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

On April 10, 2026, a limited number of fans, subscribed to Paul McCartney’s official mailing list and residing in California, received an email invitation to attend an exclusive first listening session of his new album “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane.” The event was scheduled for April 16 at a secret location in Los Angeles.

Around thirty fans, along with three journalists, were selected. They were transported from the Capitol Records Tower to Andrew Watt’s studio. During the session, Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy made a surprise appearance, joining attendees for the playback. Paul introduced each track, sharing background details and anecdotes about the songs.

It was revealed that Paul performed most of the instruments on the album. Ringo Starr contributed drums on one track, “Home To Us“, while Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri provided backing vocals on the same recording.

Reports published by Billboard and Variety detailed the listening session and offered insights into the album’s tracks. Although invited fans were required to sign non-disclosure agreements, information about the event began to circulate on social media following the publication of these articles.

On May 5, 2026, Paul McCartney took part in another listening session with selected fans, this time held in London.

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

From Inside the secret Paul McCartney preview for his unreleased ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ album, by Steve Marinucci, April 18, 2026:

[…] The lucky folks went to the historic Capitol Records tower for what they thought was an uneventful private listening party for McCartney’s yet-to-be-released album for a select group of fans.

“They gave us a little goodie bag, a tote bag, a shirt, and stuff like that. And then, we had to sign the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and then put our phones in a Yondr pouch,” an anonymous fan who attended told us. […] “ Then they kind of like shepherded us onto these nice vans,” the fan said, “and we drove down (U.S. Route) 101 to the listening party.” To Andrew Watt’s Diamond Dust studio, according to a report in Billboard. Watt, who produced the album, was also in attendance, the article said.

When the group of fans got to the listening location, they saw two chairs at the front of the room. “ I kind of had a feeling he (Paul McCartney) was gonna show up because there was a film crew and everything and it’d be weird just to film people just sitting there listening to an album.” The small group in the studio for the event included McCartney’s wife, Nancy.

“Then at 7 p.m.,” our source said, “he walks into the room, and it’s like Beatlemania in 1964. Everybody like loses their minds.”

There was some banter back and forth while the session was going on, but nobody, got to talk to McCartney during the session on Thursday night, But, “he would react to certain things that we did” in the usual, personable, McCartney way.

The fact the fans had to sign an NDA seems a bit strange after Billboard’s article about the listening session came out Friday morning. “It’s really confusing that that Billboard article came out. Everything in that article is in the NDA that we’re not supposed to talk about,” our source said, including the fact that, as reported by Billboard, Ringo Starr plays on one track. […]

From Inside the secret Paul McCartney preview for his unreleased ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ album, by Steve Marinucci, April 18, 2026

The audience was facing Paul and Andrew. They were sitting in the front of the room in two chairs, coffee table between them with a laptop that had the album playing. We all sat on couches facing them. One camera on each side of the room, and one in the back

User TheBootlegBarn – From Did anyone attend the listening party ? : r/PaulMcCartney, April 18, 2026

I was there! Life Can Be Hard and Salesman Saint were definitely my favorites. Mountaintop is great if you like the dreamy/psychedelic sound. However one of the best parts was just being able to hear the backstories from Paul himself.

User Drakonyxx – From Did anyone attend the listening party ? : r/PaulMcCartney, April 18, 2026

The album is fantastic, genuinely. I think it’s better than McCartney III, and blows Egypt Station and New right out of the water. It’s honestly incredible how at 83 Paul is still writing songs that someone my age can connect with. Sure, they’re not as catchy as Wings or Beatles, or even early solo stuff, but they’re still really really good. Imo he is at his best when he’s writing simple silly songs. My favorites are Mountain Top, Life Can Be Hard, and Lost Horizon. Very excited for this release, and hope to catch him on tour for it. He may be old, but he’s still a Beatle. […]

The album is very much autobiographical. In a way, it seemed to me like Paul was leaving behind a coda to his career. I’m not by any means saying this is the final album, because who knows what will happen, but the songs were, at least in my opinion, written by a man getting up there in age who had fond memories of his friends and family. Lyrically I thought the album was just really really well done. it was very emotional at times. If this IS the last Paul album, he’s going out on the highest note.

The vocals didn’t seem too treated to me, I mean I’m sure there are some FX over it since Paul is 83, but imo he wanted to keep it as natural as possible. The vocals from the released single are a good indication of the rest of the record.

The duet was magic. Did not seem forced whatsoever, it was like listening to a boomer Temple of the Dog, two old friends playing together again. maybe I’m just blinded by my love for the band, but any time you get multiple Beatles on a song it’ll be great.

User jujuhounds – From Steve Hoffman Music Forums, April 20, 2026

I can now talk about it. I was one of 30 or so people chosen last Thursday to join @paulmccartney in-person for a premiere of his new LP “The Boys of Dungeon Lane.” I don’t know how or why we were invited. But I noticed immediately that everyone was an incredibly kind superfan. I am forever grateful to Macca’s team.

I was told via email to meet at Capitol Records to be shuttled to a “secret location.” They locked up our phones, gave us some swag (with our names hand-written), and shuttled us to @thisiswatt’s recording studio. In walks Paul. […] I don’t know how to put into words how unprocessable this experience was. I’ve been disassociating every 90 minutes since. A few highlights, eh?

• Paul told a story about how pre-famous George branded his ass with his trousers’ butt zipper from sitting on a hot lorry battery while hitchhiking down to the South of England.
• Paul mentioned one of the songs featured Chrissie Hynde on bg vocals. I went “YEAH!!!” and Paul seconded: “Yeah.” This was an interaction between me and Paul McCartney.
• The song “Never Know” blew my mind. A McCartney-classic chord progression that builds to a psychedelic, bombastic finale. I gave it a standing ovation. I was the only one to do so. Also ngl the couch I was sitting on was killing my back because I guess I’m old now and I really needed to stretch. The big cameras filming the event turned to me as I stood up – I panicked. I gave the nearest camera two thumbs up and a goofus smile. Nice dude.
• I watched Paul McCartney return a 🫶 to @sydtrip. Basically witnessed history.

I woke up the next morning and thought I’d dreamt it all. When I realized it had actually happened, I smiled so damn big and for so long that my cheeks got sore. A fellow fan that was there @lexiloo88 said it best – “It’s amazing when real life is better than the dream.”

Alan – From The Toxhards on Facebook, April 20, 2026

I was there. The few journalists and production folks present were not on “the list” but were there separately in their professional capacities. Of course we “nerdy thirty” spent much of the evening trying to figure out HOW or WHY we got a golden ticket. This discussion was inconclusive. I did not buy a variant of the record from Paul’s site before being invited. There was no obvious demographic preference (people in their 20s to 60s were included). Some of us were invited by DM, some email, some text. I spoke with one person on Paul’s team who said that they could not discuss the selection method other than to say, “you can be sure you were one of the top 30 Macca fans in Southern California by at least one measure.” […]

I think all of us in attendance struggle to put this into words. It was… surreal. Essentially we were sitting on couches and chairs in a living room-scale studio, hanging out for a couple of hours a few feet from Paul who told stories, interacted, strummed two guitars, and talked us through his creative process for each song on the album, one by one, and the album as a whole. And told personal stories from now and then. The word that keeps recurring is intimate. Very intimate. I sat directly behind Nancy, who was funny (after her speaking voice appeared on the record briefly, she called out, “riveting!”) and absolutely lovely as you would expect. Depending on where you sat, you were two feet to 12 feet from a Beatle all evening. There were 8K cameras in our faces the whole time so I assume you’ll get to see and hear at least some of it! Among the strangest and most wonderful experiences in life yet.

About the record: I considered the question, if I were introduced to ANY album that Paul has EVER produced in this way, would I love it forever? And the answer is definitively YES. I for one will never be able to separate the record from this absolutely unbelievable thing that happened to 30 of us, one night on planet earth. And so, in that way, I disqualify myself as a reviewer. This album is perfect. It is imbued with magic. It will allow me to time travel, forever, at the drop of a needle or press of a button, to that one time I got to hang around Paul. […]

It is as varied a Macca album as I can think of. There are rock songs, upbeat anthemic pop songs, ballads and quiet songs (like “Days…” but not predominantly). There are songs written over four or five decades. It is very much a “band” sounding record even if the band was mostly Paul and Andrew. It is not Chaos and Creation (an album I love). There is some “When We Was Fab”-like Beatles nostalgia for those who like that, and plenty of claaassic Paul melodies that raised hairs on my arms. There are corny bits and music and lyrics that made me ugly cry on camera lol. I can’t emphasize enough that the vibe is not overly quiet or downbeat or reflective. There are calm songs (to use your word) but there are equally raucous songs and bouncy earworms. In other words, get excited!! […]

I think his singing has not been stronger in quite a few years. I don’t know if he rested better, or who knows what therapies they are pioneering (Elton comes to mind as someone whose voice has moved around rather than always steadily declining) . . . I should not speculate. What I can say with confidence is that the frailty seems to come in all the right places with this material, and yes, when the song calls for it, he’s giving strong and tuneful. I think overall the vocals are more robust than on either of those records [“Egypt Station” / “McCartney III”]. Even his speaking voice is less whispery/raspy. Ringo sounds amazing on the duet. Go Silver Beatles!

User kenneraction – From Secret Paul meetup: who are the Nerdy 30? : r/PaulMcCartney