My night with Sir Paul

Some 1,000 fans were treated to Beatles classics like Drive My Car and Hey Jude as well as tracks from Memory Almost Full, which was released on Monday.

The gig, at Camden's Electric Ballroom, was only announced on Thursday morning, but the free tickets were all snapped up in just 13 minutes.

Among the audience were Pierce Brosnan, Kate Moss and Stella McCartney.

Actress Emma Thompson, guitar legend Jeff Beck and Pink Floyd star David Gilmour also made the journey to north London for the concert.

"He seemed really and honestly happy to be there and on great from," said fan Nick Sargeant, from London.

"The stuff from the new album was excellent. All in all it was pretty amazing."

Sir Paul, 64, kicked off the show with Drive My Car and ended with Hey Jude before returning for an encore of Let It Be, Lady Madonna and I Saw Her Standing There.

He also sang Here Today, from the 1982 album Tug Of War, for his former bandmates in the Beatles and first wife Linda McCartney.

"This one was written for John," Sir Paul told the audience. "I would like to dedicate this song to all our fallen heroes - John, George, Linda and all the lovely people."

'Exciting'

Sir Paul is the first artist to release an original album through Starbucks

The star, whose last pop concert in the UK was 2005's Live 8, is more used to playing arenas and stadiums than small clubs.

"It's a little while since I played a gig like this," he told the audience to huge cheers.

Before the concert, he said the show would be "even more exciting because you see the whites of their eyes".

Fans, too, were impressed at how close they could get to the music legend.

"After all these years he still connects with audiences like no one else," said Michael Kinraid from London.

"My favourite moment was Blackbird - so simple and beautiful," said Susanne Essen. "It will take a long time to beat that."

Sir Paul's latest album, Memory Almost Full, has been released on a label run by coffee house chain Starbucks.

Fans have spotted that title is an anagram of For My Soulmate LLM - the initials of his late wife, Linda Louise McCartney.

The singer, who is in the process of divorcing his second wife, Heather Mills McCartney, has not commented on the title.

Your comments

It was a great gig, I was only few feet away from the front of the stage. Time just flew by and had to check the setlist online to remind myself of just how many songs he did. Great to see him in a small venue without the big stage show. He seemed very at ease and looks a lot more like he's getting back to his old self.
Colin Cooper, London

Macca was in blazing form - and the boys in the band were clearly enjoying the intimate venue as well. The Man may be 64 but watching him playing his heart out on stage made ME feel 64 - he has so much energy! After all these years he still connects with audiences like no one else.
Michael Kinraid, London