Paul McCartney still going strong at 83 in sold-out Pittsburgh show

The long and winding road of Sir Paul McCartney’s career brought him to Pittsburgh for a sold-out show Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

And what a road it’s been.

The concert, part of his Got Back Tour, spanned almost three hours — with several storytelling interludes — and included a deep dive into his Beatles catalog, as well as his time in Wings and his solo career.

“Why am I getting a feeling we’re going to have a lot of fun in this place tonight?” McCartney asked. “We got some old songs, some new songs and some in-between songs for you tonight.”

From opening the show with the Beatles’ “Help!” at 8:15 p.m. to wrapping it up with “The End” shortly before 11 p.m., the 83-year-old didn’t appear to be slowing down in a marathon set, although his voice, as should be expected, isn’t quite what it once was.

After “Help!” came the funky dance track “Coming Up,” with a quick blast of the “Peter Gunn” theme, before a Motown-tinged “Got to Get You Into My Life” and “Drive My Car,” with guitarist Rusty Anderson’s slide guitar solo.

“Oh, Pittsburgh. It’s great to be back here,” McCartney said after. “It’s been a while.”

It’s been more than 11 years to be precise, and he played familiar songs like Wings’ bluesy “Letting Go” and newer songs such as 2018’s “Come On To Me” — “if you don’t know it, too bad,” McCartney quipped.

With six songs down, McCartney removed his sports coat to whoops and yelps from the crowd, adding it would be “the only wardrobe change of the evening.”

After a switch from bass to guitar, McCartney and his band — Anderson, guitarist/bassist Brian Ray, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and keyboardist Wix Wickens, plus the Hot City Horns — dove into Wings’ “Let Me Roll It,” which ended with an outro of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady,” before an upbeat “Getting Better.” With a move to piano, McCartney whistled his way through the soft rock of Wings’ “Let ‘Em In.”

Paul McCartney plays a sold-out show at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/h8OVkODpR3

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) November 12, 2025

“My Valentine” was dedicated to his wife, Nancy, who McCartney said was in the audience, and he ended the song by making several heart gestures with his hands and body.

With green lights flaring, a driving “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five” led to a melodic “Maybe I’m Amazed” with some searing, raw vocals from McCartney. Before the folky “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” a slight hiccup led to a restart.

“We’ll try that again,” McCartney said. “At least it proves we’re live, doesn’t it?”

As the band moved to the front of the stage for a stripped-down trio of songs, McCartney gave a quick history of The Quarrymen, which featured McCartney and fellow future Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, before playing their Elvis Presley-tinged “In Spite of All the Danger.”

Wixens’ harmonica featured on “Love Me Do,” while McCartney switched to mandolin while Laboriel shimmied away, fittingly, during “Dance Tonight” — “That’s the choreography for the show. That’s it,” McCartney added.

The band left the stage, leaving McCartney by himself for a touching acoustic version of the Beatles’ “Blackbird.” Halfway through the song, the stage elevated about 40 feet in the air. McCartney then shared a story about how the Beatles refused to play a segregated show in Jacksonsville, Florida, before shifting gears to his love for Lennon with a stirring “Here Today.”

Nostalgia really kicked in hard, as the stage lowered and the band rejoined for “Now and Then,” the “last” Beatles song that came out in 2023 with the help of artificial intelligence, as video played of all four Beatles.

The diversity of McCartney’s music was evident, from the boogie woogie of “Lady Madonna” to the rocking, shout-along “Jet” to the circus-y “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”

McCartney next paid tribute to Harrison, as he played “Something” on an ukulele gifted to him by Harrison. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” had the crowd singing loudly, while “Band on the Run” started softly before escalating into a rocker. The driving drums of “Get Back” built up to release, followed by a cathartic “Let It Be.”

With a foreboding start to “Live and Let Die,” pyrotechnic and explosions accentuated the dramatic nature of the song.

Paul McCartney - Live and Let Die, Pittsburgh, Nov. 11, 2025 pic.twitter.com/DE7G4OqhPE

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) November 12, 2025

The main set closed with an uplifting, joyous “Hey Jude,” with plenty of crowd sing-along participation before the band took a bow and exited the stage. They returned minutes later, hoisting four giant flags representing the United States, the United Kingdom, Pennsylvania and LGBTQ+ pride.

The first song of the encore, “I’ve Got a Feeling,” had McCartney virtually dueting with a video of Lennon from their 1969 rooftop performance for a striking moment. “It lets me sing with John again,” McCartney said.

The psychedelic “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hard’s Club Band (Reprise)” came before the proto-metal heaviness of “Helter Skelter” with its accompanying frenetic light display.

McCartney closed with the trifecta of “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End,” the final tracks from 1969’s “Abbey Road” album.

In a career that spans eight decades, it doesn’t look like “The End” is anywhere near for McCartney.

Related

• Q&A: Blondshell on new deluxe album, singing with Weezer and more ahead of Pittsburgh show
• Q&A: Wolfgang Van Halen on Mammoth's new album 'The End' with Pittsburgh concert on the horizon
• 2025-26 Pittsburgh area concert calendar

Missing: With such a deep back catalog, inevitably there will be some omissions. Just a few of the big ones missing from Tuesday’s show: “Yesterday,” “Penny Lane,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Eight Days a Week,” “Day Tripper,” “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and “The Long and Winding Road.”

Most recent Pittsburgh show: McCartney’s last concert in Pittsburgh came on July 7, 2014, when he played 40 songs on his Out There! tour at Consol Energy Center.

Next up: McCartney’s tour visits KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Friday. This leg of the tour kicked off Sept. 29 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California, and runs through Nov. 25 at the United Center in Chicago. His Got Back tour actually began all the way back in 2022.