Whatever your musical preferences (and the Beatles were in no way one of mine growing up), an objective analysis of the most significant figures in 20th century popular music would have Paul McCartney right up at the top, possibly only rivalled by Elvis Presley. Unlike the latter, he is still very much with us at 82, and any tour is therefore a culturally significant event.

After his universally acclaimed Glastonbury appearance in 2022 the ‘Got Back’ tour finally returned to his native UK for a pair of arena dates in both Manchester and these London shows. Sure, tickets were not cheap (£183 each for our tickets in the upper bowl), but the atmosphere had a real sense of occasion to it with an audience of all ages, not just ‘boomers’.

He came on stage in simple fashion, wearing a dark blue jacket, and, playing his left handed Hofner bass (for once the overused word ‘iconic’ was apposite), opened with ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, a lady in front of me moving excitedly in her seat like a throwback to all those screaming Beatlemaniacs.

Being of the age that associates Wings with ‘Mull of Kintyre’ and ‘Silly Love Songs’, there was then a pair of reminders that they were once in more credible rock territory, in ‘Junior’s Farm’, complete with some harmony lead guitar and ‘Letting Go’ which had an R’n’B feel with a bluesy guitar solo and the first appearance of a three man horn section.

His band, most of whom have played with him for over 20 years, were excellent, without ever trying to outshine their boss, notably the two guitarists Bryan Ray (who switched to bass when needed) and Rusty Anderson and even on a golden oldie like ‘Drive My Car’ the latter showed off some fine slide playing, while the horn section was prominent on more vintage Beatles in ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’.

After ‘Come Onto Me’ Sir Paul switched to guitar for ‘Let Me Roll it’, with a coda of a musical and anecdotal tribute to Jimi Hendrix a reminder that he is also a living witness to rock history, and ‘Getting Better’. He then moved to piano for a pair of Wings songs in ‘Let Em In’ and the lively rocker ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ before dedicating ‘My Valentine’ to wife Nancy and ending that mini section with another trademark ballad in ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’.

The elephant in the room was the received wisdom that his voice has not weathered well. Yes it was thinner, and his speaking voice was also a little hoarse, but he is 82 for heaven’s sake. He benefits from well-placed band support and was a little less distinct on some of the faster numbers, but that lilting voice was still recognisably his and no one could say he butchered any of the songs, as some of his contemporaries or younger are known to.

This was put to the test on a stripped back section with Paul and band huddled at the front of the stage, opening with ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’, and going all the way back in history to his pre-Beatles band The Quarrymen for ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ and a surprisingly effective ‘Love Me Do’ with some blues harp from Paul Wix Wickens, who then enlivened ‘Dance Tonight’ with some accordion playing.

In the second half of the set the audio-visual spectacles became more elaborate and preceded by the usual anecdote about the civil rights movement, Paul delivered ‘Blackbird’ solo on an emblazoned platform, which rose spectacularly a good 20 feet above the stage then, after ‘Here Today’ with a loving dedication to John Lennon, he resumed at piano with an accompaniment to a video backdrop of the Beatles recent reconstituted No 1 single ‘Now and Then’.

In between a well-received ‘Lady Madonna’ and ‘Obla-Di Obla-Da’, with the crowd singing and dancing (encouragingly most of the lower bowl, where patrons are normally selective about standing, were on their feet for most of the show), there was proof of how McCartney either pioneered or successfully carried off nearly every form of rock going, in the almost art rock sounds of ‘Jet’ and the proto psychedelia of ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite’.

It was George Harrison’s turn to receive an eulogy in his rendition of ‘Something’, the majority played on ukulele, while ‘Band On The Run’ featured some impressive slide, but then came the moment I had been dreading. There has always been a twee and whimsical side to him (which was at its worst during my impressionable 1980’s youth) and as he played ‘Wonderful Christmas Time’, a banal song inescapable in every shopping mall at this time of year, I found myself asking why he couldn’t have played these shows in any month but this? That said, the show was entertaining with the horn section dressed as elves and the arena shrouded in fake snow, while the Capital Children’s Choir were well worthy of the applause I gave in curmudgeonly fashion.

Back on track, we were in the home straight of one much-loved classic after another and after ‘Get Back’, Paul returned to piano for ‘Let It Be’. It was at this stage that I began to become unusually emotional, thinking that we were privileged to be hearing a living legend still around performing these iconic songs.

In complete contrast, ‘Live And Let Die’ featured the most spectacular pyro you could carry off indoors, then in another abrupt style shift, ‘Hey Jude’ featured all 20,000 participants in a great communal experience, which he helped, getting the men, women and then whole crowd to sing along. At this point I realised that these songs will still be sung two hundred years from now by everyone from football crowds to street buskers, and we were the lucky ones that saw at first hand the creator of these enduring works performing them.

How do you follow that? Well, the strength of his back catalogue is such that even the likes of ‘Yesterday’ and ‘The Long and Winding Road’ did not even make the cut this time. The answer was that he said he was going to do something very special for him, in the form of ‘I Got A Feeling’, as halfway through video footage of John Lennon appeared singing the second part of the song. ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ then segued into a raucous ‘Helter Skelter’, adding heavy rock to that list of musical styles, before a 2 hour 40 minutes set ended with an ‘Abbey Road’ medley of ‘Golden Slumbers’, ‘Carry That Weight’ and ‘The End’.

My euphoria was only dampened slightly when I discovered the following night was rendered even more special by the appearance of Ringo Starr (and Ronnie Wood). I would never have imagined saying this in my younger days, but the sense of occasion that we were witnessing (albeit maybe not for the last time?) a living legend, allied to a perfectly executed stage show, meant my last gig of 2024 came in as the most memorable.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)