Paul McCartney And Ringo Starr Reunite

04/06/09 2:02pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited on stage at a benefit for the David Lynch Foundation, which provides Transcendental Meditation training to children, on Saturday night in New York City.

The two musicians performed on stage together for the first time since November 2002 when they played London, England's Concert For George to mark the first anniversary of George Harrison's death.

Starr played a short set that included The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" with Sheryl Crow and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder on back-up vocals and the Fab Four's "Boys" before McCartney played 12 songs. They included The Beatles' "Drive My Car," "Got To Get You Into My Life," "Lady Madonna," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Blackbird" and "Let It Be," along with songs he wrote with Wings, his post-Beatles band.

Starr joined McCartney on stage for a three-song finale that included The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends." The whole cast — including The Beach Boys' Mike Love, Moby, Vedder, Crow, Donovan and Ben Harper — then joined McCartney to perform "Cosmically Conscious," which originally appeared as an excerpt on McCartney's 1993 Off The Ground album, and The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." McCartney said he wrote "Cosmically Conscious" while The Beatles studied Transcendental Meditation in 1968 with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India.

A star with Harrison's name will be added to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame along Los Angeles' Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street on April 14. Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, and his 30-year-old Dhani will attend the ceremony.

Capitol/EMI will make an announcement that same day about a new Harrison release, and director Martin Scorsese (The Departed, Goodfellas) is filming a documentary about Harrison's life.

Dhani Harrison's first album with his band, Thenewno2, was released last week. Harrison sings and plays guitar and synthesizers in the band, which is much more dance- and post-punk-oriented than anything his father's band wrote.

Here's an excerpt of McCartney and Starr singing "With A Little Help From My Friends":