Paul McCartney is set to debut the final Beatles song live (Picture: Harry Durrant/Getty Images)
Sir Paul McCartney is back on the road and his new tour appears to include a performance of the last ever Beatles song, created with AI.
His reveal comes after fellow Beatle, Ringo Starr, was forced to scrap concerts and ‘get rest’ after becoming unwell while performing in New York.
Sir Paul, 82, posted a montage of his tour preparation on Instagram, which included a clip from the Now and Then music on the screen behind him.
The track features vocals from John Lennon, discovered on an old cassette tape and ‘extricated’ with artificial intelligence to create the song.
It was a half-written, seemingly lost song from 1977 which Sir Paul and Ringo worked together to revive, along with guitar tracks from George Harrison, who died in 2001.
Ahead of the release, Sir Paul had to clear up that nothing had been ‘artificially or synthetically’ created after some confusion around the track.
It was recorded using AI technology and a lost John Lennon demo (Picture: George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images)
The song was released late last year (Picture: Fred Duval/FilmMagic)
The star explained how they simply ‘cleaned up some existing recordings’ in a ‘process which has gone on for years.’
It was said the song was originally scrapped because there were missing verses and Harrison dubbed it ‘rubbish’ during previous recording attempts.
Now and Then was well received upon its release last year, despite initial AI concerns, and it seems the former Beatle plans to debut it live for the first time.
Until now it has never been performed on stage, presumably with Lennon’s vocals on a backing track as Sir Paul sings and plays guitar live.
Other iconic Beatles songs featured in the short video were I’ve Got A Feeling, Helter Skelter, and Carry That Weight.
‘From the rehearsal room… to a city near you ????,’ the Blackbird icon wrote. ‘Here’s a taste of what’s to come, as we get ready to rock and roll on the 2024 GOT BACK tour!’
The Got Back tour kicks off in Montevideo, Uruguay, on October 1 before heading through South America and on to Spain, France, and the UK.
Sir Paul will play two gigs at the Manchester Co-op Live venue on December 14 and 15 before wrapping the tour at London’s O2 Arena on December 18 and 19.
The dates caused a little friction with Liverpudlian fans as the legend was accused of ‘snubbing’ his hometown with the sparse dates.
Now and Then will feature on the Got Back Tour (Picture: Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
However, some fans argued that Manchester isn’t too far from Liverpool and worthy of a gig given it was in 2011 when he last performed in the city.
These will be his first UK show of any kind since Glastonbury four years ago and his first time in London since playing The O2 in 2018.
Ahead of the tour, …read more
Source:: Metro
