Fans snapped up tickets to one of the most intimate shows McCartney has ever played in Los Angeles. They got a night they will never forget.
Paul McCartney, seen here during soundcheck, played the first of two nights at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, March 27, 2026, performing to about 1,200 fans in a show many times smaller than his usual tours do.
He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. Turns out it’s startling, even when you know that he’s coming, to suddenly find yourself this close to a living legend like, one of the biggest stars in the rock and roll firmament in his more than six decades in the Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist.in Inglewood for about 70,000 fans, which – thinks, does math – was about 58 times the 1,200 at Friday and Saturday’s shows. Paul McCartneys performs at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, March 27, 2026. The venue holds just 1,200 people, making this one of the most intimate shows McCartney has ever played in Los Angeles. He returns on Saturday, March 28 for a second and final show at the Fonda. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. Paul McCartney arrives at the Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on Friday, March 27, 2026, before the first of two concerts there this weekend. He returns on Saturday, March 28 for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. Paul McCartney played the first of two nights at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, March 27, 2026, performing to about 1,200 fans in a show many times smaller than his usual tours do. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. Paul McCartney arrives at the Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on Friday, March 27, 2026, before the first of two concerts there this weekend. He returns on Saturday, March 28 for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. Paul McCartney arrives at the Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on Friday, March 27, 2026, before the first of two concerts there this weekend. He returns on Saturday, March 28 for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. He returns on Saturday, March 28, for the second and final show. Paul McCartneys performs at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, March 27, 2026. The venue holds just 1,200 people, making this one of the most intimate shows McCartney has ever played in Los Angeles. He returns on Saturday, March 28 for a second and final show at the Fonda. The Beatles’ “Help!” kicked off the show at 8:30 p.m. sharp, McCartney standing centerstage with his trademark Höfner bass, and for 23 songs over the next hour and 45 minutes, the Fonda seemed to float on the good vibes that filled the room. Outside, before the show, dozens of fans sought a little help of their own, walking up and down the sidewalk in front of the theater, asking, please, does anyone have an extra ticket? The luckiest fans had already snatched up their tickets on Friday when a new block of tickets was released for purchase by fans who’d registered for the ticket sales lottery. I talked to six or seven who’d grabbed theirs for face value on Friday, one just half an hour before doors opened at 7 p.m. McCartney’s 1980 solo single “Coming Up” came next, the 900 or so fans who filled the GA standing-floor area thrusting hands into the air as they sang along, with another 300 or so in seats, on couches or standing in the balcony. You start to get used to being no more than 40 feet from McCartney and begin to notice perfectly normal things that seem weird in this context. Like, “I can clearly see his individual fingers, his wedding ring, his pick on the bass strings.” The show allowed no cameras for photos and videos, using magnetic pouches to lock phones away until after the show. It’s a strange feeling at first – can you get phantom limb syndrome for an iPhone 14? But as Paul and the band jumped into the Beatles’ “Got to Get You Into My Life,” you start to feel free from that modern-day obsession to capture memories on devices in place of your hearts and minds. Looking around, there’s nothing but smiling faces of fans who never expected to have this experience. I saw kids small enough that the Paul McCartney Rocks the Fonda T-shirts from the merch table fit like dresses. I met a woman old enough to have been a girl in the audience when the Beatles played “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964 there to see McCartney for her first time, thanks to her adult son. When, midway through the show, McCartney played the gorgeous and moving “Blackbird” solo on acoustic guitar, my new concert buddy to the right put his hand over his eyes, and then leaned over to whisper, “Transcendent.” Another new pal tapped my shoulder then. “Make a note that the guy next to you : Top 5 moment of his life.”“Cool place, isn’t it?” McCartney said before “Let Me Roll It,” the first Wings song of the night. “The Fon-dahhh. Originally called the Music Box.” That song, which ended as McCartney often plays it, with a snippet of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady,” also hinted at the stripped-nature of these shows. Usually, you get an anecdote from Paul about Hendrix, catching him at a London club as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” debuted, and coming back a week later to discover he’d already incorporated the title track in his set. Not this time. Most of his usual stories got dropped for the Fonda shows; no screens were used for the kind of images you get at McCartney’s arena and stadium shows. Instead, you got to see the band, which includes his longtime sidemen guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist-bassist Brian Ray, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., and keyboardist Wix Wickens. And you got less-scripted banter between songs. “It’s great to do these little gigs,” McCartney said between the Beatles “Getting Better” and Wings “Let ‘Em In.” “It’s good to see the whites of your eyes.” Before playing the Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” McCartney noted the release on Friday of a new single, “Days We Left Behind,” from the album “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” which arrives at the end of May. “We’re in the process of learning to play it, so don’t ask us to do it,” he told the crowd. “And it’s in B. I wrote it in C and somehow it’s in B. I know, it’s all too much.” A London-style red double-decker bus was parked outside the Fonda before the show, plastered with signage for his first new record in six years. “Lovely little place, where these four lads got together to make music,” McCartney said of the Liverpool street of the title.“He’s here! A ghost!” McCartney replied in mock shock. “Come forth!” The second half of the concert flowed smoothly, the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” rolling into the solo single “Flaming Pie” and from there into Wings’ hit “Jet.” The latter song prompted a huge singalong, not that fans weren’t singing all night. There’s something joyful and cathartic in singing the title word at the top of your lungs, perhaps. The same for “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” which followed, bouncing along on its beats with such cheerfully silly words – words? – to sing. “Have you seen ‘Man on the Run?’” McCartney asked of the new Prime Video documentary on McCartney’s post-Beatles career in the ’70s, a billboard for which towered over Hollywood Boulevard, a block from the Fonda. “What a story!” “Get Back” rocked hard into “Let It Be,” which remains a beautiful hymn, beautifully sung. We should note that McCartney’s vocals seemed rested and strong all night long, and he and the entire band sounded fantastic in the Fonda with none of the echo or muddiness that’s sometimes unavoidable in the biggest venues he plays. “Hey Jude” is the ultimate crowd singalong, with McCartney leaving the piano at one point to go to the microphone and lead multiple choruses of the na-na-na-nas, before running back to the piano to finish the song and the main set of the show. The encore delivered the mini-suite that closes the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album. “Golden Slumbers” kicked it off with McCartney solo at the piano before the band joined in. That segued into “Carry That Weight,” stepping up a level in power and volume. Around then, my transcendent new friend on the left grabbed my elbow, apologetically said he had to get to the front before the night was over, and wriggled off toward the stage. And then “The End,” a sudden, softer sound, with one more message of love, its final chords lingering in the air, and the memories of a show that might never be seen again. Unless you’re going back to the Fonda on Saturday, in which case, give our best our very best regards to Sir Paul.Weezer headlines Crypto.com Arena for Weezer: The Gathering tourWhat to know about the planned Saturday, March 28 ‘No Kings’ protests in Southern CaliforniaJudge rules to evict iconic Olvera Street donkey stand, opened in 1968‘No Kings’ turnout in Southern California will help smash records around the nation today, organizers sayLA Metro board chooses K Line northern extension route, connecting South Bay to HollywoodSwinging gates installed on 101 Freeway ahead of Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ protest
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