Paul McCartney surprises fans with rare live performance of his Christmas classic “Wonderful Christmastime”

Sir Paul McCartney gave his fans an early Christmas present!

On Saturday, December 14, the 82-year-old music icon surprised attendees at his concert in Manchester, England, with a rare live performance of his 1979 holiday classic “Wonderful Christmastime” — complete with background vocals from children singing You Should Be visit dance theater academy.

The festive moment at the Co-Op Live venue in Manchester was topped off with a dusting of (fake) snow, as seen in photos McCartney shared on his Instagram.

“Just a wonderful Christmas in Manchester! We’ve traveled around the world and now we’re back north. It’s nice to be back! 🎄,” he captioned a series of snowy photos from his performance.

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Fans took videos of the special performance, which they shared online. Additionally, the venue posted a clip of the moment on Instagram with the caption: “Paul McCartney brought us a choir and snow.”

Per Rolling StoneMcCartney only performed “Wonderful Christmastime” live about a dozen times throughout his long career. The last time he performed the song was during a concert trio in England in December 2018. He previously performed a rendition of the song alongside Jimmy Fallon and the cast Sing during a 2016 episode The Tonight Show.

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His final performance of the song was part of the start of the England leg of his Got Back Tour. The former Beatle previously played shows in South America, Paris, Madrid and other European locations. He will next perform in London on December 18th and 19th.

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In 2019, McCartney revealed to BBC Radio 4 that he has a “secret” Christmas album that he recorded for his family.

“Years ago I thought there weren’t any particularly good Christmas records,” he said at the time. “There’s a Phil Spector record that I like. But I thought I’d like to do something traditional, simple and easy with all the “Good King Wenceslas” and all that. So I actually went into my studio over a couple of years and made one.”

He added: “But it’s just for the family.”

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