Paul McCartney has sent a video message to his Australian fans ahead of his first dates there since 2017. The Got Back tour arrives at Adelaide’s Entertainment Centre for the opening show on Wednesday (18).
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McCartney is joined in the clip by his band – Paul “Wix’”Wickens, Abe Laboriel Jr., Rusty Anderson, and Brian Ray – in rehearsals for the dates. They continue in Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast. The tour then moves on to Mexico and Brazil.
Wednesday’s show marks the band’s return to the road after a gap of some 16 months, since they headlined at Glastonbury Festival in June 2022 with an epic show of close to three hours. Since then, a busy year has included the launch of the Eyes of the Storm photographic exhibit and accompanying book and the arrival of Paul’s A Life In Lyrics podcast.
He has also contributed to Dolly Parton’s remake of “Let It Be,” also featuring Ringo Starr; played bass on “Bite Your Head Off,” from the Rolling Stones’ much-vaunted studio return Hackney Diamonds, out this Friday (20); and written Ringo’s “Feeling The Sunlight,” featured on Starr’s new Rewind Forward EP.
In other news, the restored double-decker tour bus used by McCartney and Wings on their 1972 tour is about to make a final trip around London before being sold in the U.S. After being restored, the WNO 481 double-decker was on show at the Classic Motor Show at Birmingham’s NEC last year.
At an event hosted hosted by former Beatles fan club secretary Freda Kelly tomorrow (17), the bus will tour Beatles and McCartney landmarks in London, visiting the Hard Rock Cafe in Piccadilly Circus to pick up competition winners before stopping at Old Park Lane, Abbey Road Studios, Paul’s house, and Marylebone Station, among other addresses. It will then be auctioned at the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville between November 16-18, where it is expected to raise $200,000-$300,000.