Listening party for “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane” in Los Angeles

On April 10, 2026, some users who had subscribed to the official Paul McCartney marketing emails received an email inviting them to an exclusive first listen to Paul McCartney’s new album “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane” on April 16 at a secret location in Los Angeles.

Thirty fans, along with 3 journalists, had been invited and were shuttled from Capitol Records Tower to Andrew Watt’s studio in Los Angeles. Paul McCartney, and his wife Nancy, were surprisingly present. Paul introduced each track, giving the background story of each song. It was also revealed that he played almost all instruments, with Ringo Starr playing drums on one track, and Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri contributing backing vocals on the same track.

Billboard and Variety reported details of each track of the album shared during this listening party.

We’re going to play the album and we’re going to explain how we made it. Welcome my missus, Nancy.

Paul McCartney – From Billboard, April 17, 2026

After running through all 14 songs, McCartney said, “As you can hear, there’s no one theme. They’re very different, the tracks.” He admitted that putting together an album, “I sometimes worry and think, shouldn’t it have a theme all the way through? But then I remember Beatles albums…” At this, the audience laughed in recognition, as McCartney further pointed out the incongruity of following “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” with “Here Comes the Sun.” “All the songs are very different, so I didn’t worry about that.”

From Variety, April 17, 2026

On these tracks it’s pretty much me playing drums, except for one track. When we started… I know Andrew uses Chad of the Red Hot Chili Peppers a lot as his drummer, and I said, ‘You’re gonna get Chad in?’ And he said, ‘Why don’t you have a go?’ So I did.

Paul McCartney – From Variety, April 17, 2026