Beatles superstar to tour Australia this year

Sir Paul McCartney has teased upcoming tour plans on social media, confirming speculation he will play shows in Australia later this year.

Paul McCartney performing at AAMI Park in Melbourne in 2017. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Beatles megastar Sir Paul McCartney has teased upcoming tour plans, confirming speculation he will play shows in Australia later this year.

McCartney will perform stadium shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with potential for three other cities, in October and November.

The tour will be presented by Frontier Touring Company, which is also staging other 2023-24 summer blockbusters by Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift.

Frontier posted a Beatles reference, with the song title “Got To Get You Into My Life,” with a link to the name of McCartney’s tour, Got Back, on its social media portals on Sunday.

Social media teaser for McCartney's Aussie show.

The post means a McCartney tour announcement is imminent.

Those tour plans were revealed by the Herald Sun last week.

McCartney’s tour will bolster an already-chock season of superstar stadium shows.

Def Leppard and Motley Crue will take over Marvel Stadium in November, Robbie Williams performs at AAMI Park the same month, Foo Fighters will rock into AAMI Park in December, and Post Malone will headline a show at Victoria Park, Ballarat, in December.

Pink blitzes Marvel Stadium in February, and Taylor Swift has booked three nights at the MCG, also in February.

Those confirmed tours follow speculation – and hopes – for stadium shows Down Under by Bruce Springsteen, Depeche Mode, Beyonce and Madonna.

Pop princess Kylie Minogue is also expected to announce tour plans to support a new album dropping in September.

McCartney’s new Australian tour will be his first shows since a triumphant headline slot at Glastonbury Festival last year.

That run, part of McCartney’s Go Back tour, included career-spanning hits covering Beatles, Wings and solo eras.

Paul McCartney arriving in Brisbane in 1964.

The setlist included Can’t Buy Me Love, Got to Get You Into My Life, Let ‘Em In, Maybe I’m Amazed, Blackbird, Jet, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Get Back, Band on the Run, Let It Be, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, and Helter Skelter.

The shows also included a “video duet” of I’ve Got A Feeling between McCartney and the late John Lennon.

1964. George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon wave goodbye to Melbourne in 1964 before boarding the plane at Essendon.

Paul McCartney says Bruce Springsteen is to blame for marathon performances. Picture: Samir Hussein

McCartney’s 2022 tour, a 50-date run, broke box office records and earned $100m.

Variety said McCartney’s Got Back tour was “a magical history tour of The Beatles” and a “winning formula.”

His last Australian tour, which included shows at Melbourne’s AAMI Park, was in 2017.

McCartney recently compared the half-hour sets typically played by The Beatles to marathon shows expected today.

“The Beatles (did) half an hour and we got paid for it,” he said.

“It didn’t seem strange.”

Asked who changed the concert-scape with lengthy shows, McCartney jokingly accused The Boss.

He laughed: “I blame Bruce Springsteen – I’ve told him so, I said ‘It’s your fault man.’”