Paul McCartney reveals what he thinks when he looks back at old footage of The Beatles

Paul McCartney has revealed his fond thoughts when he looks back at his days with The Beatles.

The 81-year-old rock legend tells The Herald Sun that he feels 'joy' when he sees old photos or videos of the foursome.

'When you look at pictures of yourself quite a bit younger, there's a lot of emotions. I think one is, "Boy, didn't I look good?"' he said.

Well, we all looked young and beautiful. I think everyone experiences that. You look at pictures of yourself in college and you think, "God, I didn't even think I looked good, but I was wrong; I do look good."'

He added: 'I'm very proud to have been through that period and to be able to have had the luxury of capturing that period. How great does John look?.

'How handsome is George, and how funny is Ringo? I just like the positive aspects of these things. A joy of the past.'

It comes as Paul announced that he is set to play his first concerts Down Under in six years.

The tour will kick off in Adelaide on October 18, the city that saw 350,000 people line the streets when The Beatles first visited Australia in 1964.

He will then move on to Melbourne on October 21, before heading on to Newcastle on October 24 and Sydney on October 27.

The tour will wrap up with a show in Brisbane on November 1 before moving on to the Gold Coast on November 4.

McCartney said he has amazing memories of his previous visits.

'Our last trip was so much fun,' he said in a statement.

'We had such an incredible time. Each show was a party, so we know this is going to be incredibly special. Australia, we are going to rock! I can't wait to see you.'

McCartney's last tour in Australia in 2017 was a series of epic three-hour shows that saw him beat the likes of Ed Sheeran to win a Helpmann Award for Best International Contemporary Concert.

The upcoming tour will have some elements that are very contemporary indeed, with expectations the former Beatle will perform a virtual duet with former bandmate John Lennon, created using AI technology.

At the Glastonbury festival in 2022, McCartney performed I've Got A Feeling, a song originally recorded during the Beatles' famous 1969 rooftop concert in London.

He sang along with a track of John Lennon's voice that had been extracted from an old demo tape using artificial intelligence, matched to historic vision of the concert.

McCartney told BBC Radio 4's Today program that AI is 'something that we're all sort of tackling at the moment'.

'When Peter Jackson did the film (The Beatles) Get Back, where it was us making the Let It Be album, he was able to extricate John's voice from a ropey little bit of cassette and a piano,'' he said.

'He could separate them with AI, he'd tell the machine 'That's a voice, this is a guitar, lose the guitar'.

'We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record as you would do.'