NEW YORK The Beatles loom so large in the history of rock 'n' roll, and the world, that watching one of the ex-Beatles perform is a strange, almost surreal experience.
But what's it like to watch two?
Few have had that opportunity. But about 6,000 people at Radio City Music Hall got to do just that on Saturday, as Ringo Starr joined Paul McCartney for three songs at the "Paul McCartney and Friends: Change Begins Within" benefit concert.
"Ladies and gentlemen ... Billy Shears," said McCartney, 66, introducing Starr, 68, for the song "With a Little Help From My Friends," which Starr sings as a character of that name.The two men shared a microphone for this number, which closed McCartney's set. McCartney then sang lead and Starr played drums on encores "Cosmically Conscious" and "I Saw Her Standing There," with concert participants like Eddie Vedder, Donovan, Moby, Sheryl Crow and Bettye LaVette chipping in on backing vocals and percussion.
The show was a benefit for transcendental meditation education, and McCartney said he wrote the obscure "Cosmically Conscious" in 1968, when the Beatles were studying meditation in India. He released the song as a bonus track on his 1993 album, "Off the Ground."
This wasn't the first time two ex-Beatles have been onstage together. Starr and George Harrison performed at the 1971 "Concert for Bangladesh" at Madison Square Garden, for instance, and McCartney and Starr paid tribute to Harrison, who died in 2001, at the 2002 "Concert For George" at London's Royal Albert Hall.
But such appearances are exceedingly rare, and especially precious now that McCartney and Starr are the only surviving members of the Fab Four.
Both men rose to the occasion, conveying an impressive amount of youthful exuberance as they sang and played. They even clowned around a little, pretending to jostle each other for better position as they took their final bows.
Everyone seemed aware of the significance of the occasion. McCartney also included, in his set, the bittersweet "Here Today," which he wrote about John Lennon following Lennon's 1980 death. And Crow sang Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," with Ben Harper on lap steel guitar. McCartney showed old photographs and film footage of the Beatles during songs like "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Band on the Run."
McCartney also performed "Let It Be," "Lady Madonna," "Drive My Car," "Jet," "Got To Get You Into My Life" and "Blackbird." McCartney said this last song was inspired by the civil rights movement of the '60s, but takes on new meaning in light of the election of Barack Obama.
Starr -- in his own set, which took place immediately before McCartney's -- sang "It Don't Come Easy," "Boys" and "Yellow Submarine," with Vedder and Crow singing along.
There were many surprises throughout the four-hour concert. An unbilled Jerry Seinfeld contributed about eight minutes of sharp standup comedy, musing on subjects like public bathrooms, taxis and marriage. Howard Stern talked about how meditation cured his mother's depression, and changed his own life. Vedder and Harper dueted on "Under Pressure," the 1981 Queen/David Bowie hit.
Three musicians who studied meditation in India with the Beatles in 1968 -- Donovan, Paul Horn and Mike Love -- helped make the show something of a reunion.
Singer-songwriter Donovan and flutist Horn performed both separately and together. Donovan also dueted with Jim James of My Morning Jacket (on "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Wear Your Love Like Heaven") and Crow (on "Season of the Witch").
Beach Boys member Love made a brief speech, getting choked up as he spoke about meditation and world peace. He also sang backing vocals on the two encores.
An estimated $3 million was raised at this show, and will go to the David Lynch Foundation, formed by the film director to teach children to meditate.