From Cappuccino to Cupertino: Sir Paul Shares Behind-the-Scenes Apple Park Footage
Paul McCartney / YouTube
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Apple wrapped up its Global Golden Anniversary earlier this month in a gala affair that brought Sir Paul McCartney to Apple Park — and, in retrospect, turned out to be a nice sendoff for Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The final concert at Apple Park was the culmination of three weeks of anniversary celebrations that began in mid-March with a surprise concert at Apple’s Grand Central New York Store featuring Alicia Keyson her signature pink piano, followed by another concert with Li Yuchun (Chris Lee) at China’s Taikoo Li Apple Store in Chengdu, and Mumford & Sons at Apple Battersea in London.
Still, none of this compared to McCartney performing on Apple Park’s Rainbow stage to a packed crowd of employees, especially since he treated the audience to an expansive setlist spanning his entire career, including “Help,” “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “Blackbird,” “Lady Madonna,” “Something,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “From Me To You,” “Getting Better,” “Let It Be,” and “Hey Jude.” Hits from his Wings era included “Coming Up,” “Let Me Roll It,” “Let ‘Em In,” “Band On The Run,” followed by solo favorites “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Every Night” and closing with “Golden Slumbers.”
Unfortunately for most of us, all of Apple’s anniversary concerts were private, invite-only affairs. While Apple Grand Central exists in the middle of a busy transit hub, allowing passers-by to enjoy the performance from a distance, the Apple Park concert was very much an employee-only affair, leaving most folks to simply enjoy it from what they could experience second-hand on social media, especially since Apple never released any official footage.
However, that’s at least been partly rectified by McCartney, who has now directly shared some of the highlights along with a really fun behind-the-scenes look at his trip to Apple Park, from meeting Tim Cook to lighting up Apple Park with fireworks.
In March 2026, Paul McCartney travelled to Cupertino to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Apple Inc, following two sold?out shows at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. This special film captures exclusive behind?the?scenes moments on the Apple campus and a candid conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
It’s an incredibly special day for us, our 50th anniversary, and we could not be happier to have Paul here to share it with. We love the Beatles. We love the band itself. We love Paul. I can’t think of anyone better to celebrate the moment with.
Tim Cook
While you won’t see any full songs being performed in the three-minute “tour diary,” it does include a few delightful moments, such as when McCartney is shown touring Apple Park with Cook and comments on how “Steve gave me the first Apple phone in England,” or how he once thought the iPhone was designed in “Cappuccino” rather than Cupertino.
McCartney also later reflects on when first saw the shot that Apple ultimately used on its homepage when it announced The Beatles were now on iTunes in 2010. Cook nostalgically notes that “Steve Jobs was so proud of” that photo, since the Apple co-founder was a huge Beatles fan, and McCartney added that it was “nice because it was a shot that hadn’t been widely publicized” and therefore felt “new.”
It was an appropriate pairing as, like Apple, McCartney is still going strong after even more than 50 years, having come off a concert tour and preparing for the release of his next album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane on May 29.
