Paul McCartney surprises fans with rare live performance of his holiday classic ‘Wonderful Christmastime’

Sir Paul McCartney treated his fans to an early Christmas present!

On Saturday, Dec. 14, the music icon, 82, surprised concertgoers at his concert in Manchester, England, with a rare live performance of his 1979 holiday classic “Wonderful Christmastime” — complete with backing vocals from children who attend the You Should Be Dancing Theater Academy .

The festive moment at Manchester’s Co-Op Live venue was capped off with a bit of (fake) snow, as seen in photos shared by McCartney on his Instagram.

“Simply having a wonderful Christmas time in Manchester! We’ve been traveling the world and here we are up north again. It’s good to be back! ,” he captioned a series of snowy snaps from his performance.

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Fans recorded videos of the special performance which they shared online. In addition, the venue posted a clip from the moment on their Instagramwith the caption, “Paul McCartney brought us a choir and snow.”

Per Rolling StoneMcCartney has only performed “Wonderful Christmastime” live about a dozen times during his long career. The last time he performed the song was during a trio of concerts in England in December 2018. Before then, he featured in an interpretation of the song with Jimmy Fallon and the cast of Sing during a section from 2016 of The Tonight Show.

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His latest performance of the song was part of the kick-off 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 18 and 19 December.

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

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

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

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