Entertainment
Paul McCartney’s Fonda Setlist: Every Song From the First Night of His Two-Night Hollywood Stand
Friday night (March 27) may have officially been billed as Paul McCartney Rocks the Fonda!, but it could have just as easily been called Paul McCartney Makes Everything Better!
Even if it was just for a little while (one hour and 40 minutes to be exact), it felt like the former Beatle made all the world’s troubles disappear within the tiny confines of the Fonda, where he is playing two nights to celebrate the 100th birthday of the 1,100-capacity Hollywood club (the series concluded March 28).
The set was a truncated version of the 2025 Got Back tour, even down to the song order, slimmed down from 33 songs to a tight 21.
McCartney, dressed in a casual black suit with a vest, took the stage at 8:30 p.m., looking delighted to be back on stage even though it had only been four months since the North American tour ended. What followed was a trip back in time, with the spry McCartney serving as the congenial master of ceremonies, surrounded by elite musicians who have now played with him longer than his bandmates in either The Beatles or Wings: keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens, lead guitarist Rusty Anderson, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and guitarist/bassist Brian Ray. They are a ridiculously tight unit, but more than anything they are a fun, infectiously exuberant one.
As McCartney, 83, touched on almost every facet of his musical career, he seemingly delighted in playing such a small gig, joking it was “good to see the whites of your eyes” to the audience. He convivially bantered with the first few rows, including giving a shoutout to fan attending his 146th show, and good-naturedly shut down a loud balcony attendee getting a little too boisterous. He was loose throughout the show, breaking into short stories (including a humorous Tony Bennett anecdote) and just generally seeming to enjoy the audience as much as they enjoyed him.
But the focus was on the music, and the music soared throughout much of the night. McCartney’s band may be a five piece (with the occasional welcome addition of the three-piece Hot City Horns), but they sound fuller than a configuration at least twice that size, especially when they are locked into a solid, propulsive groove on such songs as “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five,” “Lady Madonna” and “Get Back.”
On Thursday (March 28), McCartney released a new song, the tenderly nostalgic “Days We Left Behind,” which is featured on his forthcoming 18th solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane — but the tune went left undone at the show, with McCartney saying they were still learning how to play it. Instead, he opted to play two songs from solo albums not featured during the Got Back tour and ones that are seldom trotted out: “Every Night” and “Flaming Pie.”
The no-phones policy and no-frills production (there was no projection of any kind, just a few overhead lighting trusses) allowed the audience to be as in the moment as the band and a communal feeling of peace and joy felt like it spread from the stage all the way through the rear of the balcony, especially on late-show singalongs/anthems “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude.”
McCartney and band returned for his standard encore, closing with Abbey Road’s monumental medley of “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End.” The words are so familiar now, but still ring true like a beautiful benediction, as he sent the audience out into the night with “the love you take is equal to the love you make” echoing in their ears.
Below are all the songs McCartney performed on the first night of his two-night Fonda stand.

Entertainment
Watch ‘Champion of All Athletes’ Flavor Flav Throw the First Pitch at Fenway Park on Easter
Flavor Flav has once again proven his dedication to sports. Flav joined the Boston Red Sox on Easter Sunday (April 5) to throw the first pitch at their game against the San Diego Padres at Fenway Park.
Though Flav is from New York, home to the Red Sox’s biggest rivals, the Yankees, he repped Boston through and through for the occasion. The rapper showed up decked out in a custom Flavor Flav Red Sox jersey, a red baseball cap and matching red pants. And, of course, in Flavor Flav fashion, he also made sure to wear a blinged out red, white and blue version of his signature giant clock necklace.
When Flav stepped out to the pitch, the announcer referred to him as “a champion of all athletes.” Unfortunately, his pitch was not enough to win the Red Sox the game as Boston lost to San Diego 8-6. Despite the loss, Flavor Flav let fans know that he had a great time the game. The Public Enemy cofounder shared an Instagram carousel with highlights from his time at Fenway Park. In one video, Flav high-fived every Red Sox player in their dugout. In his post, Flavor Flav also shared that he ran into a special friend of his.
“I ran into my girl [Jordan Raney] from the USA Olympic Water Polo team,” Flav said in the caption to the post, where he also included photos of himself hugging the Olympian.
The iconic rapper has famously been a big advocate and financial supporter of women’s sports. Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, the rapper offered to sponsor the U.S. women’s water polo team after learning that they were severely underfunded and members of the team were working multiple jobs to make ends meet. In July of that year, Flav officially inked a five-year sponsorship deal with both the women’s and men’s teams.
After this year’s Winter Olympics, Flav invited the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team to party with him in Vegas after Donald Trump made a dismissive joke about inviting the women to the White House in a conversation with the men’s team. He also joined the U.S. bobsled and skeleton teams at the Winter Olympics as their official hype man.
Watch Flav throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Easter above.
Entertainment
Bad Bunny’s Spotify’s Billions Club Concert Film Is Coming Sooner Than You Think: Watch the Teaser
Bad Bunny‘s first Asia show at Spotify’s star-studded Billions Club in Tokyo will arrive on the platform — and soon. Spotify announced on Monday (April 6) that the release date for the one-night event will be April 8.
Billions Club Live With Bad Bunny: A Concert Film will show the Puerto Rican superstar delivering 17 of his biggest hits — including “DtMF,” “Baile Involvidable,” “Nuevalyol” and “EOO” — at Tipstar Dome Chiba on March 7, almost a month after his headline performance at Super Bowl LX.
The show — Spotify’s first Billions Club Live in the region — also debuted a salsa version of his reggaetón hit “MIA” from 2018, featuring guest appearances by Puerto Rican musicians Los Pleneros de la Cresta and Los Sobrinos. Other highlights included “Yonaguni,” during which fans sang along to the Japanese lyrics, and a surprise appearance by Jowell & Randy for “Safaera.”
The evening opened and closed with music provided by DJ Nasthug, while BLACKPINK‘s LISA and contemporary artist Takashi Murakami were among the celebrities in attendance.
With 29 songs that have surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, Bad Bunny has been shattering numerous records in recent months. In February, he landed a record-breaking 29 simultaneous titles on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart, including the entire top 25, while also bagging the top spot on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.
Furthermore, his Super Bowl LX Halftime Show was the most watched of all time. According to coproducer Roc Nation, Benito’s history-making performance set a global viewership record with 4.157 billion worldwide views in the first 24 hours across global and U.S. broadcasts, as well as YouTube and other digital properties.
Watch a teaser of Billions Club Live With Bad Bunny: A Concert Film below:
Entertainment
R&B/Hip-Hop Fresh Picks of the Week: Rjtheweirdo, Sekou, Lazer Dim 700, Marlon Craft & More
It’s been a characteristically hectic week for the hip-hop world.
Last Thursday (April 2), Pooh Shiesty previewed the weekend with a shocking legal altercation barely six months after his release from federal prison. The Memphis rapper was one of eight men arrested on kidnapping and robbery charges tied to a physical altercation regarding his recording contract with Gucci Mane’s 1017 Records.
Ye quickly stole the weekend’s headlines from Pooh, thanks to his new Bully album, which opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 behind BTS’s Arirang, and its accompanying pair of SoFi Stadium shows in Los Angeles. At the final show (April 3), the controversial rapper brought out Ms. Lauryn Hill, Travis Scott, Zion Marley, YG Marley, CeeLo Green and André Troutman as special guests.
Despite packing one of the world’s flashiest stadiums and breaking the six-figure mark with Bully’s opening week total, Ye’s past antisemitic, antiblack and sexually violent controversies continue to muddy his comeback efforts. On Monday morning (April 6), flagship alcohol brand parent company Diageo and energy drinks company Rockstar Energy joined the growing list of sponsors severing ties with London’s Wireless Festival, which booked Ye as a headliner for all three nights (July 10-12). PepsiCo was the first sponsor to withdraw from Wireless, with PayPal also distancing itself from the Finsbury Park-set festival. As the summer approaches, all eyes will be on Wireless and Ye to see if the two parties can actually pull off this festival takeover.
Outside of the high-stakes headlines, we also got new albums from Arlo Parks (Ambiguous Desire), Swae Lee (Same Difference) and Earl Sweatshirt, Mike & Surf Gang (Pompeii // Utility).
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from a disco-infused Sekou to a new Lazer Dim 700 banger. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.

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