Beatles treat as McCartney begins Euro tour

Music legend Paul McCartney kicks off his first European tour for a decade tonight – treating fans to the biggest portfolio of Beatles songs.

The shows will include at least 22 Beatles songs – twice as many as the Fab Four performed in their gigging heyday.

McCartney’s tour begins in Paris before heading to Barcelona, Antwerp and heading to the UK next month.

His shows in the US in 2002 were the music world’s biggest moneyspinners last year.

Among the songs he is expected to play are Beatles classics such as Back In The USSR, I Saw Her Standing There, Yesterday and The Long And Winding Road.

But he will also be dipping into his back catalogue from his Wings years and his subsequent solo releases.

The 60-year-old superstar’s concerts will also include his tribute to late bandmate John Lennon, Here Today, which he recorded in 20 years ago but which has never been performed in Europe before now.

“I don’t necessarily have to do the same numbers every night, if I can I’ll change it around. But knowing me I do get set in a pattern because I just look to see what goes down well,” he said.

Although he loves to perform, McCartney admits that touring is not all glamour and excitement.

“The worst moment is when you’re in a hotel somewhere that’s not really brilliant, and you’re getting a bit bored and you’re thinking ‘I’ve got horses at home where I live, and I don’t half love going in the woods on them’.

“You know, you think, ’What the hell am I doing here?’ But everyone gets that, that’s touring.

“But having said that, we try to get it at a good enough level and have enough days off to enjoy it. I don’t work like I used to – with The Beatles it used to be every day of the year.