Tons of cheers as McCartney plays 100 Club
Sir Paul McCartney turned back the clock today, returning to the days of playing cramped, sweaty bars with a lunchtime show at London’s famed 100 Club.
The music legend played to little more than 300 people in the heaving basement venue – renowned as a hotbed for punk in the 1970s.
It was Sir Paul’s tiniest club show since he played Liverpool’s Cavern in 1999. Today’s lunchtime show was designed partly as a warm-up for a pair of Christmas shows, as well as to show his support for the venue which could close because of a huge rent rise.
The show was also a return to his early days as a musician, learning his craft with The Beatles with endless hours of performing in bars in Hamburg and Liverpool before landing a record deal.
After walking to the stage with his band performing an a capPella 'Hey Jude', Sir Paul asked fans: “Who wants to save the 100 Club?”.
But the lunchtime start seemed to be a slight shock to the system. “It’s too early for this,” he joked.
The star opened the show with 'Matchbox', then launched into Beatles hit 'Magical Mystery Tour' for the cheering standing-room-only crowd who had paid £60 each for tickets.
Further tunes from his extensive half century back catalogue followed with 'Jet', 'Drive My Car' and 'All My Loving'.
Sir Paul, dressed in a pale shirt and grey waistcoat acknowledged the contrast with the snow on London’s Oxford Street outside the venue.
“It’s snowing outside, freezing cold – and it’s boiling in here.”
The millionaire star also dipped into his pre-Beatles days with a rendition of 'One After 909', a song he wrote with John Lennon at his Liverpool home but which later turned up on record at the tail-end of the band’s career.
But despite the years of practise, he and the band had to start the track a second time after fluffing the intro.
