MACCASPAN NEWS BLOG

Paul McCartney plays 'party' show in London
Beatles legend also pays tribute to former crew member

Paul McCartney continued the iTunes Festival season tonight (July 5) with a hit laden set made up of Beatles and Wings classics.

The legendary singer performed a moving show before a small crowd of 300 people at the ICA in London.

Bounding onstage, the former Beatle was greeted with massive cheers when he shouted: "Good evening. Alright?" before launching into 1980 hit 'Coming Up'.

Like his recent shows, McCartney, who was dressed casually in a white and black sweater, ran through five tracks off his latest solo album 'Memory Almost Full' before treating the crowd to the likes of Beatles classics 'Hey Jude' and 'Get Back' along with Wings hit 'Jet'.

McCartney was on jovial form throughout the gig, engaging in plenty of banter with the crowd as he constantly referred to the show as a "party".

Leading into The Beatles track 'Blackbird' he joked: "It is like a party you can get a conversation going. I watched that film 'Munich' by Steven Spielberg last night. It was pretty good."

As previously reported on NME.COM, the singer became emotional during his recent LA show at Amoeba Records when a member of the audience shed tears during the song 'Here Today' which McCartney penned as a tribute to John Lennon in 1982.

Referring to the performance, he told the crowd tonight: "We just did a gig in a record shop in LA and I was singing that song and I was just about holding it together emotionally and then I saw this woman weeping and I just lost it man."

As ever the highlight of the gig, was The Beatles classic 'Hey Jude' which sparked a mass sing-a-long amongst the arm waving audience.

Conducting the song's catchy refrain McCartney invited both the "boys" and "girls" in the crowd to sing along before he shouted: "Now everyone all together."

Rounding off the show, the former Beatle dedicated 'Let It Be' to a long term monitor engineer who recently died before adding: "This next song I want to dedicate to a crew member John Roden, who just passed away last week. This is for you Johnny."

He wrapped up the gig with 'Lady Madonna' and 'I Saw Her Standing There'.

Paul McCartney played:

'Coming Up'
'Drive My Car'
'Only Mama Knows'
'Dance Tonight'
'C Moon'
'The Long And Winding Road'
'I'll Follow The Sun'
'Midnight Special'
'Calico Skies'
'That Was Me'
'Blackbird'
'Here Today'
'Back In The USSR'
'Nod Your Head'
'Jet'
'House Of Wax'
'I've Got A Feeling'
'Matchbox'
'Let Me Roll It'
'Get Back'
'Baby Face'
'Hey Jude'
'Let It Be'
'Lady Madonna'
'I Saw Her Standing There'

The festival now continues with the likes of Kasabian and Editors and The Coral among those playing intimate shows across July. See NME.COM for full live reports.

The bands' sets are being recorded and will be released as a live album via iTunes in the future. For more information go to iTunesfestival.com.