Paul McCartney has reportedly performed The Beatles’ breakthrough American hit I Want To Hold Your Hand live for the first time in more than six decades during Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding reception in New York, reviving one of the defining songs of Beatlemania for an intimate audience.
by Paul Cashmere
Paul McCartney reportedly returned to one of The Beatles’ most historically significant songs when he performed I Want To Hold Your Hand at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding reception at Madison Square Garden on 3 July. Multiple reports indicate it marked the first time McCartney has publicly performed the song since The Beatles played New York’s Paramount Theatre on 20 September 1964, making the private wedding performance an unexpected moment in Beatles history.
The performance is significant beyond its celebrity setting. I Want To Hold Your Hand was the record that transformed The Beatles from a British phenomenon into an international force. Released in late 1963, it became the group’s first American No. 1 single and ignited Beatlemania across the United States, helping launch what became known as the British Invasion. If the reports are accurate, McCartney deliberately chose one of the most important songs of his catalogue for an audience that included family, friends and fellow musicians rather than a stadium crowd.
According to reports from attendees, McCartney was among the featured performers during the reception following Swift and Kelce’s ceremony. A source said Taylor Swift’s mother, Andrea Swift, invited guests into the reception where a stage had been prepared for live performances.
Stevie Nicks also reportedly performed during the evening, although details of her set have not been confirmed.
For McCartney, the decision to revisit I Want To Hold Your Hand is particularly notable because it has never been part of his regular solo touring repertoire. Setlist records indicate the final documented performance came during The Beatles’ concert at New York’s Paramount Theatre in September 1964, at a time when Beatlemania was reaching unprecedented heights.
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the song was recorded on 17 October 1963 and released in Britain the following month. It was also the first Beatles recording made using four track recording technology. Although it narrowly missed debuting at No. 1 in the UK because the band’s previous single She Loves You still occupied the top position, I Want To Hold Your Hand soon replaced it and spent five weeks at the summit during Christmas 1963.
Its American release proved even more influential. After Capitol Records finally committed to promoting the band in the United States, the single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1964 and remained there for seven weeks. The success opened the door for an extraordinary run that saw The Beatles dominate American charts throughout 1964 and permanently reshape popular music.
Worldwide, the single has sold more than 12 million copies and remains one of the biggest selling songs in popular music history. It has consistently appeared in lists of the greatest recordings ever made and continues to be recognised as one of the key recordings that altered the direction of modern pop and rock music.
McCartney’s appearance at the wedding also reflects a relationship with Swift that has developed over more than a decade. The pair famously performed together during the 40th anniversary celebration of Saturday Night Live in 2015 before appearing together on the cover of Rolling Stone’s Musicians On Musicians issue in 2020, where they discussed songwriting, creativity and navigating extraordinary levels of fame.
More recently, Swift publicly praised McCartney’s new album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane, describing him as an “eternally exceptional artist” and saying she is “never not inspired” by his work.
Only days before the wedding, McCartney was asked whether he would offer Swift advice about handling worldwide fame. While acknowledging similarities between her career and The Beatles’ unprecedented popularity during the 1960s, he suggested she hardly needed guidance.
“You do see the parallel, you know the fame and the amount of fame,” McCartney said during an interview with BBC Sounds. “The worldwide fame that Taylor Swift has and that we had, but I don’t think she needs any advice, to tell you the truth.”
He added that if Swift ever asked, he would gladly help.
“I’m like the older brother to that generation, or more like the grandad, actually,” he said.
Representatives for Swift, McCartney and Nicks have not publicly commented on reports surrounding the performances, and no official footage from the reception has been released.
If confirmed as his first performance of I Want To Hold Your Hand since 1964, the appearance would stand as one of the rarest live moments of McCartney’s career, reviving the song that introduced The Beatles to America for a single private celebration more than 60 years after it first changed music history.
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