When Saturday Night Live announced that Paul McCartney would be their final musical guest for their 51st season, fans knew they were in for a treat; they just didn't know how much the former Beatles bassist had up his sleeve.

Sharing the stage early and often with host Will Ferrell and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who served as a sort of Andy Richter-style sideman for both legends, McCartney began his night performing "Days We Left Behind," a song from his 2026 album The Boys of Dungeon Lane. With Smith on the drums, the 83-year-old looked back at his career as images from his storied life flashed behind him.

From there, McCartney followed up an appearance in the skit "Mechanics" with a rousing rendition of "Band on the Run" from his post-Beatles outfit Wings, which actually predates SNL by a few years.

With his 2025 documentary Man on the Run becoming a hit on Amazon Prime after grossing over $500,000 during a short theatrical run, the crowd reacted very enthusiastically to the Wings classic.

And last but not least, after Ferrell said goodnight and the Saturday Night Live Band began to play the show off the air, McCartney walked across the stage to the performance area and kicked it into overdrive for one final number, playing the 1979 deep cut "Coming Up" from his second studio album McCartney II as the show went off the air.

Considering SNL usually only gives musicians two songs during their appearance on the long-running sketch comedy show, this was a massive hat tip from Lorne Michaels to all parties involved after completing another successful season of NBC's flagship show.