One week on from his 80th birthday, McCartney fairly bounds on stage looking very spritely, surrounded by his now familiar supporting band - many of whom would be considered elder statesmen of the music scene, if they weren't in Macca's company.
As one person remarked on Twitter, "Paul McCartney is 80 and is headlining Glastonbury at 10.30pm. I am 43 and going to bed at 9pm."
It is interesting to note, that also last night, the Stones played Hyde Park. I just checked their social media feed and it appears that they played a measly 19 songs in their set. McCartney teared through something like 36, over the course of more than two and a half hours!
Yes, his voice is starting to quiver a bit at times, perhaps not surprising given that he has used it professionally for more than sixty years. But, it still delivers some power and the odd rock n roll yell, when needed. And his playing, on bass, guitar and piano, doesn't seem to have dimmed one bit either.
The set opened with a rousing, crowd friendly, Can't Buy Me Love. After that, it is fair to say, he took some fairly interesting and surprising twists and turns along the way. If my twitter feed was anything to go by, this was not to everybody's taste, but for me it made the occasion even more spectacular. There is no one else (not even the Stones) who can demonstrate such quality of output, over such a long period of time (especially if allow some forgiveness for the Frog Chorus and Give My Regards to Broad Street).
The first twist came second song in, when in an apparent nod to the Eavis's, he played Juniors Farm, a non-album single by Wings from 1974. There were songs from 2018's well received Egypt Station, Come On To Me and Fuh You and his 2012 ode to wife Nancy Shevell, My Valentine. He made a point of telling the crowd how obvious it was when they were playing new stuff versus Beatles tunes, because when it was something familiar, it was like looking into a galaxy (with all the mobile phone lights) and when they played a newer song, it was like looking into a black hole!
Even some of the Beatles tunes he selected, weren't always the obvious ones. From Sergeant Pepper, there was Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite and from Help! we had the glorious I've Just Seen A Face (the epitome of how a great song really doesn't have to be complicated). From side 2 of Abbey Road came She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, a tune McCartney admitted had never been played live before. There were the lighter song writing moments from his career, like Ob-La-Do Ob-La-Da and Lady Madonna and the tender beauty of Blackbird.
There was also plenty of emotion from across his life. Using the ukulele that George Harrison gave him, he played one of his finest songs - Something; and then there was the cleverly stitched together version of I've Got A Feeling, with Peter Jackson (director of the Get Back documentary) isolating John's vocal performance from the famous Apple rooftop show, allowing Paul to duet with him.
But it is Here Today that always strikes a chord with me. Written as a letter to a best friend, it was penned in the wake of Lennon's murder in December 1980, with the song ending up on 1982's Tug Of War. But for me, it gained new meaning when my best friend died in 2003 - and not only that, in a case of serendipity, Paul played it live when I saw him at Earls Court later that year.
The two special guests definitely added to the occasion. Dave Grohl's first public appearance since the passing of his friend and bandmate, Taylor Hawkins, was incredible - a raucous run through of I Saw Her Standing There, followed by an epic Band On The Run. While Grohl looked like he was all in, giving everything, Paul just appeared to be in the moment - relaxed and enjoying the moment. Then came The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, for the duet we never knew we needed - on a full blooded Glory Days and a decent I'm Gonna Be Your Man!
And now we were into the bit that everyone had wanted - the greatest hits finale!
Let It Be got the crowd revved up. Live And Let Die, explosions and all, kept the tempo high. Hey Jude provided the expected crowd singalong, na-na-na's echoing into the dark Somerset sky. For the encore, the band came back on stage waving flags - a Union flag, a Pride flag and a Ukrainian one too. The aforementioned duet with John on I've Got A Feeling was followed by an absolutely blistering Helter Skelter. And to round it all off, the classic medley from Abbey Road - Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End. By this time, Grohl and Springsteen had re-joined, looking admiringly at their host (presumably staggered he was still up and running).
All in all, as definitive career spanning sets from musical legends go, this was right up there in the top one or two.
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