Japan's Nippon Budokan, one of rock music's most renowned venues, was home to a historical moment again Tuesday night when Paul McCartney played "Another Girl," a Beatles song released in 1965, marking the first time the song has been played live. McCartney's concert was his first at the indoor arena since he played there with The Beatles in 1966.
McCartney debuted the track, from the "Help!" album, to celebrate the 49th anniversary of his last appearance at Budokan, according to the NME.
"It was sensational and quite emotional remembering the first time and then experiencing this fantastic audience tonight," he said, the NME reported. "It was thrilling for us and we think it was probably the best show we did in Japan and it was great to be doing the Budokan 49 years later. It was crazy. We loved it."
The former Beatle's Japanese concert tour also found him performing "Can't Buy Me Love" for the first time since 2009 and "Got To Get You Into My Life" for the first time since 2011, reported Rolling Stone.
Beatlemania seems to be alive and kicking in Japan, as RS added: "When McCartney landed at Osaka airport to kickoff his five-date Japanese tour, he was reportedly met by 500 fans at the airport."
Billboard, which noted that the Japanese shows were makeup dates for concerts McCartney canceled last November due to health issues, pointed out that McCartney and Japan share a checkered past. The magazine explained that Budokan was built to host the judo portion of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and when a run of Beatles concerts was announced for 1966, "there was stiff opposition from right-wingers to a Western pop act defiling the holy judo and karate arena ('Budokan' means 'martial arts hall' in Japanese)." Further, McCartney landed in hot water in 1980 when Japanese immigration officials held him for 10 days after he was busted for marijuana, the magazine added.
