London • Saturday, May 23, 2015

Highlights

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From paulmccartney.com on March, 6th 2015:

Paul McCartney’s first UK show in three years marks the 50th anniversary of the writing of one the world’s most popular songs ‘Yesterday’ and will be Paul’s 50th solo performance in London

Paul McCartney, currently enjoying global chart success with ‘FourFiveSeconds’, a collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna, announces plans to bring his ‘Out There’ tour to Europe in 2015 for his first full concert in the UK in over three years. The O2 show will coincide with the 50th anniversary of one of the world’s most loved and most popular songs of all time, ‘Yesterday’. […]

The concert at The O2 Arena also marks another special career moment for Paul as it will be his 50th solo performance in the UK’s capital since appearing at Live Aid in 1985.  Since then, Paul has performed in a number of London’s most iconic venues and locations including the 100 Club, Royal Albert Hall, Earl’s Court, Electric Ballroom, ICA, Roundhouse, Battersea Power Station, Hyde Park, the Olympic Stadium and of course, Buckingham Palace. His most recent London performance was in 2013 when he played a pop-up show in Covent Garden’s Piazza.

It is also fitting that Paul celebrates his 50th London solo performance at The O2. As well as playing there twice previously in 2009 and 2011, Paul used the Millennium Dome (as it was then known) as a rehearsal space in 2004 for his massive stadium ’04 Summer Tour’ which ended with Paul’s headlining performance at Glastonbury, widely agreed to be one of the festival’s greatest moments ever. […]

From The Independent, May 24th 2015:

“The great thing about playing in London, said Paul McCartney shortly after the start of his first gig in the capital for three years, is that you can have your kids and grandkids here watching you,” adding as if noticing the double takes from some of the audience, “well, it is 50 years since ‘Yesterday.’ […]

Yes, that 50th anniversary of ‘Yesterday’ seems to have become a bit of a thing, with the song predictably one of the encores. And, who would be so irreverent now to point that at the time it was just an album track, not deemed worthy of a single release? Besides, the predictable, even the pyrotechnics of Live and Let Die, or the audience sing-along with Hey Jude, are not the highlights of a McCartney show. The highlights are the surprises, those unexpected songs whose deceptive simplicity and infectious happiness immediately evoke an era. The opener was just such a one, 1964’s rarely performed Eight Days A Week.

Those surprises included pure McCartney moments that heightened the already high emotions in the audience, I’ve Just Seen a Face,’ ‘We Can Work It Out,’ ‘And I Love Her,’ a rousing version of ‘All Together Now’, his children’s song from the Yellow Submarine film, to set alongside the better remembered ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘Lady Madonna’ ‘Let It Be’, and ‘The Long and Winding Road’, the purity of his voice when he sat at the piano for those last two making a nonsense of claims that it has lost its lustre. […]

The rarity of an empty stage uncluttered by equipment and rows of musicians, with just McCartney and his two fellow guitarists occupying the expanse of the 02 main stage, and the drummer and other musicians on a tier above, gave a focus and a genuine rock’n’roll rawness to the show.

And so McCartney, jacket off and sleeves rolled up, did a full 40 songs. That he could have selected a quite different 40 songs and still each one would have been a classic is tribute enough to his songwriting skills. That he can still put on a show that really left the audience on such an emotional high is tribute to extraordinary longevity. It can’t go on much longer? They were saying that 20 years ago.

From LoudWire, May 26th 2015:

The night before their headlining gig, Grohl surprised Paul McCartney fans at London’s O2 Arena by coming onstage and performing “I Saw Her Standing There” with the Beatles legend. According to Time Magazine, this is only the second time the pair has performed that song together. The first was at the 2009 Grammy Awards, and that time the Foo Fighters’ singer was on the drums.

From For Whom The Bell Tells, July 17, 2015:

The opening night at The O2 also turns out to be Paul’s 50th solo show in London and half centuries clearly appear to be in the air. Before he hits the stage, he is presented with a special award by British TV favourites Ant and Dec to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the composition of his song ‘Yesterday’.

Ahead of the shows, Paul spoke to London’s Evening Standard newspaper about nerves and the perils of on-stage blunders, saying: “I used to be terrified, as are most entertainers, of making a mistake. Now I realise the audiences don’t mind. In fact – they quite like it. You get these little ‘eureka’ moments – you make a mistake and go ‘Christ’. I did one a few years ago in Paris. I started ‘Penny Lane’ with the wrong verse and I had to stop the song and start again. We ground to a halt and the audience went mad. They enjoyed it and I said, ‘At least it proves we’re live’. The review said it was the most marvellous bit.” 

For the record, I watched both London shows and I don’t see any mistakes. Over the weekend, the backstage corridors at The O2 are full of famous faces including Dave Grohl, who comes on stage as a guest to play ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. […]

Last updated on November 15, 2020

The O2 Arena

This was the 2nd concert played at The O2 Arena.

A total of 3 concerts have been played there • 2009 • Dec 22nd • 2015 • May 23rd • May 24th

Setlist for the soundcheck

Setlist for the concert

5.

Temporary Secretary

Written by Paul McCartney

Album Available on Live At The O2 London UK May 23, 2015

3.

I Saw Her Standing There

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Dave Grohl :

Guitar

Album Available on Live At The O2 London UK May 23, 2015

Links

• http://www.paulmccartney.com/the-collection/2015-in-photographs