Sir Paul McCartney seems to no longer carry that weight of a decades-long legal battle between The Beatles and tech giant Apple – after playing at the firm’s 50th birthday party.
The rock legend was heard soundchecking by neighbours near the company’s California HQ ahead of a performance at the anniversary celebration – and fans have been sharing online footage of the gig that followed.
The 83-year-old, who recently announced a new album, went through Fab Four hits including opener Help!, Lady Madonna and Get Back, Wings singles such as Band On The Run and Let ‘Em In and solo efforts Maybe I’m Amazed and Coming Up.
SIr Paul’s thumbs-up on Tuesday comes despite years of division – pursued through the courts – between Apple, co-founded by the late Steve Jobs, and Beatles firms.
The Fab Four set up their own company called Apple Corps in 1968 – including spin-off firms devoted to the likes of books, films, electronics and retail, the latter showcased in ill-fated clothing boutique in London’s Baker Street.
The most successful of Apple Corps’ ventures was its record label, with early hits including Mary Hopkin’s Those Were The Days and The Beatles’ own Hey Jude.
But the use of the word Apple and logos by two competing firms prompted years of litigation – brought into sharper focus when tech firm Apple Inc moved more into music in the early years of this century.
The launch of the iPod and accompanying iTunes music software fuelled debate over which Apple had music-related rights.
The Beatles’ firm twice sued Apple Computer over alleged infringement of trademark and music rights.
Apple Corps accused the tech company of breaching a 1991 agreement between them barring Apple Computer from using its trademark for any application ‘whose principal content is music’.
Steve Jobs, who died aged 56 in 2011, had co-founded Apple Computer Company in April 1976 alongside Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
The Beatles’ former road manager Neil Aspinall, put in charge of their business affairs for many years following the band’s 1970 break-up, fought their cause before his death aged 66 in March 2008.
The long-running dispute between Apple Computer and Apple Corps – owned by Sir Paul, Sir Ringo Starr and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison – had been finally settled the previous year.
And the group’s music was added to Apple’s iTunes catalogue in November 2010, having been heralded by remastered rereleases of all The Beatles’ studio albums in both mono and stereo.
Sir Ringo said at the time: ‘I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes.’
Now Sir Paul – who is continuing to tour, including two recent celebrity-studded gigs in Los Angeles – played the 50th anniversary event at Apple Park in Cupertino.
That followed two concerts he performed at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, drawing crowds including a multitude of celebrities.
Among the attendees were Taylor Swift, Reese Witherspoon, Al Pacino and his girlfriend Noor Alfallah, Harrison Ford, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpetner.
Sir Paul last week revealed the release next month of a new studio album called The Boys Of Dungeon Lane, as lead single Days We Left Behind was shared online.
Days We Left Behind was unveiled on BBC Merseyside on Thursday last week, marking his first new music in five years, with a new portrait and artwork shot by his photographer daughter, Mary McCartney, 56.
Speaking about the new single, Sir Paul said: ‘This is very much a memory song for me. The album title, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes from a lyric in this track.
‘I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past, but then I think how can you write about anything else?…
‘It’s just a lot of memories of Liverpool. It involves a bit in the middle about John and Forthlin Road which is the street I used to live in.
‘Dungeon Lane is near there. I used to live in a place called Speke which is quite working class.
‘We didn’t have much at all but it didn’t matter because all the people were great and you didn’t notice you didn’t have much.’
His last studio album was McCartney III, on which he performed all instruments, released in December 2020.
He described it at the time as his ‘rockdown album’, having recorded it on his own during the Covid-19 pandemic at his home studio in Peasmarsh, East Sussex.
