London:
Former Beatle Paul McCartney played his smallest gig in more than a decade on Friday, December 17, in a bid to save a landmark London club faced with closure because of a steep rent increase.
McCartney played a lunchtime show before about 300 fans at the 100 Club in central London, wooing the crowd with "Magical Mystery Tour," "All My Loving" and a host of other favorites.
It marked the first time McCartney had played the 100 Club, which once hosted the Rolling Stones, the Who, Metallica and others, including American jazz great Louis Armstrong.
"Who wants to save the 100 Club?," McCartney asked fans after he and his band walked on stage singing an a cappella version of "Hey Jude."
Tickets were snapped up within seconds of going on sale, at 60 GBP each. Diehard fans queued for hours to get a prime spot to view the concert.
"I'm 47 years old now, " said one of them, Ian Smith. "I was 5 when I first got into The Beatles and so I've followed him all my life really. He's had some ups and downs but he's stayer and at 68 years old you've got to hand it to the guy, he still known how to do it."
"I think it's fantastic that Paul knew that the club was in trouble, knew what the club was about and decided that he'd like to come here and show his support by playing a gig here, which is fantastic," said 100 Club owner Jeff Horton.
The club has been open since 1942.
'This is massive, this is as big as anything we've done, " agreed Horton. " We've had some very very big shows here. The Rolling Stones shows in '81, and '85 were huge. We've done Kings Of Leon recently, we've done Queens Of The Stoneage, Primal Scream, The Specials, but this is as big as it gets really. It's Sir Paul McCartney."
The show also acted as a prelude to McCartney's two UK shows on the 18th and 20th December at the HMV Apollo in London and Liverpool's O2 Academy.
McCartney played a lunchtime show before about 300 fans at the 100 Club in central London, wooing the crowd with "Magical Mystery Tour," "All My Loving" and a host of other favorites.
It marked the first time McCartney had played the 100 Club, which once hosted the Rolling Stones, the Who, Metallica and others, including American jazz great Louis Armstrong.
"Who wants to save the 100 Club?," McCartney asked fans after he and his band walked on stage singing an a cappella version of "Hey Jude."
Tickets were snapped up within seconds of going on sale, at 60 GBP each. Diehard fans queued for hours to get a prime spot to view the concert.
"I'm 47 years old now, " said one of them, Ian Smith. "I was 5 when I first got into The Beatles and so I've followed him all my life really. He's had some ups and downs but he's stayer and at 68 years old you've got to hand it to the guy, he still known how to do it."
"I think it's fantastic that Paul knew that the club was in trouble, knew what the club was about and decided that he'd like to come here and show his support by playing a gig here, which is fantastic," said 100 Club owner Jeff Horton.
The club has been open since 1942.
'This is massive, this is as big as anything we've done, " agreed Horton. " We've had some very very big shows here. The Rolling Stones shows in '81, and '85 were huge. We've done Kings Of Leon recently, we've done Queens Of The Stoneage, Primal Scream, The Specials, but this is as big as it gets really. It's Sir Paul McCartney."
The show also acted as a prelude to McCartney's two UK shows on the 18th and 20th December at the HMV Apollo in London and Liverpool's O2 Academy.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
