Paul McCartney Tickets

London Royal Albert Hall
London
29th March 2012

McCartney rocks the Albert Hall...

by wendavey on 6th March 2013 14:20

The Teenage Cancer Trust show at London's Royal Albert Hall offered an early opportunity to catch Paul McCartney for the second time in four months, and with it being a much smaller venue than the huge impersonal arenas he usually plays it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The set was largely the same as that he has toured for the last couple of years but sadly two personal favourites, 'Jet' and 'Live and Let Die' were both axed which was a real shame especially when you consider the much weaker 'Dance Tonight' was played. On the plus side the latter allowed Abe Laboriel Jr to show off his cool dance moves from behind his kit. Also, call me a philistine but I didn't miss the 'Give Peace A Chance' singalong that regularly gets performed.

Regular Macca-watchers may be tiring of the same old anecdotes introducing particular songs, but you can't grumble about this too much as many of the audience may be seeing him for the first time, or for the first time in many years.

The crowd was a little subdued but when 'Back In The USSR' was played two thirds of the set in, the audience took to their feet like an unstoppable force and remained there for the rest of the evening.

For an encore of "Get Back', McCartney called on to the stage Roger Daltrey, Ronnie Wood and a strangely reticent Paul Weller to help out. While Wood was happy to share the spotlight with McCartney at stage front, Weller looked subdued at the back of the stage and noticeable slipped quickly off at the song's finale and was missing as they all took a deserved bow. A glorious solo version of 'Yesterday' was followed by the Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End and the evening was over.

It was another satisfying and value for money performance from McCartney - long may he continue performing such high calibre sets, and it was a treat seeing him play in a smaller venue.