The Concert!

Paul McCartney headlines Liverpool concert
10 hours ago

LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) — Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney headlined a concert on Sunday in front of 36,000 fans in his home city of Liverpool -- this year's European Capital of Culture.

The 65-year-old topped a star-studded bill, and opened his set by playing "Hippy Hippy Shake", "Jet" and "Drive My Car" at Anfield Stadium, home of Premiership side Liverpool football club.

"Thank you for coming tonight -- in the city of culture -- at the centre of the universe," McCartney, dressed in a black suit reminiscent of The Beatles' heyday, told the crowd as his performance began.

By the end of the set, he had played 26 songs, including classics such as "Penny Lane", "Back in the USSR", "Live and Let Die" -- which was played with an accompanying fireworks display -- "Let It Be", "Hey Jude", and "Yesterday".

After finishing his 1 hour 45 minute performance by playing "I Saw Her Standing There", he told the audience: "You've been brilliant tonight. I knew you would be."

"We are here for Macca," 62-year-old Brenda Baily, who was attending the concert with Maureen McCarthy, 66, told AFP.

"He is a legend. We saw Ringo in January, but Macca is even bigger."

Like their idol, many of the fans in the audience were teenagers in the 1960s, but the youth of several concert-goers proved that the Fab Four conquered younger generations as well.

"We didn't experience the Beatles, but we thought we had to take this opportunity while he is still alive," said Virginie Brazet, 28, who travelled from Perpignan, southern France, with her 32-year-old sister Sabine for the concert.

"We want to hear classics by the Beatles and by McCartney," she added.

Also performing on Sunday were the Kaiser Chiefs, who entertained the crowd for nearly an hour and a half with their hits, including "Ruby" and "The Angry Mob", and Liverpool band The Zutons.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, whose appearance had been kept under wraps in the run-up to the concert, played three songs as well.

Manchester United and England football star Wayne Rooney was in attendance at the concert with his fiancee Coleen McLoughlin, while Yoko Ono, the widow of ex-Beatle John Lennon said on Friday that she would be present.

"Being European Capital of Culture is a good thing," McCartney told the BBC earlier. "About 12 years ago, Liverpool was a bit on its knees -- it was not in good shape at all. But now there's quite a resurgence."

Sunday's four-hour gig -- five years to the day since McCartney's last concert in the port city in northwest England -- was the highlight of the "Liverpool 08" calendar.

Before the concert, McCartney dashed hopes that Ringo Starr, the only other surviving member of the Beatles, would join him on stage, telling the Liverpool Echo newspaper: "That was never going to be on the cards."

Part of the proceeds will go to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, which McCartney set up in his old school.

Earlier in the day, he attended a special fashion show with Ono where Stella McCartney unveiled her latest autumn and winter fashion collection.

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