Paul McCartney live in London: Macca magic with a little help from his friends

Spare a thought, please, for the Paul McCartney fans who bought tickets to the first of two nights at London’s O2 Arena at Wednesday evening. You’d be surely kicking yourself if you learnt that a mere 24 hours later, Macca would be bringing out an actual Stone in Ronnie Wood and then, a short while later, Ringo Starr. That’s a cool fifty percent of The Beatles on stage at once – to run through ‘Sgt Peppers…’ and an earsplitting rendition of ‘Helter Skelter’.

It’s the stuff of dreams for fans of the Fabs, but it’s also just plainly amazing to see the fine fettle of two rock icons, Ringo at 84 but with a youthful vitality of someone thirty years younger, and Paul at 82 with a voice and energy that still lets him command stadiums across the globe for three hours a night.

For tonight’s showing, things kick off with ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, as the screams of 20,000 people within the O2 do their very best to emulate Beatlemania at its very pomp. From here, it’s a Magical Mystery Tour of our own as McCartney spans the gamut of his own career. There’s barely a dry eye in the house as he rises above the crowd for the Civil Rights anthem ‘Blackbird’, while ‘Now And Then’ – the lost Beatles song which emerged last year thanks to some digital trickery – sees McCartney appear genuinely touched at the reaction from the crowd.

It’s perfectly paced too, and consistently backed by vivid, kaleidoscopic visuals on the screens behind McCartney and his brilliant band that help bring it all to life. Wings fans are treated to a thunderous run through the likes of ‘Jet’ and the piano funk of ‘Nineteen Hundred & Eighty Five’, while even the most heavy hearted of cynics can’t resist a grin as fake snow rains down from the roof of The O2 for a festive run-through of ‘Wonderful Christmas Time’ .

But it’s in the last section where things make this a show for the ages. First, there’s the chance to see Macca play his original Hofner bass for the first time in 50 years, after it was stolen in 1972 and only returned earlier this year. It emerges for ‘Get Back’, on which he’s joined by Ronnie Wood – marking the rarest of occasions to see the Beatles and the Stones together in one place.

And then, for one of the greatest encores this writer has ever seen, out pops Ringo Starr on the drums for a blistering run-through of ‘Sgt Peppers (Reprise)’ and the pioneering doom-rock of ‘Helter Skelter’. Some of the screams that greet his arrival genuinely give the Shea Stadium crowd of 1965 a run for their money.

“I’m off now, I’ve had a great night and I love you all,” Ringo neatly sums it up as he struts off stage on this final night of McCartney’s Got Back tour.

A great night for Ringo, then, and an incredible one for the rest of us. With the two men still in remarkably good health, there’s every chance they’ll team up again to do something like this when they hit the road once more. But for now, it’s the perfect end to three sublime hours in the company of two of the most celebrated musicians on the planet. For 20,000 fans in London it’s a case of year – and quite possibly life – made.