A knight to remember: Sir Paul delivers all the hits and more

Paul McCartney
Allianz Stadium, October 27
★★★★

A Paul McCartney concert might give you some of the most special live musical memories you will ever have.

It could be something as simple and sublime as hearing him sing Let It Be at a piano or Blackbird from behind an acoustic guitar.

Or realising this tour isn’t necessarily called “Got Back” because of some documentary series but possibly just because the song Get Back is still an absolute banger.

Or, most obviously, getting to participate in the greatest sing-along of all time, Hey Jude, with the man who wrote it.

Paul McCartney in concert at Allianz Stadium last night. Credit: Wolter Peeters

There are more, some of which we’ll get to, but the fact that much of this three-hour show outside such moments is amiably entertaining, rather than relentlessly spectacular, is hard to reconcile.

Of course, as modern music’s most significant living figure, McCartney has earned the right to do whatever he wants – he says as much when acknowledging the always relatively subdued audience response to his newer songs (“We don’t care,” he says).

However, on top of those recent indulgences, on this night, as in 2017, some of his early Beatles song choices slightly underwhelm (She’s a Woman, I’ve Just Seen a Face) to the extent that you briefly wonder if that Alan Partridge gag about Wings being “the band the Beatles could have been” might have been on the money.

(It’s not, but there’s evidence here to support such an argument: Let ’Em In is an innocent delight, Band on the Run takes its twists and turns magnificently, and Jet and a pyro-enhanced Live and Let Die tear the roof off. Underestimate Wings at your peril.)

Even I’ve Got a Feeling, for which McCartney’s old friend John Lennon comes in to sing the last verse and chorus via video, is more loveable than sensational.

Paul McCartney rips it up on stage with the band at Allianz stadium. Credit: Wolter Peeters

But the band is seasoned and sharp, and McCartney himself is in charming, dad-dancing form.

When the encore culminates with an earth-shattering Helter Skelter followed by the glorious closing triptych of Abbey Road (from the touching devastation of Golden Slumbers through the Carry That Weight sing-song to the wild jam of The End) you leave feeling lucky to have spent an evening with an all-time great, who, if not at the peak of his powers, can still often summon them.

Paul McCartney plays a second and final Sydney show tonight (October 28) before winding up his Australian tour with shows at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (November 1), and Heritage Bank Stadium, Gold Coast (November 4).

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