As an additional interactive and in-person extra to the brilliant book (which I review here), the Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm exhibition has found its current home in the recently refurbished National Portrait Gallery, sitting off the back of Trafalgar Square in London. Having loved the photographic trip down McCartney’s memory lane in his book, the chance to see them on display was too good to resist, especially as you can delve even further into the detail of his culturally relevant captures taken from 1963 to 1964.

Seeing them ‘in person’, and framed, certainly gives you an opportunity to study and look even closer into those memories of the famous Beatle, and as well as revealing more about the band at that moment and his friendships, this is was a significant era that changed everyone (and I mean everyone) involved – and I think it’s fair to say that impact remains, and in a genuinely positive way.

The exhibition itself is smartly spaced out through the chapters of the cities The Beatles visited. It initially pulls you into the room with those four black and white shots of the boys on red walls. Over time, you’ll travel from Liverpool to London, from Paris to New York, before moving onto Washington D.C., and Miami, as Beatlemania took hold of the States and consequentially the whole world – like never really seen before. Not like this.

There’s a little background featurette to watch, on how it was restored from the archive and printed, plus interviews with the band at JFK airport showcasing Ringo on top comedy form, and Paul explaining Liverpudlian English (and John noting that’s also English). I was also pleasantly surprised by a number of extra bonuses that could only happen in setting like the NPG, beyond the book.

From additional Beatles memorabilia – including original song lyrics on scraps of paper and expenses sheets from their managers, right through to an exclusively produced, scored and curated Paul McCartney Miami film and room, it’s all there to celebrate the good times. If you’ve plunged into 1964 Eyes of the Storm book, you’ll know that it’s also a journey through the epic nature of 35mm film – from those early self-portraits in black and white, to the bright, vivid vistas of Miami and the sunshine – and the exhibition enhances those moments.

With that in mind, if you have enjoyed the book already, this doesn’t change the enjoyment of the environment at all, if anything it augments as they’re presented in a way that elevates the photographs and offers a more collective moment in a specific place, as each room to dedicated to a city or those months as the band travelled through, with a colour scheme or even a projected ambiance depending on the subject matter – which includes the time of year they were taken, of course.

With timed tickets available, I didn’t feel rushed and so you can linger over the snapshots from Paul, as he captured people unknown in various cities doing their day to day jobs, but also the more intimate moments with the band, his friends, families, photographers, managers and more of those people behind-the-scenes – the ones who keep everything moving, something Paul has often spoken about himself, focusing on their individual importance – which is equal to his own, in his beliefs.

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm is a treasured accompaniment to a smart and unique coffee-table book of pure unfiltered modern history. Absolutely recommended.

The Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm photographs are exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London from now until 1st October 2023

Book your general tickets now by clicking here, there are also £5 tickets available for under 30s, school group bookings, visit their site for more: npg.org.uk/paul-mccartney-photographs

The exhibition will also travel to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia from 5 December 2023 through to 7 April 2024