Paul McCartney brought his "Got Back" tour to State Farm Arena for two sold-out nights in early November 2025, and the first of them, on Sunday, Nov. 2, filled the downtown arena with roughly 18,000 people spanning several generations. At 83, McCartney worked through a 35-song set that leaned on seven decades of Beatles, Wings and solo material.
Atlanta has a long history with him. His first show in the city came in 1965, when the Beatles played Atlanta Stadium, the venue later known as Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. He has returned on eight other trips since: Wings at the Omni in 1976, two Omni nights in 1990, the Georgia Dome in 1993, Philips Arena in 2002, 2005 and 2014, a stormy evening at Piedmont Park in 2009, and a 2017 date at the Duluth arena now called Gas South Arena.
What stood out to GPB this time was who showed up. Baby Boomers built the Beatles' following, but much of the Sunday crowd was made up of Gen Z fans attending with their Gen X parents, many of them traveling in from out of state. Concertgoers came from Phoenix, Denver and New York City, and two sisters, ages 19 and 22, made the drive up from Orlando. A father and daughter had already seen McCartney perform in London and Denver before coming to Atlanta. Resale prices climbed into the thousands for some seats, yet the room stayed on its feet from start to finish.
Some attendees had history with McCartney that goes back to the beginning. A pair of identical twins who saw the Beatles play Atlanta in 1965 were in the audience again, praising the show's message of peace and songs that everyone can share. On the other end of the spectrum, a group of five friends from Savannah College of Art and Design and Georgia State University, dressed in Beatles gear and carrying dolls of all four band members, caught the eye of a member of McCartney's management team in the arena lobby and were moved up to the second row.
The show opened with "Help" and a video montage that captured the band's personalities and antics, then moved quickly into "Coming Up" and "Got to Get You Into My Life," both powered by the Hot City Horns. McCartney switched between guitar, his Hofner bass and piano, and his longtime band, Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray on guitars, Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums and Paul "Wix" Wickens on keyboards, supplied the backing vocals and harmonies throughout.
The production mixed archival footage, animation, lasers and pyrotechnics. One of the quieter stretches put McCartney atop a raised platform wrapped in screens showing Earth from space while he performed "Blackbird," his civil rights song, followed by "Here Today," written for John Lennon. Later he played "Something" as a tribute to George Harrison. Deeper cuts such as "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and "Come On to Me" shared the night with staples like "Lady Madonna," "Band on the Run," "Live and Let Die," "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude," with "Let It Be" bringing out a sea of phone lights and a crowd-wide sing-along.
The encore closed the way McCartney's shows traditionally do, with the medley from side two of Abbey Road. That run takes in "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight" and "The End." McCartney and the band waved British, American, Georgia and Progress Pride flags on stage, and the evening wrapped with the closing lines of "The End," about the love you take matching the love you make.
For downtown, the two-night stand meant fans from several states, some flying in and others driving, spending their evenings at State Farm Arena in the center of the city.
Original reporting by Kristi York Wooten for GPB News.