THE music of Paul McCartney and The Beatles is timeless.
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On the weight of McCartney's debut performance in Newcastle on Tuesday night it's possible to argue the man himself is too.
How many 81-year-olds could perform a 39-song, near three-hour set without seemingly breaking a sweat?
The bulk of the music performed might have been recorded in the '60s - a decade whose mantra of peace and love feels sadly naive in our modern world - but the tunes have only grown more powerful.
How else can you explain the euphoria within McDonald Jones Stadium on Tuesday night? Friends and families of all ages, were caught up in a moment they'll never forget.
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Grey-haired baby boomers sung passionately along to Hey Jude's iconic chorus with their middle-aged children, and even their grandchildren.
A large portion of the audience have only lived in a world without John Lennon, little alone been alive when he and McCartney were penning their endless hits as the greatest songwriting partnership in popular music history.
The anticipation was palpable among the near 30,000 crowd. Hours before the 8pm showtime, Turton Road was abuzz. The merchandise queue snaked back.
Some 59 years after Liverpool's Fab Four first visited Australia in 1964 at the height of Beatlemania, the fact that McCartney was finally performing in Newcastle felt surreal.
Not until McCartney walked on stage in a blue jacket and with his trademark Hofner 500/1 violin bass guitar for the opening salvo of Can't Buy Me Love, did it actually sink in that a real life Beatle was in Newcastle.
"Tonight I'm getting the feeling we're gonna have a good time in this place," a typically affable McCartney told his audience.
And indeed they did.
McCartney's voice might have naturally weakened after more than 63 years of performing, but with a little help from his friends and bandmates Wix Wickens (keyboards), Rusty Anderson (guitar), Brian Ray (bass and guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr (drums), he still left artists more than half his age in the dust.
His endurance was phenomenal. The set list spanned his entire career from In Spite Of All The Danger written as a schoolboy the late '50s with The Quarrymen through many of the Beatles and Wings favourites up to the slightly cringey Come On To Me and Fuh You from the 2018 album Egypt Station.
The Wings track Letting Go was an early surprise favourite, courtesy of its beefed up groove provided by the horns section which was stationed among the crowd in the Andrew Johns Stand.
The set list also brought into focus what a versatile songwriter McCartney has been. Wings' Let Me Roll It and The Beatles' Helter Skelter provided the rock'n'roll grunt, there was the psychedelic excursion of Sgt Pepper song Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite and delicate ballads such as My Valentine and Blackbird, which saw a platform raise McCartney high above the audience amid the hushed respect of 30,000.
Throughout the show there were ample old stories about Jimi Hendrix, producer George Martin and dedications to his long-lost Beatles bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon through the songs Something and Here Today.
McCartney took a minute to read various signs among the audience, which included "John lives in our hearts", "thanks for changing history" and the cheeky "you're how I like my tea, English and hot."
The set built with Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da, Band On The Run, Get Back, Let It Be, the literally explosive Live and Let Die before climaxing with a mass singalong for Hey Jude.
McCartney and band returned for an encore waving Australian, British and LGBTQIA+ flags and pumped out another six songs. The finale came with epic Beatles track The End and a promise of "we'll cya again next time."
While its unlikely Sir Paul will ever perform in Newcastle again, you suspect memories of his McDonald Jones Stadium concert will linger well after his magnificent long and winding career comes to a close.
SET LIST
Cant Buy Me Love - Junior's Farm - Letting Go - She's A Woman - Got To Get You Into My Life - Come On To Me - Let Me Roll It - Getting Better - Let 'Em In - My Valentine - Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-five - Maybe I'm Amazed - I've Just Seen A Face - In Spite Of All The Danger - Love Me Do - Dance Tonight - Blackbird - Here Today - New - Lady Madonna - Fuh You - Jet - Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite - Something - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da - You Never Give Me Your Money - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Band On The Run - Get Back - Let It Be - Live and Let Die - Hey Jude
Encore: I've Got A Feeling - Birthday - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - Helter Skelter - Golden Slumbers - Carry That Weight - The End
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
