Review: Paul McCartney, timeless as ever, takes fans on epic journey of nearly seven decades of music

Paul McCartney still gets by with a little help from his friends. That message was clear during the penultimate night of his Got Back Tour at United Center on Monday as the beloved Beatle paired as much rousing joy in 35 songs as he did solemn tributes to his fallen comrades.

One of the most emotional moments came with a moving take on the Fab Four’s “I’ve Got a Feeling” that spliced in time-stamped video of John Lennon singing for a real-time duet with Macca. “I love doing that one; it allows me to sing with John again,” McCartney shared. George Harrison was also memorialized on the tender “Something” as McCartney performed it on a ukulele his late bandmate gave to him.

Of course, McCartney also packed his epic, nearly three-hour memory trip with unmistakable staples from his solo career and Wings catalog, helped by his nimble longtime backing band, Paul “Wix” Wickens on keyboards, Brian Ray on bass/guitar, Rusty Anderson on guitar and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums, as well as a supporting horns trio known as Hot City Horns.

Highlights were the pensive salvo “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “My Valentine,” which McCartney wrote for wife Nancy Shevell, present in the crowd. The most bombastic was the James Bond crown jewel “Live and Let Die” alongside fireballs and fireworks so loud even McCartney had to plug his ears at one point.

All of it was a testament to one of the greatest living songbooks of all time. But it was McCartney revisiting the Beatles pantheon with the spirits of those gone that took on extra weight and made you wonder “what if.” If Lennon had not been assassinated in 1980 and Harrison had not lost his battle with cancer in 2001, would this be how the four would have evolved in modern times, supporting each other’s solo works and popping up for guest spots? For a few hours, it was fun to wonder.

Now 83 and one of only two surviving Beatles members with Ringo Starr (who also performed in Chicago in September — how lucky are we?), McCartney has judiciously taken up the mantle of ensuring the group’s legacy lives on. There’s been assistance from others as well, the latest being Sam Mendes’ four-part Beatles biopic in 2028. Still, McCartney took a few moments on Monday night to deep dive into that history in only the way he could tell it.

Midway through the set, he pulled out the first song he recorded with Lennon and Harrison, 1958’s dormant “In Spite of All the Danger,” recorded under the banner of The Quarrymen before the group became the Beatles. “I want to take you back to a long time ago across the Atlantic Ocean to a little place called Liverpool,” McCartney said to introduce the song, a stripped-back, early rock ’n’ roll jingle with all the characteristic “whoa oh ohs.” “These young lads wanted to put a group together and make a record … and I think they did quite well for themselves.”

It was followed by another story, when those same lads (along with Starr) traveled from Liverpool to London’s Abbey Road Studios to work with George Martin for the first time. The recollection set the stage for a sweet serenade of “Love Me Do.”

If it wasn’t momentous enough that McCartney started the show by performing “Help!,” a Beatles classic he hadn’t performed in 35 years before this tour, he also explored the group’s final recorded song “Now and Then” (released in 2023 utilizing an unfinished demo of Lennon’s), again conjuring thoughts of “what if.”

The band’s historically relevant markers also came through, most compellingly with a story of “Blackbird” that McCartney shared ahead of a solo acoustic delivery of the Civil Rights psalm.

“I’m really proud of having written that song in the ’60s,” McCartney declared. “As news stories from America were coming to England about Civil Rights, we wanted to try and write a song that, if it ever got back to people going through those struggles, it might give them a bit of hope.” McCartney added, at the time, the Beatles were set to play a show in Jacksonville, Florida, only to be told it would be a segregated concert. Refusing to play unless it was amended, the four got the promoter to step back on the policy. “Years later, I met a Black woman who was at that show,” McCartney said. “She told me, ‘I never sat with white people before. We were all just there screaming at the Beatles.’”

The cultural magnitude of what the band has meant — and continues to mean — to legions of people is undeniable. It was palpable Monday night as fans came out in droves to the United Center (many dressed in colorful Sgt. Pepper’s regalia), even in spite of the outrageous ticket prices on the resale market. As McCartney took a moment to read through dozens of handmade posterboard signs, he zeroed in on one from a gentleman that shared he had seen the legend 144 times. “That’s a bit obsessive, isn’t it?” McCartney chided.

Beatlemania also hit another high when Macca took off his jacket after warming up, and fans giddily yelped not unlike 61 years ago when he first played Chicago. “That is the only wardrobe change of the whole evening,” he joked.

But it was the reaction to “Hey Jude” that stuck out most as a communal moment. Hearing the chorus of “na na na nanana” chanted with a little help from tens of thousands of friends will never get old, a treasure as timeless as the music itself.

Paul McCartney returns to the United Center Tuesday.

Paul McCartney Set List for Nov. 24, 2025, performance at United Center

Help! (The Beatles)

Coming Up

Got to Get You Into My Life (The Beatles)

Drive My Car (The Beatles)

Letting Go (Wings)

Come On to Me

Let Me Roll It (Wings)

Getting Better (The Beatles)

Let ‘Em In (Wings)

My Valentine

Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings)

Maybe I’m Amazed

I’ve Just Seen a Face (The Beatles)

In Spite of All the Danger (The Quarrymen)

Love Me Do (The Beatles)

Dance Tonight

Blackbird (The Beatles)

Here Today

Now and Then (The Beatles)

Lady Madonna (The Beatles)

Jet (Wings)

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles)

Something (The Beatles)

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles)

Band on the Run (Wings)

Get Back (The Beatles)

Let It Be (The Beatles)

Live and Let Die (Wings)

Hey Jude (The Beatles)

Encore:

I’ve Got a Feeling (The Beatles)

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles)

Helter Skelter (The Beatles)

Golden Slumbers (The Beatles)

Carry That Weight (The Beatles)

The End (The Beatles)