Thursday, December 19 will be a date recorded in the history books as Ringo Starr joined Paul McCartney on stage. They performed in front of thousands of Beatlemaniacs at the O2 Arena in London, England. Starr appeared on stage to the delight of The Beatles fans and played "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" and "Helter Skelter" alongside McCartney. This was McCartney's last show of his "Got Back" tour.
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McCartney introduced his former Beatle bandmate as the "one and only Ringo Starr." The crowd, of course, was shocked and cheered nonstop as the Beatles drummer joined McCartney. At the same time, stage technicians brought a drum set for Starr to play. McCartney asked Starr, "Should we rock?" to which Starr agreed. Then, McCartney instructed Starr to "get on the kit, lad."
The pair went on to play the two classics from their albums "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "The Beatles," also known as "The White Album." While Starr did play the drums, he was joined by Abe Laboriel Jr., McCartney's drummer. Once the songs were over, Starr told the crowd, "Love you all." McCartney then said "We love you all" to Ringo Starr.
Ringo Starr was not the only legendary musician who joined McCartney at the O2 arena. Earlier in the night, Ronnie Wood, guitarist of The Rolling Stones since 1975, joined McCartney. They played "Get Back," from The Beatles' album, "Let It Be." McCartney also played with his original bass for the first time in over 50 years.
A Beatles Legacy
The night before, McCartney shared some anecdotes with the O2 Arena audience. He talked about how The Beatles refused to play a "segregated" show in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964.
"We didn't quite sort of understand it until we went there and we were playing a place called Jacksonville in the South," McCartney said, according to the Daily Mail. "And the promoters said, 'Ok tonight you are playing to a segregated audience.' And we said, 'What are you talking about?'"
The Beatles then refused to play the gig unless it was "integrated." Given the magnitude of The Beatles, the promoters agreed, and The Beatles played in front of an integrated audience, which meant a lot at the time.
"Just the other day I got a text from this girl who was there at the time, she was a black girl and she was sitting with some white kids," McCartney said. "And she said, 'I had never sat with white people before.' Imagine that, but she said, 'I loved it because we were all just Beatle fans screaming and it didn't matter'."
