Macca to play first Irish gig in 40 years

AFTER almost 40 years, Paul McCartney is set to make a long-awaited return to Ireland with an outdoor concert in Dublin this summer.

It is the first time the former Beatle will have played here since the Fab Four's sole Irish concert at Dublin's Adelphi cinema in November 1963.

McCartney will perform at the RDS Arena in Ballsbridge, Dublin on May 7. The 30,000 tickets for the event, priced between €75 and €105, go on sale next week. They are expected to be snapped up within hours by fans anxious to catch the legendary musician.

McCartney is promising his current set will feature even more Beatles numbers than when the group made their only visit to Ireland 40 years ago, at the height of Beatlemania.

"It's been a long time since I played there, so I'm hoping that this will be one rocking night to remember," McCartney said yesterday. "I think people are going to like this gig. When I was thinking of what songs to play I just imagined myself as one of the audience and thought 'what would I like to hear him play?'"

"Playing in Dublin is going to mean a lot to me because Ireland is such a special place for me. My mother originally hailed from Ireland; it's where Heather and I chose to be married and I have a lot of ties with the land and the people," McCartney said.

The 60-year-old music legend will also feature a large selection of hits from his Wings and solo careers in a 2½-hour concert.

Macca will play Dublin as the final leg of an extensive European tour his first in over a decade.

The show has already been highly acclaimed in the US where it broke box office records last year as well as being named Billboard's Tour of the Year.

The Liverpudlian with strong Irish roots has always proved popular with fans here, especially after he annoyed British authorities in the 1970s by releasing his track, Give Ireland Back to the Irish.

Meanwhile, a special DVD of a secret 1994 reunion of the three surviving Beatles is also due to be released soon. The jamming session featuring McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison was recorded in Harrison's home in June 1994. It is expected to become one of the fastest-selling DVDs of all time.

Tickets, limited to six per person, will go on sale through Ticketmaster at 9am on February 27.