exuding impressive energy, he bounced from bass to guitar to piano, backed by his four-member band of more than 20 years plus the three-piece Hot City Horns. McCartney\u2019s voice isn\u2019t what it used to be, but it wasn\u2019t half bad, getting him through Michelle and a solo performance of Blackbird, the latter of which he explained was written in tribute to the civil rights movement. Lady Madonna was a stomper and Ob-la-di Ob-la-da got everyone dancing.<\/p>\n
There were Wings classics including a triumphant Band On the Run, Jet, Let \u2018Em In and, in the home stretch, a pyrotechnics-punctuated Live And Let Die. And there were McCartney solo numbers like Let Me Roll It, Maybe I\u2019m Amazed and, from 2018 (the last time he played Montreal<\/a>) \u2014 a song \u201cmaybe you haven\u2019t heard but too bad I\u2019m gonna play anyway,\u201d he teased \u2014 Come On To Me.<\/p>\n But drawing the biggest cheers throughout the evening were all things Beatles. And McCartney didn\u2019t resist. Old footage and photos of his former bandmates were projected on the screen behind him.<\/p>\n Paul McCartney has a yet-untitled solo album coming in 2026. Dave Sidaway \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n There were tributes to George Harrison and John Lennon, including the \u201clast Beatles song,\u201d Now and Then, an updated Lennon demo from the \u201870s re-released in 2023 with overdubbed vocals from McCartney and Starr and an old guitar track from Harrison.<\/p>\n He brought the house down with an epic, extended rendition of Hey Jude, leading the crowd in a delirious \u201cNaaa, naa, naa, na-na-na naaa,\u201d singalong.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you so much, Montreal; we knew we were going to have a party here tonight,\u201d McCartney said as the show wound down.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly one thing remains to be said, which is we\u2019ll see you next time.\u201d<\/p>\n Spotted in the audience on the way out were a couple of other music giants, Elvis Costello and Diana Krall.<\/p>\n Asked for his reaction on the show as the two sat down to wait out the rush, Costello replied, \u201cIt\u2019s beyond words, isn\u2019t it, really? Beautiful, beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so emotional,\u201d Krall added.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the thing,\u201d Costello concurred. \u201cReally\u00a0emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n