Paul McCartney surprised his Lollapalooza crowd Friday in Chicago when the former Beatle invited dynamic Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard to perform with him the snappy Beatles classic, “Get Back.”
According to a story by music site Fuse, the surprise duo took place near the end of McCartney’s set. Fuse included a YouTube video with the story.
The video shows McCartney, clad in a white button-up shirt and black pants, pointing to the left side of the stage and inviting Howard to play the song with him.
Howard wielded a turquoise and white electric guitar, which she brought to life in the opening bars of the song.
The powerful Alabama Shakes lead singer joined McCartney at the microphone to sing the song’s “Get Back” refrain.
At one point during the song, McCartney and his bandmates stepped back and let Howard rip off a quick, crunchy solo.
Fuse called McCartney and Howard’s duet “inspired.”
The combination of both talents after dark and near the end of McCartney’s two-hour-and-fifteen-minute set was a special sauce of inspired collaboration.
McCartney’s performance brought the first day of the three-day festival to a close, the story said.
McCartney and the Alabama Shakes were both mentioned in Forbes‘ rundown of the event, which ends today. Among other headliners, the story said, are Metallica, Florence + The Machine, Sam Smith, A$AP Rocky, the Weeknd and “more than 120 other acts.”
According to the story, the musical festival started as a traveling venue in 1991 but in 2005 decided to put its roots down in Chicago.
For this reason, Forbes wrote, the festival has experienced a lot of success compared to other festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella because it’s located “smack dab” in the middle of a big city.
Another big plus for Lollapalooza over most other festivals is that it is located smack dab in the middle of Chicago so it is easily accessible by public transportation.
Three-day passes for the event, the story noted, were $275.
