Even at the age of 82, Sir Paul McCartney has a work rate that would put many men half his age to shame.
The ex-Beatle has only just wrapped up his mammoth two year Got Back tour, which finished up with two nights a piece in Manchester and London’s O2. After such a physically demanding undertaking, the thoughts of most octogenarians would be turning towards pottering about in the garden or spending more time with the grandkids. Not Paul, whose mind is already on a new album.
The news came via a Q&A with fans on his official website over the weekend. One fan asked if he had any resolutions for 2025, to which Macca replied: "Here's one: finish an album! I've been working on a lot of songs and have had to put it to the side because of the tour. So, I'm hoping to get back into that and finish up a lot of these songs. So, how's about that? 'My New Year's resolution is to finish a new album!' How about that for a teaser? You can do it, Paul!"
He hasn’t made a new record since 2020’s McCartney III, although there was an ‘Imagined’ version of the same record that came out the following year, which included remixes, covers and features from an array of other artists including Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age, Beck and Phoebe Bridgers.
McCartney’s date at the O2 last Thursday was notable for an onstage reunion with his old bandmate Ringo Starr – the first time the two surviving Beatles have performed together in five years. They played the reprise version of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Helter Skelter, and predictably brought the house down.
Ronnie Wood turned up to play on Get Back, with Macca wheeling out a Hofner 500/1 bass he hasn’t played for 50 years since it was stolen. The instrument – which went missing from a van in Ladbroke Grove in 1972 - turned up last year in a loft in Hastings, with McCartney reputedly paying a six figure sum for its return.
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