I ventured down to the city were the streets are made of gold - that's London to anyone who hasn't read Dick Whittington to see the legend that is Sir Paul McCartney. Anyway, I was armed with all the usual writing apparatus and my trusty chisel as I needed some way of getting to all that gold.
When I arrived there my hopes were high as he was, and by all accounts still is, a Beatle who has made some of the greatest music ever. So I was expecting a good one and, in true fashion, he delivered. Everything about his set was brilliant, the vocals, the instrumentals and most of all the songs. I've never been to a gig were the 65 year olds in the audience were going more crazy to the songs than their younger counterparts.
He played some of his best known songs such as "Paperback Writer", "Blackbird" and "Eleanor Rigby". He also played some tracks from his time with Wings such as "Band on the run" and "Live and Let Die" and some recent solo stuff such as "The Fireman" (supposedly about Heather Mills…) which, when announced, was met by groans from the adoring crowd. In actual fact, the song wasn't that bad.
He was accompanied by a quality backing group that played very tightly together. Each member brought their own personal playing qualities that complimented the music perfectly. McCartney controlled the stage in a way only he would know how, with little quips here and there directed at the audience and between songs he would regale us with anecdotes about years gone by. One such anecdote was about Jimi Hendrix and at the end of "Let me roll it" he started playing the riff to "Foxy Lady".
The encores of were something special and lasted about 40 minutes. Now, the first encore was good but the second was even better. Hearing "Helter Skelter" live was brilliant laced as it was with fireworks and pyrotechnics to liven things right up. After that he played "Mull of Kintyre" - which is rarely played live - and halfway through was joined by an 18 strong troupe of pipers. The set ended with "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" and "The End".
Now usually I hate all the idiocy that comes with kilts and pipes but heck when I was there I felt a sense of pride. Not sure if the rest of the audience did as, after all, this was in the heart of England. But still the show was amazing and I wholeheartedly recommend stumping up the cash to go and see him.