Watch Paul McCartney, Billy Joel Play Beatles’ ‘Birthday,’ ‘Get Back’
Paul McCartney enlisted Billy Joel to perform a pair of Beatles classics, Let It Be‘s “Get Back” and The White Album‘s “Birthday,” during his Tuesday concert at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Joel joined McCartney’s band at centerstage for “Get Back,” occupying the Billy Preston role with his bluesy electric piano solo. The singer-songwriter stuck around behind the keys for a rousing take on “Birthday,” which McCartney dedicated to “anybody who’s got a birthday – and also anybody who’s got a birthday any time this year.”
McCartney will continue his long-running “One on One” tour Wednesday, September 27th, with a second show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum before closing out his U.S. run with a pair of Detroit dates on October 1st and 2nd.
Joel and McCartney have crossed paths numerous times onstage over the years, both in person and in song. Joel covered the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” twice this summer; the former Beatle joined Joel to in July 2008 to perform the band’s early tune “I Saw Her Standing There” during Joel’s final run at New York’s Shea Stadium, and Joel returned the favor three years later with a surprise appearance at McCartney’s Yankee Stadium show.