Paul headlines Liverpool concert
2008-06-02 13:41
Liverpool, England - 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 bill that also featured Kaiser Chiefs and Liverpool band The Zutons, as well as Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, at Anfield Stadium, home of Premiership side Liverpool football club.
"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 - is the highlight of the "Liverpool 08" calendar, and started at 18:30.
"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."
Fab Four
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.
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 John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono where Stella McCartney unveiled her latest autumn and winter fashion collection.