Paul brought out a pair of special guests and pulled out all the stops for his post 80th-birthday performance on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury fest in England last night.
According to reports, the show was full of his usual set pieces and stories, but none of that seemed to bother most attendees.
From the Liverpool Echo:
Starting out with Can’t Buy Me Love, the crowd erupted and didn’t stop for the more than two-hour set.
Throughout, Sir Paul paid number of tributes to musicians who’ve died over the years, starting with a guitar solo dedicated to Jimi Hendrix. What followed was a the closest thing we’re ever going to get to a live Beatles concert, as Sir Paul treated crowds to familiar favourites such as Blackbird, Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da and Yesterday.
He even played the Quarrymen’s In Spite of All the Danger and told a story about how the band paid £5 to get the record, taking turns to share who kept the vinyl.
...In the first of many surprises, Sir Paul pulled out a ukulele given to him by George Harrison and sang a stripped back version of Something, before the band joined in and finished it as George would have played it himself.
It was clear from here on out that Sir Paul was thinking of his lost friends on such a momentous occasion. Next Dave Grohl joined the stage, to help sing When I Saw Her Standing There and Band On The Run.
As if one guest wasn’t enough, Bruce Springsteen came out and gave the audience a chance to dance. The pair sang The Rolling Stones' I Wanna Be Your Man, which was penned by Lennon and McCartney when they bumped into The Stones before they were "big."
...But Sir Paul had another surprise in store, in the form of an emotional encore. He bounced back onto the stage with a Ukraine flag, in support of the wartorn country. He didn’t say a word but instead held up a peace sign with his fingers.
In one last surprise , Sir Paul sang a virtual duet with John Lennon.
He explained how director Peter Jackson had isolated John’s vocals from former footage, so that the famous duo could sing together live once again. Teary-eyed, Sir Paul said “we’re back together.”
The Radio Times provided a few additional details about the show's guest performances:
Grohl, who McCartney revealed had flown in especially, received a great reception from the appreciative crowd. The pair then duetted to I Saw Her Standing There.
Grohl told McCartney "I swear, I would never miss being right here with you, right now."
Later, McCartney unveiled his next surprise as Springsteen arrived on stage to play Glory Days and I Wanna Be Your Man. Springsteen took the opportunity to wish McCartney a happy 80th birthday - a milestone the star celebrated just last week.
This came after fans had treated the star to a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' as he greeted them at the start of his set, with a touched McCartney pausing to ask "for me?"
According to Reuters:
Grohl and Springsteen came back for the final encore of "The End" from "Abbey Road".
"Thank you Dave, thank you Bruce, thank you Glasto," McCartney said before leaving the stage.
The Guardian rated the performance four stars, writing:
...the occasional lulls in the first part of the set rather potentiates what happens afterwards, when McCartney starts to pull out all the stops. He plays a medley of You Never Give Me Your Money and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window – apparently for the first time live – pays tribute to John Lennon with a version of Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! and George Harrison with a ukulele cover of Something. He brings out first Dave Grohl – who duets with him on both a thrillingly ragged take on I Saw Her Standing There and Band on the Run – then Bruce Springsteen. There’s something incredibly charming about seeing the puppyish delight on the face of Springsteen – a man who paid fulsome tribute to the Beatles and their life-changing effect on him during his acclaimed Broadway shows – as he and McCartney trade lines, first on Glory Days, then I Wanna Be Your Man. Then he lets fly with the failsafe stuff: Let It Be, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, an impressively fierce Helter Skelter and the final three songs from the Abbey Road medley, and euphoria reigns. A version of I Got a Feeling, sung as a duet with John Lennon’s isolated vocal from the Get Back series is authentically moving: you hear McCartney’s voice at 80 – thinner and raspier than it once was – set against Lennon’s, frozen in time. The audience are still singing the refrain from Hey Jude as they trudge away from the Pyramid stage into the night.
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