‘Spinal Tap 2’: First trailer previews Paul McCartney and Elton John cameos

The long-awaited follow-up to 1984's 'This Is Spinal Tap' will be released on September 12

The first trailer preview from the long-awaited Spinal Tap 2 film has been shared, with cameo appearances from Paul McCartney and Elton John.

The movie is a follow-up to the beloved 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap – based on fictional rock band Spinal Tap, which has become a cult classic in recent years. It stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer portraying the hapless heavy metal trio, all of whom are set to return to the second film.

Now, a new trailer has been shared for its follow-up, Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues. Per the synopsis, the upcoming film “blends the same musical mayhem and satire that made the original a cult classic and features some fantastic rock cameos in the process. Will this concert be their triumphant return, or just another Stonehenge-sized catastrophe?”

This time around, the band are set to play one reunion show, which comes years after the height of their success, with the band members having now assimilated back into everyday life, with one working as a cheesemonger and playing music only at a tiny local pub.

Now, without a drummer, after the last one “sneezed himself into oblivion”, the band returns to the spotlight, with Marty DiBergi (a Martin Scorsese-esque documentary filmmaker played by real director Rob Reiner) once again on board, this time recording the band’s reunion concert.

There’s also a series of cameos from megastars including John, Questlove and McCartney. Check it out below.

It comes after a first clip was shared earlier this month, in which The Thick Of It star Chris Addison plays a music executive and advises the band that “at least one, but ideally two of you, would die” in an upcoming farewell concert. In a separate promo teaser, Reiner’s character also attempts a group Zoom call with the band, which ends in disaster.

Last year in an interview with Empire, Reiner shared what singer David St. Hubbins, guitarist Nigel Tufnel and bassist Derek Smalls have been up to following the disbandment of Spinal Tap.

The sequel was first revealed in 2022, with Reiner at the time telling NME: We never thought we would do a sequel. It was only because we started to talk to each other and we came up with an idea we think might work – we don’t know it will. We’re going to try. The bar is incredibly high. We debated whether or not we should do it… I said, ‘Look at us, we’re all in our 70s. How much time are we going to have [left] to have some fun?’”

The director also accepted that there were a lot of Spinal Tap fans out there who were worried it might be terrible. “You don’t want us to cock it up!” he added. “That’s the thing: we wouldn’t try unless we thought we had something that could work.”

It is expected to come out on September 12 this year in the US, with a UK premiere yet to be announced.