Paul McCartney Shreds ‘The End’ With Jack White and St. Vincent in Mexico City

Paul McCartney wrapped his headlining set at the Corona Capital festival in Mexico City over the weekend with a rendition of his always apt show-closer — the Beatles’ “The End” — featuring guest appearances from Jack White and St. Vincent.

A fan-shot video captured the thrilling performance, which began with an extended intro jam featuring five (yes, five) guitarists: White, St. Vincent, McCartney’s bandmates Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray, and McCartney himself, who swapped his bass for a six-string for the big finale. McCartney cajoled solos out of everyone, pointing at the others on stage at random and occasionally getting the nod himself to rip a few riffs. 

Eventually, the guitar pyrotechnics came to a close and the whole band — plus the crowd — came together to bring the Abbey Road closer to its booming, well, end. 

McCartney’s set at Corona Capital was the last show on the South American leg of his 2024 Get Back tour. He’s set to return to the road next month for a short European and U.K. run that’ll close with two nights in London, Dec. 18 and 19. 

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To kick off the South American leg of his tour back in October, McCartney notably played his first concert ever in Montevideo, Uruguay. To mark the occasion, he also played live for the first time the Beatles’ final song, “Now and Then.” The track, released earlier this year, is based on a piano demo John Lennon recorded in 1977, which Yoko Ono gave to the surviving members of the Beatles in 1994. At the time, George Harrison laid down some guitar parts for possible inclusion on the Beatles Anthology box sets, but the song was abandoned because the original quality of Lennon’s demo was too poor. 

Years later, McCartney was able to clean up the demo using the same technology Peter Jackson’s team developed for the Get Back movie project. McCartney and Ringo Starr recorded new drums and vocals, added Harrison’s old guitar parts, and completed “Now and Then” — which was just nominated for a couple of Grammys, including Record of the Year.