Paul McCartney played a surprise concert in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday, offering fans a free glimpse at his New album. The Beatles hero announced the gig just a few hours before he took the stage, writing on Twitter, “Wow! Really excited to be playing New York Times Square at 1pm this afternoon!” As Rolling Stone reports, Macca rolled up to a mobile stage located on 46th Street and Broadway just a few minutes after 1 p.m., took a seat behind his trusty rainbow-colored piano, and then bounced into the peppy title track off of his upcoming 16th solo record.
Sir Paul then performed three more songs from the forthcoming full-length: The Wings-leaning “Save Us,” the shambling “Everybody Out There,” and the LP’s fuzzy second single “Queenie Eye.” For a peek at the four-song set, watch the fan-shot video above — it’s a decent clip capturing “Everybody Out There.”
McCartney’s Midtown appearance came just a single day after he put on a “secret” show at the Frank Sinatra School for the Arts in Astoria, Queens (via RS). The living legend played a total of 13 songs for 400 high school students, padding out his fresh material with Q&A segments and a few classics by the Beatles and Wings. Macca also shut down traffic in Hollywood recently, on behalf of a September 23 concert he organized with Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Myspace.
All of this promotion is in service of New, which lands in the U.S. on October 15 and hits the U.K. on October 14. Pre-orders for the “moombahtoon-influenced“ album are now available through iTunes.
