{"id":301357,"date":"2025-11-23T08:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/301357\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T08:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T08:41:14","slug":"paul-mccartney-in-hamilton-tonight-as-arena-reopens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/301357\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney in Hamilton tonight as arena reopens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul\u00a0McCartney\u00a0dug into the Beatles\u2019 archive in Hamilton, bringing some of his oldest songs to life on a freshly renovated stage Friday.<\/p>\n

The 83-year-old musician was the opening act for the newly revamped TD Coliseum \u2014 the erstwhile FirstOntario Centre, which was closed for 18 months while it was entirely redesigned.<\/p>\n

\"\"Paul McCartney, TD Coliseum Paul McCartney performs during his Got Back North American tour at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., Friday, November 21, 2025. (Nick Iwanyshyn\/The Canadian Press) <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be back!\u201d\u00a0McCartney\u00a0exclaimed on stage.<\/p>\n

He last played the 18,000-seat venue in 2016.<\/p>\n

McCartney\u00a0opened the night with \u201cHelp,\u201d setting the stage for a performance dominated by Beatles nostalgia, with smatterings of Wings and solo work.<\/p>\n

He told the crowd about the ukulele George Harrison gave him before launching into a rendition of \u201cSomething\u201d on the instrument. Ahead of \u201cHere Today,\u201d he lamented the macho culture prevalent in his youth that meant he never told John Lennon that he loved him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He dug back as far as the Beatles went, and even a little farther, performing the Quarrymen song \u201cIn Spite of All the Danger\u201d \u2014 the first piece of music the band that would become the Beatles ever recorded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Liverpool there was four young lads who formed a band and … they wanted to do well for themselves,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you know what, they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

He regaled the crowd with tales from the glory days: meeting Jimi Hendrix, fighting against segregated concerts, and recording music for producer George Martin at Abbey Road Studios.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0McCartney\u00a0played material from the last couple decades, he stopped just short of apologizing.<\/p>\n

\"\"Paul McCartney, TD Coliseum Paul McCartney gestures to the crowd during his Got Back North American tour at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., Friday, November 21, 2025. (Nick Iwanyshyn\/The Canadian Press) <\/p>\n

\u201cThis next song is slightly newer. It\u2019s one you may not have heard. You may have heard it. But if you haven\u2019t heard it, too bad. We\u2019re going to play it anyway,\u201d he quipped before launching into 2018\u2019s \u201cCome On To Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also played the 2011 song \u201cValentine,\u201d written for his wife Nancy Shevell, who he noted was in the audience.<\/p>\n

And if his voice was reedy at times,\u00a0McCartney\u00a0made up for it with his showmanship, cycling through guitars, pianos, Harrison\u2019s ukulele, a mandolin and a bass.<\/p>\n

Rather than dancing, he shimmied his hips gingerly, and he walked up and down stairs with a bit more care than he may have in years past.<\/p>\n

His performance of \u201cLive and Let Die\u201d was punctuated with pyrotechnics. Once the song was over, he mimed plugging his ears and mouthed \u201ctoo loud!\u201d<\/p>\n

McCartney\u2019s \u201cGot Back\u201d tour began in the United States in 2022. He revived it for each of the following three years, with swings through Australia, South America and Europe. As it stands, the tour is poised to wrap up in Chicago in just a few days.<\/p>\n

The 2025 leg began in September, and he brought the tour to Canada for the first time earlier this week, performing in Montreal on Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In Hamilton, venue managers Oak View Group hailed the night as a success.<\/p>\n

\"\"Posters advertising a Paul McCartney concert are displayed at TD Coliseum, the revamped arena project by Oak View Group in downtown Hamilton Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Nick Iwanyshyn Posters advertising a Paul McCartney concert are displayed at TD Coliseum, the revamped arena project by Oak View Group in downtown Hamilton Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Nick Iwanyshyn (Nick Iwanyshyn) <\/p>\n

CEO Chris Granger said it felt incredible to see the arena full of people after the renovation, which cost roughly $300 million.<\/p>\n

The venue now boasts outposts of Matty\u2019s Patty\u2019s Burger Club and Rizzo\u2019s House of Parm from Canadian restaurateur Matty Matheson, along with Canada\u2019s first Big Chicken \u2014 Shaquille O\u2019Neal\u2019s fried chicken joint.<\/p>\n

More importantly, he said, it fills a gap in the region and opens the door for more large concerts in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He recalled a conversation with a woman whose first concert was at the arena, then called Copps Coliseum.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight she\u2019s bringing her daughter to her first concert,\u201d he said. \u201cYou hear moments like that, and it\u2019s like, that\u2019s why you do it, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was similarly a family affair for a group of women who stood together singing \u201cYesterday\u201d outside the arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Paul McCartney, TD Coliseum Paul McCartney performs during his Got Back North American tour at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., Friday, November 21, 2025. (Nick Iwanyshyn\/The Canadian Press) <\/p>\n

\u201cI look across at my sister, who\u2019s eight years older, and her offspring, and my daughter, and the music connected us all,\u201d said Wanda Bennett, gesturing at the other women. \u201cGrowing up, my sister\u2019s favourite band was the Beatles. And I can\u2019t explain how many times I\u2019ve listened to Paul\u00a0McCartney\u00a0and Wings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett\u2019s daughter, 19-year-old Genevieve Gallant, said the night brought back memories from her childhood, or her parents playing Beatles and Wings CDs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I came here tonight, I was hearing all of the songs I used to when I was a kid and it was so nostalgic,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At Friday\u2019s show,\u00a0McCartney\u00a0came out for the encore waving a massive Canadian flag, flanked by members of his band who carried the Ontario flag, the Pride flag and the Union Jack.<\/p>\n

After a stage tech handed him his guitar to raucous cheers from the crowd,\u00a0McCartney\u00a0said, \u201cHe says you want some more!\u201d<\/p>\n

McCartney\u00a0was ready to give it to them.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2025.<\/p>\n

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul\u00a0McCartney\u00a0dug into the Beatles\u2019 archive in Hamilton, bringing some of his oldest songs to life on a freshly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76,75,43,341,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-301357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}