Paul McCartney bumps his Hofner bass into the ceiling - backstage 2009

Paul McCartney accidentally bumps his Hofner bass into the ceiling, minutes before showtime. Backstage at the O2 Dublin, Good Evening Europe tour 2009.

[Patsik]

Paul seems the only one who's thinking: "Well, just another scratch added, big deal".
The rest of the world is having a heart attack.

[Fredrockroll]

Anyone who owns an isntrument know that sinking feeling you get when you hit it against the wall or something like that

[theevildalek]

When that Bass hit the ceiling, every Beatles, Wings, McCartney or in fact any music fan or musician winced.

[tecnica-de-voz]

The face of the guitarist is priceless. 0:31

[marendenison]

0:32 "it's not a very expensive instrument, it's not iconic or anything"

[TheMichaelseymour]

the price of that thing went thru the roof .

[nigelmurphy]

"Whatever you do, don't it hit on the ceiling!" haha! Briliant! Was at this gig! One of the best nights of my life!!

[rr]

The guy's face at :31 shows that instrument have a soul. When we injure our instruments, we feel physical pain, like seeing another guy getting kicked in the balls.

[ocean]

Please start playing the Rickenbacker again Paul. That bass sounded great!

[KrispyChurro]

That ceiling must have been so proud that night. That ceiling probably went from $200 to like $6000

[laure]

0:38 'It's still working!' 'yay!'

[Del-Canada]

Honestly, as long as any damage done is done by Paul it doesn't matter. He actually just drove the value of that bass up to priceless multiplied by infinity.

[scarletdoll]

I dont know if im weird but i find Paul cute even if he's old

[dannydubya]

Imagine hearing thousands of people screaming because they are about to see you walk onstage, and you just casually go "alright let's head in"

[johnbazy]

He got lucky.
Low ceilings are how Townshend started smashing guitars in the first place.

[jononbass]

It doesn't matter if he just bought it, that fact the Paul touched it makes it unbelievably valuable

[AppleCorp]

The '61, which is the original one. It is easily identified by the two pick ups being closer to the neck and slightly orange finish (see Revolution video). This bass was stolen in January of 1969. The '63 bass is the one he used much from 1963 onwards to today (pick guard removed in '66). Hofner has presented him with a few but as far as I know it's just been those two on record and live. The one we see live now is the Ed Sullivan, Hard Day's Night, Rooftop one. Pretty historic!

[mattiboo]

I have a feeling that Paul doesn't play his original 1962/63 bass much anymore.  I think he has exact replicas made with the small scratch underneath the treble pickup.  I think he plays it at some shows, like Wrigley Field 2011 when he announced that he was playing his original bass.  If you notice, he never says that he is playing his original Hofner at shows.  That is why he doesn't seem very concerned when he bumps the bass in this video.

[nfindc]

0:04 Paul's little 'woop-woop-woop' after the group hug always makes me smile!

[RastaSaiyaman]

He took his Hofner on tour with the Wings and he and his tech had a thing where Paul would throw it at his tech and he'd catch it. Paul Daughter Stella was there and saw it happening once and she took the Hofner that tossed it to her daddy who wasn't even looking and only noticed what had happened when he heard the smash as it hit the floor.

That was also the reason why it took until the collaboration with Elvis Costello until we saw the Hofner back into action, it was heavily damaged.