NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 10: Sir Paul McCartney performs at Times Square on October 10, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
Sir Paul McCartney announces first UK shows since headlining Glastonbury
The tour dates mark Sir Paul McCartney’s first live shows in the UK since his headlining set at Glastonbury in June 2022, where he became the festival’s oldest solo headliner.
Sir Paul McCartney has announced his first UK tour dates in six years, with The Beatles star back on stage just before Christmas.
His Got Back tour will stop in Manchester and London, in what will be his first UK tour dates since 2018, and first live show of any kind in the UK since headlining Glastonbury two years ago.
“I’m excited to be ending my year and 2024 tour dates in the UK. It’s always such a special feeling to play shows on our home soil,” Sir Paul said.
“It’s going to be an amazing end to the year. Let’s get set to party. I can’t wait to see you.”
His Got Back show includes music from throughout his career, spanning the Beatles and Wings as well as his solo material.
He also announced dates for shows in France and Spain, having previously unveiled upcoming shows in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru this October.
During his two-hour headlining set at Glastonbury in June 2022, where he became the festival’s oldest solo headliner, Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl made surprise appearances.
He launched his Got Back tour in 2022, having completed 16 shows across the US before his Glastonbury appearance.
In 2023 he performed 18 shows throughout Australia, Mexico and
A home town appearance “cannot be ruled out” for Sir Paul McCartney’s Got Back tour, it has been claimed.
It comes as the former Beatle announced his first UK tour dates since 2018, with shows in Manchester and London but currently not Liverpool.
The long-running Got Back Tour, which sees the star playing hits from across his career, will play at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on 14 and 15 December.
Paul Parry, Liverpool Beatles Museum manager, said Sir Paul has always “stayed very close” to Liverpool and told fans “anything could happen” over a possible Liverpool date.
When asked why he thinks the singer, who turns 82 on Tuesday, has not included his home town of Liverpool, Mr Parry said: “It’s whether or not there were dates available at the time to fit in with the tour schedule in Liverpool, and the other thing is, it’s Manchester, its 30, 40 miles away, it’s not too far.
“I think maybe what he has tried to do is meet everyone in the middle.”
Mr Parry said: “Doing two days there [Manchester], he is going to be able to perform to 46,000 people so in terms of keeping the fans happy, that’s the way to get to as many fans as possible.”
Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena has a capacity of 11,000 and the Co-Op Live Arena can hold up to 23,500.
Earlier this month Taylor Swift played three back-to-back gigs at Anfield Stadium to crowds of more than 55,000.
From the Beatles’ debut single Love Me Do, to Wings’ Band On The Run, and solo hits like Coming Up and Dance Tonight, Sir Paul will also play at London’s O2 Arena on 18 and 19 December.
Mr Parry added: “McCartney has always stayed very close to Liverpool , he’s involved with LIPA, he’s frequently come back to Liverpool, he’s played the Cavern a couple of times so I think we’ve done very well in that respect.”
The tour kicked off in April 2022 and has so far made more than £158m ($200m) at the box office.
was the youngest of four siblings, born after his father settled in the area from Sierra Leone after World War Two and met his Ghanaian wife in Liverpool.
Featuring in the second leg of the 1981 European Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich, Mr Gayle later went on to represent the likes of Birmingham City, Sunderland, Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers.
He said getting the opportunity to play for his boyhood club was a “great feeling” for him and his family.
“It was brilliant and even more so when I came home and I saw the joy and the happiness that it had brought to people from our area, from our community.
“For the first time in a long time the community was being recognised for something positive.”
Throughout his playing career, he was subjected to racial abuse and has since become one of the country’s most dedicated activists, working to see racism eradicated from the game.
“I’ve always been outspoken when things are wrong or unjust. That’s just something that goes with being a scouser,” he said.
“We will challenge the things that are wrong, we will challenge the things that are set up to benefit us but end up hindering us.
“We’ve been on the end of injustice for a more than thousand years now, it’s not something that just surfaced last week.”
