Tonight at Glastonbury, Sir Paul McCartney will perform—55 years after the Beatles’ biggest-ever performance.
On Saturday, June 25, at 9:30 p.m., Paul McCartney will take the stage on Glastonbury’s renowned pyramid stage, which has a 300,000-person attendance record.
The 80-year-old rock legend will become the oldest solo headliner in festival history.
He appears the day after 20-year-old Billie Eilish broke the record for youngest performance at Glastonbury, capping up a Saturday that included acts like Haim, Megan Thee Stallion, and Noel Gallagher.
The much awaited performance occurs exactly 55 years after the Beatles performed in front of their largest-ever audience on the first global TV broadcast.
On June 25, 1967, The Beatles performed ‘All You Need is Love’ live from the renowned Abbey Road Studios to an estimated 400 million viewers in 24 different countries.
A star-studded crowd was also present in the studio, which included musicians such as Marianne Faithful, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards of The Who.
Being fresh off the release of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, still regarded as one of the best albums of all time, John, Paul, George, and Ringo were at the height of their powers during the performance.
The Beatles gave the song its first live performance while perched on high chairs, accompanied by a 13-piece orchestra, some pre-recorded background recordings, and a colorful display of balloons, flowers, and banners.
Watching the performance is like “finding the Summer of Love in a grain of sand,” according to Craig Brown, author of the Beatles biography One Two Three Four.
The group represented Britain on the Our World TV program, the first global satellite broadcast that featured live performances from all over the world.
The band left it late to decide which song they were going to perform for the worldwide show, with John Lennon saying ‘Oh God, is it that close? I suppose we better write something.’
Although Paul suggested his newly-written song Hello, Goodbye, the band decided John’s All You Need Is Love was the message they wanted to send to a global audience.
Drummer Ringo Starr said in the Beatles Anthology documentary in 1994: ‘We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love.
‘It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time. I even get excited now when I realise that’s what it was for – peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.’
All You Need Is Love was performed by The Beatles in front of their largest-ever audience, and after remixing the recording the following day, it was released as a single in July 1967. It became a worldwide hit during the renowned summer of love.
As part of his hit-filled program of Beatles and solo songs, Sir Paul will sing All You Need Is Love at Glastonbury, 55 years after the broadcast.
Paul McCartney performed in front of an 800-person crowd at the Cheese and Grain venue in Frome, Somerset, as part of a surprise pre-Glasto performance on Friday, June 24.
On Friday, he will appear on the Pyramid stage after Robert Plant and Wolf Alice, before Diana Ross, Lorde, and Kendrick Lamar close up the iconic festival on Sunday.