Maximum effort from Macca at the Colosseum
Ringed by the crumbled walls of Rome’s Colosseum, Sir Paul McCartney strummed his acoustic guitar and belted out Beatles tunes during a rare concert of old hits such as Yesterday and Hey Jude.
The exclusive charity show last night took place before a few hundred people who paid up to €1,400 each to listen up-close to Paul inside Rome’s ancient gladiatorial stage – bathed in multicoloured lights and covered in wafting smoke for the occasion.
“As you can imagine, this is a magnificent occasion for us,” McCartney said, apparently awed by the setting. “I keep wanting to look around.”
Tickets for the show were auctioned online, with profits going to Rome’s archaeological offices and to Adopt-a-Minefield, the anti-landmines charity backed by the singer and his wife, Heather Mills.
The largely acoustic 100-minute show included many of the Beatles best-known hits, including a solo guitar performance of Blackbird, a raucous All My Loving - and even a blunder that briefly halted Eleanor Rigby.
“I’ve done it again!” McCartney exclaimed. “I wrote this song and I always forget the words.”
A bizarre solo ukulele performance of George Harrison’s Something was also an oddity, as was an Italian tribute, Volare.
The show came during McCartney's Back in the World tour – his first in Europe for a decade.
He was also playing a free concert today on a stage outside the Colosseum, with hundreds of thousands were expected to fill the Via dei Fori Imperiali that leads toward the aged arena and is lined with Ancient Roman relics.
Promoters said earlier that McCartney might drop some loud rock numbers, so the outdoor concert would not disturb 82-year-old Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
The performance inside the Colosseum was rare but not the first. A year ago, another benefit featuring Ray Charles was billed as the first concert there.
