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Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr hope you enjoyed the show.

The surviving Beatles reunited onstage Thursday night at McCartney’s Got Back Tour finale in London to perform two of the band’s most iconic songs.

As McCartney, 82, welcomed his surprise guest — “the mighty, the one and only, Ringo Starr” — thousands of fans filled the O2 arena with prolonged applause. Starr, 84, flashed his signature peace sign, then McCartney asked, “Should we rock?”

“I only rock,” Starr quipped before assuming his position at the drum kit.

The former bandmates joined McCartney’s band for a rendition of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise),” then capped off their mini-set with “Helter Skelter.” (Starr joined McCartney for the same two songs when he appeared at the “Maybe I’m Amazed” singer’s sold-out show at Dodger Stadium in 2019.)

“I’ve had a great night and I love you all,” Starr told the doting crowd as he made his exit Thursday. “Thanks to this man.”

But that wasn’t the only surprise of the night. Earlier in the show, McCartney had introduced his audience to another old friend: his original bass guitar, which was stolen half a century ago and made its way back to its rightful owner in February.

“Sounds like a bass,” McCartney remarked as he played the recovered instrument for the first time in 50 years. “And what is more, we’ve got a special guest for you — Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood!”

The two embraced before launching into a performance of the Beatles’ 1969 single “Get Back,” which Starr previously performed with Wood and McCartney at the same London venue in 2018.

“There’s a connection between the bass player and the drummer, you know,” Starr told The Times in September as he recalled that moment. “You’re both the deep end of it all.”

“Paul’s the man — and he’s still the most magical bass player I know,” he said.

Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario and Mikael Wood contributed to this report.

1 of 5 | Robbie Williams appears behind the scenes of his biopic “Better Man,” in theaters Dec. 25. Photo courtesy of Paramount

Williams went solo after friction with the band but still struggled to write original lyrics. By Better Man‘s accounts, Williams had a similar cinematic trajectory as Johnny Cash or Freddie Mercury.

However, Better Man represents Williams as a talking monkey. Director Michael Gracey explains in a pre-film video that he took Williams literally when the singer called himself a performing monkey.

So this is a Planet of the Apes visual effect. It’s Williams’ voice but Jonno Davies performing the reference footage, along with a few other performers for elaborate dance scenes.

The film never gets used to having a monkey as the lead character, a real-life figure who is still alive at that. It never ceases to be off-putting, especially when Williams sings and dances elaborate choreography, and that is part of the film’s power.

Now, when Williams goes through the stereotypical spiral into drugs and alcohol, watching a monkey recreate those scenes is avant-garde art. The visual effect captures Williams’ charm and emotional turmoil, so it’s not a joke.

It only becomes more shocking the more famous Williams gets. Once he starts sporting revealing dance outfits, even more fur is on display.

It’s not even a movie star embodying Williams. There’s neither the real Williams nor an actor’s persona to attach to the film, removing yet another layer of artifice but replacing it with an even more jarring one.

As if one monkey isn’t daring enough, Williams’ inner demons are also visualized as monkeys. So many scenes boast monkey Williams staring at disapproving monkeys too.

Other biopic traditions include a scene where Williams sings a rough demo of his future hit “Something Beautiful” and confronting his absent father (Steve Pemberton) over abandoning him. The biopic tradition of showing photos of the real Williams during the credits actually breaks the spell when audiences can see he was not an actual monkey.

The monkey is the boldest leap Better Man takes but it is not the only one. A disco ball effect lights vast outdoor locations, and the film includes a climactic action scene.

Musical numbers are dynamic, including a romp through the streets of London in an unbroken take. A duet between Williams and lover Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) evokes Astaire and Rogers.

The film embodies Williams’ irreverent spirit, as if a drama starring a monkey could ever be reverent. In his narration, Williams is self-deprecating, and some of the dance numbers blatantly injure pedestrians in their choreography.

The new arrangements of Williams’ songs add dimensions to his hits.

Better Man is bold cinema. The audacity alone is worth celebrating, but the fact that it works is a miracle.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.