The tour blog from Paul’s US publicist Steve Martin continues, as Steve reports from Columbus, Pittsburg, Buffalo, Montreal, Hamilton and Chicago.
In this fourth instalment, we pick up where Part 3 left off as the GOT BACK tour rolls on through North America.
10 years nearly to the day since his last Columbus appearance, Paul brought Got Back 2025 to the Nationwide Arena to prove that lightning can strike twice—or three times if you count Paul’s first visit to the Arch City back in 2005.
As local NPR affiliate WOUB recounted, the second the opening pleas of “Help!” rang out, the capacity crowd was “electrified, hit by a force elemental and shared, one that crackled through the entirety of the packed arena. This, dear reader, is what the legendary, madness-making, red-hot embrace of Beatlemania feels like.”
The good people of Columbus proved more than up to the challenge of matching Paul’s boundless energy for the nearly three hours that followed, a truly multi-generational mix ranging from grandparents to toddlers alike sporting Lonely Hearts Club uniforms to 20-something year-old women in the front row, tears and cheers flowing for the duration.
And as always, there were plenty of highlights to maintain that electrification: “Coming Up” marked the Hot City Horns’ first Columbus appearance alongside Paul, the added flavor they brought to “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “Letting Go,” “Jet” and more delighting and further energizing the already supercharged masses. “My Valentine” provided a sweetly received romantic interlude, the warmth it spread throughout the crowd kicking back up to a white hot intensity with a rollicking “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five.” “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” added a mesmerizing psychedelic spectacle to the spectrum, while “Blackbird,” “Here Today” and “Something” proved as always that Paul is equally captivating armed only with an acoustic guitar or ukulele as he is with a full backing band and horn section.
In what may well have been a ripple effect from Nashville, it seemed that relatively few among the Columbus crowd were watching via their smartphones. With the notable exception of the sea of lights that greeted a sublime “Let It Be,” this was an audience rapt and in the moment, fully experiencing every moment, from the fireballs and concussions of “Live and Let Die” to every “na na na na” of “Hey Jude” and beyond. Kudos to Columbus for making the absolute most of Paul’s three visits over three decades.
You could feel the anticipation in the chilly Pittsburgh air for Paul’s first visit since the Out There tour rolled through in July 2014. The energy only built in momentum and intensity as every seat in the PPG Paints Arena filled, reaching a first of many crescendos at 8:15 when Paul hit the stage to begin the latest chapter in a legacy that stretches back to The Beatles’ 1961 set at the Civic Arena.
Pittsburgh was more than up for the evening’s initial barrage of rave-ups, offering up raucous Steel City receptions to “Drive My Car,” “Come on to Me” and “Let Me Roll It.” as the night flew by, a transcendent “Maybe I’m Amazed,” playful renditions of “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Love Me Do,” and heartstring-tugging versions of “Here Today” and “Now and Then” took each and every audience member on their own personal journey — one that ran the gamut of emotions, evoking memories while creating new ones in the moment.
“Something” hit particularly hard with the Pittsburgh crowd, moving Paul to add a little extra to this customary thanks to George for blessing us all with the gift of that song that perpetually keeps giving. “When I met George,” Paul said, “We were just a couple scruffs on the bus. Years later, he turned out to be a genius!”
If you’d thought at the time that the show had filled its quota of peaks, the final third of the 30+ song setlist would handily disabuse you of that notion, or as the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE so accurately put it, “If you walked in for the last hour, you saw one of the best things you’ve ever seen in your life… Paul’s voice was getting even stronger with every song.”
True that. From an epic “Band on the Run” through a ripping “Get Back” whose musical pyrotechnics were seen and raised by a literally combusting “Live and Let Die,” through a triumphant encore that kicked off with the Pittsburgh debut of Paul and John’s virtual duet on “I’ve Got a Feeling” and scaled final peaks that including the frenzied three-way guitar duel of “The End.” All in all, it was another unforgettable entry in a historic ledger of Paul’s Pittsburgh performances — one that undoubtedly had all in attendance feeling what the POST-GAZETTE put into words:
“So, how? How does Paul McCartney rock so hard at 83?!
Who knows?
It’s magic. And, somehow, in 2025, we had the great privilege to revel in it.”
Got Back 2025’s rolling into the KeyBank Center signaled the end of a 10-year stretch between Paul McCartney shows in New York State’s second-most populous city. And the upstanding citizens of Buffalo would celebrate the occasion in style, giving their downstate neighbors a run for their money in the audience enthusiasm stakes.
As Paul strode onstage nearly exactly at 8:15pm to deafening fanfare, it was clear that this would be another historic evening for the thousands fortunate enough to score tickets. A spirited 1-2 combo of “Help!” and “Coming Up” drove the point home instantly, while “Getting Better” and “Let ‘Em In” provided two more early highlights that, like the two opening numbers, were not played at Paul’s 2015 show at the First Niagara Center. However “Maybe I’m Amazed,” which was played at Paul’s previous Buffalo visit, put a massive explanation point on tonight’s already raucous crowd reaction.
Paul, the band and—in yet another first time playing alongside Paul in yet another US city—the Hot City Horns shared 2+ hours off the charts energy, guiding the nearly 20,000 faithful through an impressive showing on the singalong history lessons of “In Spite of All the Danger” and “Love Me Do” to effusive approval of Abe’s choreography display during “Dance Tonight” to trying in vain to hold back the waterworks during “Here Today” and “Now and Then”—all the while remaining “as solid a band as McCartney could ask for” per the BUFFALO NEWS.
As the voices of every single person in the house joined in a climactic “Hey Jude” and rallied once more for a revelatory encore, DIGITAL JOURNAL delivered a “Verdict” that read in part:
“He had the Buffalo audience with him every step of the way, which consisted of multi-generational fans of all age groups. He proved that he is still at the top of his game musically, even at the ripe age of 83.
There was a feeling of nostalgia and sheer euphoria in the venue, and the crowd was well aware that they were in the presence of a true living music legend. His show in Buffalo, New York, garnered two giant thumbs up.”