Paul McCartney gave his fans a wonderful early Christmas present with a magnificent gig at The O2 on 5 December. This was the fourth time I’d been lucky enough to see McCartney, and this was easily the best.
Macca doesn’t need support artists. Instead, people who took their positions early were treated to a video montage and remixes of some of his best known hits. Then, at 20:15, the man himself took the stage and set about wowing the audience for nigh on three full hours.
The setlist was fantastic. He started with Hello Goodbye, and finished, appropriately, with The End. In between we were treated with 35 other magnificent numbers.
My personal favourites of the night were The Word – with its segue into the chorus of All You Need is Love (played for the first time in the UK), Blackbird – played to an arena otherwise so quiet in which you’d otherwise hear a pin drop, and Junior’s Farm – a song which I’d hoped to see him do ever since seeing it appear on his earlier setlists of the same tour. However, my absolute favourite was a phenomenal rendition of Live and Let Die with stunning pyrotechnics, the heat of which raised the temperature in the room a fair few notches more!
McCartney was in a humble mood, purposefully soaking in the atmosphere at one point, which given the performance he put on for us, he was perfectly entitled to do. Marriage has clearly made him a happy man, and his performance was markedly better for it.
All in all a top night was had. If you haven’t already seen him live, do take the opportunity. He’s a living legend.
Musings on moving moments in music.