Fans of The Beatles young and old were treated to over two hours of Macca magic at a special homecoming gig at Liverpool's O2 Academy. The intimate gig with a crowd of only 1,200 lucky ticket holders came at the end of a mammoth world tour and Sir Paul was pleased that the show was back in his hometown proclaiming 'It's Beautiful'
A set of 33 songs took the crowd on a musical journey of one of the most talented songwriters the world has ever seen. Classic Beatles, Wings and solo material filled the setlist along with covers of Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles standards. There was even space for some pre-Beatles Lennon and McCartney with 'One after 909' originally written in the late 50's
The atmosphere was a strange one. The room was buzzing with anticipation as the former Beatle took to the stage. The crowd was a real mixture of young and old, die hard fans, the city's musos, the odd celebrity and those just happy to be at the city's biggest gig of 2010.
Opening with blues classic 'Honey Hush' followed swiftly by the first Beatles song of the night 'Magical Mystery Tour', things did take a while to warm up (Jet aside), with the audience perhaps stood in awe and respect of the legend before them. But, as the evening progressed, the crowd loosened up their vocal chords and began to enjoy the night.
Following a cover of Gaye's Tamla classic 'Hitch Hike', which he had performed at The Apollo theater in NYC earlier in the month, McCartney performed the raw 'Highway' a track written with Martin Glover (Youth) as part of The Fireman project.
Tributes were paid to former band members George Harrison and John Lennon. Firstly 'Something' fronted up with a Ukelele intro remembered a young George, while a medley of 'A Day in the Life' and 'Give Peace a Chance' gave Paul a chance to pay respects to John in his 70th birthday year.
Highlights of the night were undoubtably 'Band on the Run' which lifted the crowd before the main set finale climaxing with 'Get Back' and of course the sing-a-long-a-thon of 'Hey Jude'. Both encore openers 'Day Tripper' and 'Yesterday' offered perfect Beatles moments before a truly special night finished with Sgt Peppers (the end)
Just one concern... Rumoured to be present at the gig fresh from her panto performance, Pamela Anderson probably thinks every Monday night you can catch a World famous legend playing the little rock n' roll venue at the back of the Empire theatre. If only...
www.liverpool-live.infoSET LIST
1. Honey Hush
2. Magical Mystery Tour
3. Jet
4. Got To Get You Into My Life
5. All My Loving
6. One After 909
7. Drive My Car
8. Let Me Roll It
9. The Long And Winding Road
10. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
11. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying
12. Maybe I’m Amazed
13. Blackbird
14. Calico Skies
15. I've Just Seen A Face
16. And I Love Her
17. Dance Tonight
18. Eleanor Rigby
19. Hitch Hike
20. Highway
21. Something
22. Band On The Run
23. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
24. Back In The USSR
25. A Day In The Life / Give Peace A Chance
26. Let It Be
27. Hey Jude
Encore
28. Day Tripper
29. I Saw Her Standing There
30. Get Back
Second Encore
31. Yesterday
32. Lady Madonna
33. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / The End
