"We had a blast-and you were the blasters!," Paul McCartney told the crowd at the end of his surprise Tuesday show at New York City. McCartney played a spontaneous gig at the Bowery Ballroom, a beloved rock bar on the Lower East Side that holds only 575 people.

Paul McCartney, 82, hosted a surprise show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on Tuesday night, after announcing the pop-up concert just hours earlier.

Starting promptly at 6:30pm, McCartney and his band rocked The Bowery Ballroom for two straight hours. Paul McCartney Rips Through Intimate Club Show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC

Seeing a rising artist in a small venue is magical—but watching a global icon like Paul McCartney perform an intimate concert? Once in a lifetime. That’s exactly what happened last night in New York City when the legendary Beatle shocked fans with a surprise show at The Bowery Ballroom.

And when that ticket gets you into a 575-capacity venue in New York City to see Sir Paul McCartney? Well, it just might be the deal of a lifetime. Midday Tuesday (Feb. 11), it was revealed that the Beatle would perform a last-minute underplay at Manhattan's peerless Bowery Ballroom that very evening – with tickets only available at the box office.

Paul McCartney’s previous New York-area performance took place three years ago at MetLife Stadium, capacity 82,500. His surprise show Tuesday night at the Bowery Ballroom fit, at most, 575. It was probably less than that since McCartney’s sound board and gear — too much to fit backstage — occupied a portion of the floor space at the venerable downtown theater.

Paul McCartney was hilariously 'snubbed' at the end of SNL's star-studded 50th anniversary special after he performed a Beatles medley.