Sir Paul McCartney arrives in Adelaide for first show of Australian leg of his Got Back tour

Sir Paul McCartney was all smiles when he arrived in Adelaide on Sunday morning, for the first show of the Aussie leg of his Got Back tour. Have you spotted him out and about? Pic: 9News

Sir Paul McCartney has touched down in Adelaide ahead of his Australian tour. Picture: 9News

Sir Paul McCartney might be wearing the obligatory rock star dark sunglasses, but he can’t disguise his joy at being back in Adelaide.

The Beatles legend arrived on Sunday morning, winding down the window of his limousine to give a thumbs up, wave and friendly fist pump.

McCartney is here for the first show of the Australian leg of his Got Back tour.

He will perform for a crowd of 8,000 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night.

Singer Paul McCartney on stage in concert at Adelaide Oval, March 13, 1993.

A vast crowd gathers outside the Town Hall in King William Street, to welcome the Beatles to Adelaide on June 12, 1964. Picture: Keystone/Getty Images

It will be his first Adelaide gig since he played Adelaide Oval in 1993 as part of The New World Tour.

On that occasion he played a mix of Beatles and Wings classics along with his solo hits, including his then-current single Hope of Deliverance, to an audience of 30,000 fans.

Six giant video screens flanked a five-storey high stage, from which McCartney’s multi-coloured piano was raised out over the audience on a cherry-picker.

The mid-concert climax of his James Bond theme Live and Let Die was punctuated by explosions and fireworks on and above the stage.

Choosing Adelaide as the opener for Got Back is fitting.

When The Beatles came to Australia in 1964, Adelaide was also the first port of call. McCartney and his bandmates – minus Ringo Starr, who was getting his tonsils out, and plus stand-in drummer Jimmie Nicol – famously made an appearance on the balcony of Adelaide Town Hall.

Crowds lined Anzac Highway all the way from the airport and jammed city streets to catch a glimpse of the original pop idols, giving the Beatles their largest reception anywhere in the world.

The late Adelaide freelance photographer Vic Grimmett, who was assigned to cover the Fab Four’s visit for the Australian Women’s Weekly, recalled on the tour’s 40th anniversary that the turnout was “unreal”.

“The crowd was absolutely unreal in King William St. You’ve never seen anything like it,’’ Mr Grimmett, who died in 2017, said.