In the waning days of September, in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Five, the elder minstrel Sir Paul of McCartney, last of the sacred fellowship called The Beatles, took once more to the stage beneath the starlit skies of California.
The place was the Bowl of Santa Barbara, where the sea’s breath mingles with the whisper of palms. There, without fanfare or herald’s cry, the knight of song began the American march of his Got Back tour — and with his first chord, he summoned forth the spirits of a bygone age.
The Awakening of “Help!” After Thirty and Five Winters
As the lamps dimmed and the crowd’s murmur turned to stillness, McCartney stepped forward, his figure bathed in soft golden light. Then, with a voice as timeless as dawn itself, he began to sing “Help!” — that ancient hymn of longing and youth.
Not since the year 1990 had this song been uttered in full upon a live stage. Its return was like the reemergence of a lost relic, carried from the vaults of memory into the beating heart of the present.
The people gasped, then roared — for in that moment, time folded upon itself, and they stood once again in the shadow of Beatlemania, when the world was young and melodies were magic.
The Gathering of the Faithful
Around him stood his loyal fellowship of musicians —
- Wix of Wickens, keeper of the keys,
- Brian of Ray, master of strings both low and bright,
- Rusty the Sure-Handed, guardian of the guitar’s fire,
- and Sir Abe Laboriel, thunder-lord of the drums.
Together they forged a sound both mighty and pure, as if drawn from the forge of Heaven’s own studio.
From Got to Get You Into My Life to Lady Madonna, from Now and Then — that ghostly song reborn from the voices of Lennon and Harrison — to the immortal Hey Jude, the night became a sacred pilgrimage through the map of modern music’s soul.
The Scroll of Songs — Santa Barbara, Sept. 26, 2025
- Help! — sung in full for the first time in thirty and five years
- Coming Up
- Got to Get You Into My Life
- Now and Then
- Lady Madonna
- Hey Jude
Encore:
- I’ve Got a Feeling (with the spirit of Lennon beside him, as light and sound entwined)
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
- Helter Skelter
- Golden Slumbers → Carry That Weight → The End
When he sang The End, it was not farewell but renewal — a circle complete, a legend reaffirmed.
The Concert of Silence and Spirit
No glowing screens intruded upon this rite. Each pilgrim’s device was sealed within enchanted pouches of Yondr, ensuring that the night belonged wholly to the moment — to the man, the music, and the memory.
Thus, as the final chords faded into the salt-touched air, McCartney smiled — not as a rock god, but as a troubadour who had once more called forth his youth from the mist.
And so it was written:
That on the twenty-sixth day of September, in the twilight of his years, Sir Paul McCartney restored Help! to the living world — not merely as a song, but as a bridge between generations.
For though the years pass and the earth turns ever onward, the melodies of the Beatles still echo — eternal, unbroken, and young forever.
