Paul McCartney @ KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY 11-14-25

It’s been 3,676 long days for the fans of Buffalo to wait for the return of Sir Paul McCartney. McCartney made his return to Buffalo this past Friday night and played to a sold out crowd. This tour is dubbed the ‘Got Back Tour.’ McCartney’s band has been the same for over two decades. That would entail Paul “Wix” Wickens on keyboards, Abe Loriel on drums, Rusty Anderson and Brain Ray on guitars. They were backed by a 3 piece horn section that popped up on various songs throughout the set. Having a Beatle in the h0use is a big deal. This is the band who started a whole new renaissance of music that is woven into every fabric of current music and overall pop culture that continues to this day.

McCartney took to the stage at 8:15pm sharp and his band went into “Help!” This was a rarity as the song hasn’t seen the light of day since 1990. McCartney addressed the crowd by saying “Hey, Buffalo its nice to be back” before the band kicked into the Beatles classic “Got to Get You Into my Life.” He talked about seeing a young Jimi Hendrix Experience in a small club in England. He dedicated “Getting Better” to his memory. That theme was repetitive throughout the show. He did that to the memory of both his former bandmates John Lennon (whom he dedicated “Here Today”) and George Harrison (whom he dedicated “Something”). During the song “My Valentine, a video was shown that both actors Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman sang verses and acted out some parts of the song. McCartney was very personal too as he talked about having his family in the audience. That included his grandson and his wife, in which he dedicated “I’ve Seen a Face” too. Besides being one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century, his talents also stretch out to being fantastic multi instrumentalist. Bass, lead guitar, piano, organ and ukulele are just some of the instruments McCartney showcased his talents on. One of the most heartfelt stories of the night was before the song “Blackbird” was played. McCartney talked about being in Jacksonville, Florida with The Beatles in the early days. The promoter came in before the show to let the band know the audience was segregated. The band being unfamiliar with the word, asked what it was and when it was explained to them, they refused to play until the venue wasn’t segregated. He met a woman recently who was at that show who was black and thanked them for doing that. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is always a fan favorite as the camera pans to the audience as they sing along to the song. ‘Band on the Run” is one of my favorites and the band nailed this song, like they did for just about every song on the setlist. The musicianship and tightness was second to none. You be hard pressed to find a better musical outfit. A 6 song encore was in the works as they ran through a array of various tunes which included a duet with John Lennon called “I’ve Got a Feeling.” The hard rocking “Helter Skelter” was also in the mix and another personal favorite of mine.

With over 60 years of material to choose from, you won’t be able to please everyone. I felt overall he did a great balance between his solo work, The Beatles, Wings and even The Quarryman. McCartney is the only artist that can bring out various emotions through multi generations of people. This may be the final curtain call for McCartney ever playing the Buffalo area again. It it is indeed just that, McCartney and the fans of Buffalo can all be happy that this communal experience maybe reached at an all time high for any show that has ever took place inside this arena. Thank you Sir Paul for another fabulous concert experience and bringing out all of my emotions to the forefront!

Setlist:

Help! (The Beatles song)

Coming Up

Got to Get You Into my Life (The Beatles song)

Drive my Car (The Beatles song)

Letting Go (The Beatles song)

Come Onto Me

Let Me Roll It (Wings song -Foxy Lady -Jimi Hendrix Experience cover

Getting Better (The Beatles song)

Let Em’ In (Wings song)

My Valentine

Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five