Paul McCartney Melbourne: Traffic fails to derail Beatles legend’s gig

FORMER Beatles rocker Paul McCartney has started his Melbourne concert on time despite traffic congestion that threatened to delay the arrival of fans.

FORMER Beatles rocker Paul McCartney started his concert on time tonight despite earlier traffic congestion that threatened to delay the arrival of fans.

Inbound traffic on City Rd was bumper-to-bumper across all lanes leading to Swan St Bridge works, Olympic Boulevard and AAMI Park, where McCartney is playing, earlier.

An AAMI Park spokeswoman said there was a precedent to delay concert starts in the event of mass commuter problems, but it wasn’t necessary.

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Heavy traffic in City Rd due to the Paul McCartney concert. Picture: Jay Town

Heavy traffic in City Rd due to the Paul McCartney concert. Picture: Jay Town

She estimated 98 per cent of the approximate 29,000-strong crowd were inside before McCartney’s scheduled 8.10pm start.

A VicRoads spokesman said there were no major traffic incidents across the CBD that could have caused the congestion.

“Generally when there is an event around the sporting and entertainment precinct there is heavy traffic,” he said.

McCartney is travelling with his wife, Nancy Shevell, on the Australian and New Zealand legs of his One on One Tour.

Cannot believe we're seeing Sir @PaulMcCartney. I grew up on The Beatles. Just a regular Tuesday night out. pic.twitter.com/l8v7MHjzAX

— Carly Findlay (@carlyfindlay) December 5, 2017

Heavy traffic in City Rd due to the Paul McCartney concert. Picture: Jay Town

He played for nearly three hours at a Perth gig on Saturday, covering classics right up to his recent No. 1 collaboration with Rihanna and Kanye West.

A handful of tickets to his Melbourne shows were still available yesterday.

McCartney made headlines earlier this week over a vegan-friendly, no meat or leather policy being observed in his dressing room while on tour.

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