Paul McCartney Welcomes Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden

Last night Paul McCartney continued his run of eight New York City-area shows on his One On One Tour with the first of two nights at Madison Square Garden. Macca treated the sold out crowd at the World’s Most Famous Arena to a lengthy career-spanning show that mixed classics from The Beatles, Wings and his solo catalog, along with welcoming a pair of special guests during the encore.

McCartney opened the night with “A Hard Day’s Night” and worked his way through a songbook that spans over fifty years even reaching all the way back to his days with The Quarrymen for a take on “In Spite Of All The Danger.” The 32-song main set found The Beatles bassist share plenty of stories with the crowd even poking a little fun at folks after playing “Blackbird” asking how many people had learned to play it on guitar, and than jokingly stating that they all had got it wrong.

While there weren’t much in the way of surprises during his main set, McCartney did have a trick up his sleeve for his encore. After playing a tender sing-a-long version of “Yesterday,” a short and peppy take on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and a wild and rocking “Helter Skelter,” the 75-year-old singer-songwriter invited out Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt to join him on stage. McCartney intro the sit-in by telling the crowd “the last time we played together was in London’s Hyde Park and they pulled the plug,” referring to a July 2012 show where McCartney guested with Springsteen and the E Street Band’s on “Twist and Shout” and “I Saw Her Standing There” at the Hard Rock Calling Festival during which the power due turned off due to Hyde Park’s strict noise curfew.

McCartney finally got to return the favor last night as the duo launched into “I Saw Her Standing There,” from The Beatles 1963 debut album Please Please Me. Macca and The Boss traded verses throughout the tune, which also featured a guitar solo from Van Zandt. Shortly after they finished the song an exuberant McCartney declared “I reckon we gotta play it one more time,” as they offered up a second take on the song this time with Springsteen singing lead. After the double-take McCartney closed out the night with the Abbey Road medley of “Golden Slumber,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End.”

Watch video of McCartney and Springsteen’s takes on “I Saw Her Standing There” and see the full setlist below:

[I Saw Her Standing There w/ Bruce Springsteen & Steve Van Zandt | Captured by Maggie Clark]