Let it never be said that Paul McCartney doesn’t go the extra mile for his fans.
The 84-year-old rock icon proved that once again when he delighted fans in his hometown of Liverpool by making a surprise appearance that nobody saw coming — and brought a special guest along for the ride.
They Just Saw a Face
On Monday, July 20, tour guide Neil Morton was at work leading a group of tourists via bus on the renowned Magical Mystery Tour through Liverpool, visiting spots of historical significance to fans of The Beatles.
While stopped at a red light, Morton and the tourists looked out their windows and were greeted by a very familiar face, belonging to Sir Paul McCartney in the passenger seat of a vehicle with the window down.
A Bonus Beatle
As they quickly noticed, McCartney was not alone — Ringo Starr was with him, on a video call.
“I had pulled up at the traffic lights on Hope Street when who should I see – Sir Paul with Ringo on Facetime,” Morton recalled when interviewed by BBC.
“He waved to us, and everybody took photos,” Morton continued. “The passengers could not believe it.”
A Quick Sighting
According to Morton, the tour’s McCartney sighting concluded when the light changed.
“Nobody really got chance to speak with him,” he said.
A Hometown Return
As BBC reports, McCartney had returned to his hometown in order to honor actor Stephen Graham (“Adolescence,” “The Irishman”).
McCartney presented the actor with a companionship of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA); McCartney is one of the school’s co-founders, and has been known to regularly attend student graduation ceremonies.
Magical Mystery Tour
As Billboard points out, Liverpool’s Magical Mystery Tour has no official connection to The Beatles, and has not been sanctioned by the band.
Even so, the unofficial tour has become a favorite of Beatle fans who visit Liverpool, a two-hour drive throughout the city to visit the physical locations that fans only know from songs, including the actual Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane.
Other spots on the tour include the childhood homes of the four members and the famed Cavern Club, the subterranean nightclub where the Fab Four first built their following before catapulting to international fame.
A Return to His Roots
Liverpool has been on McCartney’s mind in recent months, the focus of his new album “The Boys of Dungeon Lane.”
Released in May, McCartney’s 20th studio album is a collection of songs inspired by his childhood in Liverpool.
For Beatles fans, the standout highlight on the album is the uptempo rocker “Home to Us,” which features McCartney and Starr sharing vocal duties.
“Ringo went round to the studio and drummed a bit. I said to [producer] Andrew [Watt], we should make a track and send it to him,” McCartney said of how the song came together during a fan album playback event at Abbey Road Studios back in May (via Consequence of Sound).
“So this song is done totally with Ringo in mind. In writing the song I’m talking about where we came from. In common with a lot of people, you come from nothing and you build yourself up. Ringo was from the Dingle, and that was well hard. He said he used to get mugged coming home, because he worked. Even though it was crazy, it was home to us,” McCartney added.
“I made the song around that idea and sent it to Ringo. He sent me back a version where he just added some lines to the chorus, so I thought, maybe he doesn’t like it. I rang him and he said he thought I only wanted him to sing one or two lines, and I said I’d love to hear him sing the whole thing,” he said. “So we took my first line, Ringo’s second line, and then we had a duet. We’d never done that before.”
