Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited Saturday (4/4) to perform at Radio City Music Hall for The David Lynch Foundation’s “Change Begins Within” benefit concert. The director’s foundation, which searchs for to teach Transcendental Meditation to millions of students worldwide, brought the former bandmates together for the first time since a 2002 memorial concert for George Harrison.
The two surviving Beatles performed individually but during McCartney’s headlining set, he brought Starr on stage to sing “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Starr then moved to the drums for the encores, during which other musicians on the bill–including Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Donovan, Bettye LaVette, Moby and Ben Harper–joined them for two more 1960s songs, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Cosmically Conscious,” which McCartney wrote during his famous 1968 trip to learn Transcendental Meditation at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh, India, according to The New York Times.
John Lennon and Harrison were acknowledged Saturday night when Starr talked about writing “It Don’t Come Easy” with Harrison and Crow sang “My Sweet Lord.” According to a BBC news report, McCartney also paid a tearful tribute to Lennon before playing “Here Today,” a song he wrote for his former bandmate.
Harrison, McCartney and Starr last performed together in 1994 to record material for their “Anthology” series.