The new Beatles museum in Liverpool

A new Beatles museum opens in Liverpool.

On the 20th of July, 2018, Roag Best's new Beatles museum in Liverpool will open, smack in the middle of Mathew Street, next to the newly re-opened The Grapes pub. The museum will guide you through Beatles history, but unlike other museums like The Beatles Story in Albert Dock, this museum will be choc-a-bloc with genuine artefacts from that history.

Roag Best is of course Pete Best's younger brother, but he is also the son of Neil Aspinall, and a number of the objects on display were gifts from his father. Neil Aspinall worked for The Beatles nearly all his life, starting out as their driver in Liverpool all the way through to running their Apple Corps company until 2007.

Magical History Museum occupies five floors of an old Victorian building in 23, Mathew Street, (opposite the Cavern Club) and the interior has been completely refurbished. They are currently hiring employees to the museum.

Roag Best

Roag says: "It's going to blow people's minds. We will be taking people on a journey though the Beatles' career but unlike any other museum before it, every part of the journey will be accompanied with memorabilia. Many things they will never have seen before, others they will have seen back in the day but not for many years."

Objects include George Harrison's Futurama guitar, John Lennon's Sergeant Pepper medals, the cello from I Am The Walrus and Pete Best's Premier drum kit.

Cello - not from "I Am The Walrus" but from "Blue Jay Way".

Roag has around 1,200 items of Beatles memorabilia in his personal collection, which he keeps in storage units. As well as buying them himself, he was given many objects by his, and Pete's mother - and by his father. Despite being over five floors, the museum will only fit 300 items at any one time so the collection will be on rotation.

Magical History Museum, 23 Mathew Street, opens Friday 20 July. Tickets will be £15 for adults, £7.50 for children, and free entrance for kids under the age of five.

Source: Liverpool Echo

Yellow Submarine in Henley

Yellow Submarine at the Regal Picturehouse in Henley-on-Thames.

In 1997, The Regal Picturehouse cinema in Henley-on-Thames opened. Henley is the little town in England George Harrison resided in after the Beatles, where he lived in his mansion in Friar Park. When the cinema opened, the town had been without a cinema for ten years. Supermarket giant Waitrose had wanted to knock down the original cinema, which had stood in Bell Street since 1937, and replace it with a supermarket, but was forced to change its plans following a public outcry.

The campaign to keep a cinema even garnered the support of George and Olivia Harrison, of Friar Park, who joined a protest against the closure in June 1986. The following month the former Beatle stated his concerns in an open letter to the Henley Standard. The Save the Regal Trust was also established in the hope of buying the cinema and re-opening the venue.

Although the activism of the Harrisons and other members of the community was unable to save the old cinema, the strength of public feeling meant a new venue was included in the redevelopment plans. The three-screen Regal was built on part of the site of the original Regal/Odeon cinema which was demolished in 1993 but it was several years before an operator could be found.

George Harrison joined other members of the community in an effort to save the cinema.

The new cinema finally opened its doors on February 26, 1997 with a gala premiere of The Crucible and also screened Jerry Maguire, Mars Attacks! and Matilda during its opening week.

In light of George Harrison's engagement in trying to keep the cinema open, it's a delight to notice that The Regal Picturehouse in Henley is one of the cinemas who will be screening the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Beatles full length animated feature "Yellow Submarine" on Sunday, July 8. There will be two shows, one at 11am and one at 6pm, and everyone attending these screenings will also receive an exclusive 50th anniversary commemorative pack, including four stunning limited edition collector's cards and a Peppertastic sticker set!

Back in the charts

Songs and albums with The Beatles and Paul McCartney are charting after Paul's TV appearance

In the wake of Paul McCartney's appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden recently, Paul and The Beatles had 6 songs in the Top 100 song charts and 7 albums in the Top 100 albums charts of iTunes USA. Among the songs are the two new ones from Paul, while the other Beatles songs were performed during Paul's "Carpool Karaoke" segment.

Songs:
10. Paul McCartney: Come on to me
20. The Beatles: Let it be
51. Paul McCartney: I don't know
54. The Beatles: Blackbird
62. The Beatles: Hey Jude
98. The Beatles: Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

Albums:
8. The Beatles: 1
21. The Beatles: 1967-1970 (Blue album)
51. Paul McCartney: All the best
60. The Beatles: 1962-1966 (Red album)
63. The Beatles (White album)
64. The Beatles: Abbey Road
90. The Beatles: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band


As the numbers are changing all the time, the above list just reflects the situation at a given moment during the past weekend. The same tendency is apparent over at Amazon, and as I am writing this, McCartney's new album "Egypt Station" places second on the best selling albums charts, despite the fact that it can only be pre-ordered. Of course, the availability of several versions contribute to the strong action, chartwise.

Screen capture from Amazon.com

At the moment, the official YouTube video of "Carpool Karaoke" with Paul McCartney has been shown more than 16 million times. This number comes in addition to the number of people who watched it on TV in USA and the UK last week. In addition to this are numerous views of the Facebook video of the same segment, which was uploaded by the official Late Late Show Facebook page and that edition of the video has been shared 816 860 times so far. It has been so widespread that people have been updating their profiles of late about how sick and tired they are of everyone posting it! Either way, it looks like McCartney has pulled off quite a successful stunt, boosting sales of both his own songs as well as those of The Beatles.

The Beatles - for free on YouTube

The Beatles - Free As Birds on YouTube!

In an unprecedented move, The Beatles have released most of their albums for free - on YouTube. Whether or not this is going to be a permanent move remains to be seen. It's all the original British albums, from "Please Please Me" from 1963 to "Let It Be" from 1970, all presented in their remastered stereo editions. In addition to this, the following albums are also available:, "1962-1966" (The Red Album), "1967-1970" (The Blue Album), Anthologies 1-3 plus "Anthology Highlights", "1", "Love", and both volumes of "Past Masters".

In some instances, a music video is screened during the song, in others, there's just a still picture of the album cover. For instance, "Anthology Highlights" starts with the "Free As A Bird" video, then continues with the other tracks with just a still photo, then near the end, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has the modern music video, as has the closing song, "Real Love".

Screen capture from YouTube (Norwegian text)

It seems that these albums are not available worldwide, as some readers of this blog have reported that they are unable to see them on YouTube. I sent one of my readers in Hungary a link to "One after 909", and all he got was an "attachment unavailable" message. Chile, the Netherlands and Iceland are other countries where the albums are not available, but they are available in important markets like USA and U.K.

Other recent uploads to the channel: "Eight Days A Week" (the Shea Stadium video they made for Ron Howard's film), the Intertel music videos for "Ticket To Ride", "I Feel Fine" (chipless version) and the umbrella version of "Help!". Also, the "Come Together" animated video they made for "1" back in 2000 and "A Hard Day's Night" from the Paris concert. As part of the promotions for the cinematic event "Yellow Submarine" they have published two new short films,  "Yellow Submarine - An Introduction" and "Yellow Submarine - The Design":

Here's a link to The Beatles' YouTube channel, straight to the album listings, which are themed playlists sorted by album.

Egypt Station - the full range

Egypt Station from Paul McCartney is to be released on 7. September. And then some.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you will have been informed that the word is out: Paul McCartney's new album is called "Egypt Station", and will be out on 7 September on Capitol Records, the company he signed a worldwide deal with in 2016. The two tracks that were released as downloads, streams and YouTube videos on June 20th, the rocking "Come On To Me" and the ballad "I Don't Know" will be released as a vinyl 45 rpm single late this summer. We have been told that these two tracks will be tracks 2 and 3 on the upcoming album, following the instrumental track, "Station 1".
So far, a number of variations of the albums have been announced, but there are more to come, and this will probably be the McCartney album available in more editions than any other album of his.
Capitol Records have never shied away from marketing.
Egypt Station has been recorded in studios in Los Angeles, London and Paul's own studio "The Mill" in Sussex, and is produced by Greg Kurstin (Adele, Beck and Foo Fighters), except for one song, "Fuh You", produced by Ryan Tedder. Tedder actually produced three songs for Paul, but "Fuh You" is the only one of those who made the album. The instrumentals "Station 1" and "Station 2" bookend the album. Other songs mentioned in the press release: an acoustic "Happy With You", a slogan anthem "People Want Peace", and a seven minute long suite along the lines of "A Day In The Life," "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," "Back Seat of My Car," or "Band On The Run," called "Despite Repeated Warnings". More song titles have not been revealed.

In a new interview, McCartney said that playing in the tiny Philharmonic pub in Liverpool gave him the urge to play more of these kind of concerts in July, after which he will move on to bigger productions, so it's likely that means another stage of his tour. Be on the lookout for those pub concerts!

The "Target" edition containing two extra tracks.

On Paul McCartney's YouTube-channel are lyric videos for the two songs that were released as a single.

Okay, so we promised a breakdown of the full array of editions of the album, here goes:

• An album with 16 tracks as download
• 140 gram black double vinyl, single jacket with 16 tracks (14 songs + 2 interludes)
• Same on coloured double vinyl 
• Same from Barnes & Noble on coloured double vinyl, likely a unique colour to this store
• From Spotify and other stream providers 
• 180 gram black deluxe double vinyl unique tri-gatefold packaging with 16 tracks
• Same, on coloured double vinyl
• CD with 16 tracks
• CD with 18 tracks, but only from physical stores
• Target (USA) / HMV (UK) edition with two extra tracks
• Luxury boxed set with 26 tracks and various ephemera (Coming in October)
• And when that one sells out, expect a re-release without the ephemera

Oh, and we guess there's going to be high resolution files from select download providers and probably shm-cds in Japan. Actually, when it comes to vinyl, we have previously found that the 140 gram British pressings from the sixties of Beatles albums surpass the deluxe 180 gram albums of late, in fidelity and resistance of crackling.

There will be both 140 and 180 gram editions on vinyl, and colour variations of both.

Furthermore, what with all these releases and "White album" from The Beatles in November, we are not expecting to see the archive editions of "Wings Wild Life" and "Red Rose Speedway" this side of Christmas. But then of course, we could be wrong, and hope we are.

Anniversary edition of White Album confirmed - by Paul!

There WILL BE a 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles' "White album", Paul has confirmed.

In an interview promoting his upcoming new album, "Egypt Station", Paul McCartney happened to mention The Beatles' white album sessions and this prompted the interviewer to ask, innocently: "Have you finished preparing the 50th anniversary package of that one yet"? And Paul took the bait: "It’s all in place, I’ve just got a couple of essays [to approve]. It’s all lined up and it’s really good." And that was the confirmation, this is the first time someone in "the inner circle" has actually confirmed that the 50th anniversary edition of "The Beatles" will indeed become reality.

But the rumours have been floating in such a manner that it's not strange if the interviewer Lisa Wright really thought that the anniversary edition of "the white album" was a sure thing. As early as amidst the hoopla last year just before the 50th anniversary "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", remixing producer Giles Martin tweeted and talked in a radio programme about doing "the next one". Following a storm of re-tweets and questions, Martin had to make a statement that he hadn't actually meant to confirm that there was going to be an anniversary "white album" release. Then this May, mastering engineer Tim Young happened to mention to someone that had just finished mastering the Beatles' "White Album" in 5.1 surround sound as well as in stereo at Metropolis Mastering in London. But still, that was "off the record", until now.

But back to the McCartney interview, he actually also seemed to confirm that at least some Kinfauns demos may be part of the package:

"Are there any moments you’d forgotten about when you were trawling back through the archives"?

"Something sparks another memory, but it’s really nice because we were a great little band – I think we can agree on that. So for me to be a part of that and to be remembering it is great; all these little things remind me of it and I do learn things".

"The album itself [‘The White Album’] is very cool and it sounds like you’re in the room; that’s the great thing about doing remasters. But we’ve also got some demos of the songs, so you get things stripped right back to just John’s voice and a guitar. You just think, how f***ing good was John?! Amazing. We were just doing it; it was amazing. We were having a good time".
The full interview can be found here.

Recording "Honey Pie".

The idea that they were having a good time are words not all critics of the Beatles would describe the white album sessions with. After all, it was during the recordings of this particular album that the first Beatle let it know that he had had enough, and he was quitting. The quitter? Ringo Starr! So the drummer took his family to Sardinia for a holiday, while the band struggled on with the recordings, taking turns playing drums. After a while, Ringo was to return to the EMI studios in Abbey Road, and was warmly welcomed back with a sign and with lots of flowers decorating his drum booth, courtesy of George Harrison.

Someone else who didn't want to be part of the white album sessions was The Beatles' engineer, Geoff Emerick. Having started engineering for the band on "Revolver" and then working on "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (which he later was awarded a Grammy for), Emerick already abandoned them during the recording of songs for "Magical Mystery Tour", and Ken Scott took his place. Scott actually made his debut as a recording engineer during "Your Mother Should Know", and had to figure out what all the knobs, meters, levers and wheels on the recording console did to the sound. But by the time the white album sessions started, Scott had learned his trade, and had already worked on the "Wonderwall Music" album with George Harrison - the Beatle he would remain the closest to.

We had a chance to hear Scott talk about the white album sessions when he visited Oslo earlier this summer. Surprisingly, Scott also remembered the sessions as "a good time", and said that after Ringo's return, The Beatles were back to being a group again - and fed off each other in a big way during these sessions. This is quite contrary to the popular belief that these sessions were fragmented, and that not many members of the group were together in the studio at the same time. On the contrary, Scott says, they recorded songs as a band - much more so than during the Sgt Pepper recording sessions. It was only when they were approaching deadline for delivering the new album that they split up work between them and started recording on their own in separate studios, Scott maintains. And it only became a double album when they realised how much material they had. There was no way they would be able to wither it down to "one super single album".

Ken Scott holding the "Norwegian Wood" magazine, alongside Roger Stormo. Photo: Audun Molde.

Scott also told an interesting story about mixing the album with Paul McCartney. They were mixing "Helter Skelter" in stereo, when - after having faded the song - Paul told him to fade it back up again. Scott was puzzled, and even more so when Paul asked for another fade - and then wanted the volume quickly back up again to capture Ringo's "I've got blisters on my fingers!" The puzzled engineer asked Paul the reasoning behind this, as this was different from what they had done during the mono mix. Paul replied that they had been getting letters from fans asking how come there were differences between their mono and stereo albums? So they reasoned that by making these differences even more easily discovered, they could probably sell two albums to people instead of just one! Scott explained that the earlier differences between mono and stereo mixes were accidentally created because engineers and producers never took notes during mixing. And since mono mixing in 1963-1967 took place first, and stereo mixes were done days, maybe weeks and in some cases years after mono mixing, some of the choices made during mono mixing had been forgotten about.

Now that "the secret" is out, perhaps Giles Martin and others are more free to comment on the upcoming release (most likely slated for November 9), although they are probably instructed to keep quiet until the press brief, currently slated for September.

As you may or may not know, there was a 30th anniversary edition of The Beatles' "white album" back in 1998.

The 30th anniversary white album release was a limited edition.

However, sonically the sound was the same as on the original, 1987 first "fatbox" CD release of the album, only the splitting up of tracks were different (where, in segues, one track ends and another starts), plus the 30th anniversary packaging mimicked the original vinyl release, with a cardboard cover, black inner sleeves, miniature portraits and poster.

When the catalogue got a makeover for the remastered CDs of 2009, the sound was improved, and the packaging pretty much replicated the 30th anniversary edition. The remastering project for both mono and stereo versions was led by EMI senior studio engineers Allan Rouse and Guy Massey.

As mixing for stereo had made much improvement by 1968, there really hasn't been much demand for a new edition "white album" remixed in "new" stereo, and we don't know if this is Giles Martin's approach. What we do know, is that stereo and surround mastering has taken place. Whether or not this is "new" stereo or if the stereo image has remained the same is anyone's guess, until this kind of information is revealed. And nothing has been said about mono this time. Still, Paul's mention of essays and demos do point to a comprehensive boxed set. And if this keeps up, perhaps we'll even see a Let It Be boxed set in 2020, which includes the film? Keep dreaming...

Carpool Karaoke on YouTube

James Corden and Paul in Penny Lane

The Paul McCartney episode of Late Late Show from London has been aired in Great Britain and USA. London Beatles guide Richard Porter was in the studio audience during the live part of the programme, but Paul wasn't - he was in Athens! The band Foo Fighters was in the studio, though. Richard writes about his experience in his blog. In the "Carpool Karaoke"-part, the following songs are sung:

In the car:
-Drive My Car
-Penny Lane
-Let It Be

In 20 Forthlin Road:
-She Loves You
-When I’m Sixty-Four (på husets piano)

Back in the car:
-Blackbird
-Come On To Me

At the gig in the Philharmonic pub:
-A Hard Days Night
-Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
-Love Me Do
-Back in the U.S.S.R.
-Hey Jude

And here's Paul's segment - as published officially on YouTube!

Paul on the radio

An interview with Paul McCartney will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 this evening.

Sir Paul chats to Jo Whiley and Simon Mayo about his just announced new material, including songs "I Don't Know" and "Come On To Me". The three hour long BBC 2 radio show is going live on the air at 5:05pm, we are sorry that we don't have any information about exactly when the McCartney segment will be sent. The radio show will be available on the internet after it has been broadcast on the air. Link.

Here is a clip from the interview, where Paul is talking about recently revisiting his old family home on 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool.

A new interview with Paul McCartney will also be made available on diymag.com today.

Paul's new single revealed, album details to follow

Image released for the new single, due out tomorrow.

PAUL McCARTNEY TO RELEASE ALL-NEW DOUBLE A-SIDE SINGLE

“I DON’T KNOW”/“COME ON TO ME”

AVAILABLE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20th on CAPITOL RECORDS

Following a whirlwind week that saw his Instagram presence rebooted as he played one of the most intimate gigs of his storied career, Paul McCartney is done keeping the world in suspense: “I Don’t Know” and “Come On To Me,” will be released tomorrow as a double A-Side single.

The first tastes of Paul’s brand new studio album due out later this year on Capitol Records, the two A-sides are polar opposites: “I Don’t Know” being a plaintive, soul-soothing ballad as only Paul can deliver, and “Come On To Me” a raucous stomper that fans that first spark of chemistry into a rocking blaze.

Worldwide speculation about a new Paul McCartney album instantly reached fever pitch as his Instagram account whited out last week—only to ratchet higher as Paul was spotted taking selfies at landmarks in Liverpool the same day. The evening’s climactic event was a surprise gig at the tiny Liverpool Philharmonic Pub, during which “Come On To Me” made its live debut alongside a set of classics spanning Paul’s career.

Paul’s new album is slated for Fall 2018 release on Capitol Records. Further details will be announced shortly.

---

So much for the press release. From what we have been hearing here at The Daily Beatle, there is going to be a DeLuxe edition of the new album as well, with bonus material. All in all, 16 tracks will be made available, counting all formats of the release, including possible download only tracks. The two single titles 'Come On To Me' and 'I Don't Know' will be tracks 2 & 3 on the standard edition of the album, and they will be available tomorrow at 12:00 Noon Eastern Time. An early Amazon link (since removed) reveals the album's name as "Egypt Station" (like some of the fans guessed) and the release date to be 7. September. Vinyl editions will be released, regular and coloured vinyl. A special Target edition is also in the works. And that's the rumour mill.

Teaser trailer for Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney

Oh, and it looks like Paul has finally revealed the name of his upcoming album; Egypt Station.

The title was also used on this 1988 painting of his:

"Egypt Station" by Paul McCartney

McCartney on Carpool Karaoke - and new album?

James Corden and Paul McCartney

The Late Late Show tweeted earlier today: "It’s happening! Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney premieres next week during our four nights in London!"

So, watch wherever it is you get these programmes.

Meanwhile, in this news clip, the MSN anchor man casually let it slip that Paul McCartney will release his new album this Friday! Macca has been sending cryptic messages on social media channels of late, including changing his various profile pictures to this:

An early clue to a new direction?

 A vulture on a pyramid being bombarded by sonics or a train track in a tunnel? Who knows? And there are also these black and white studio pics, posted on Macca's Instagram, such as this one:

Et innlegg delt av Paul McCartney (@paulmccartney) Juni 13, 2018 kl. 9:17 PDT

Stay tuned!

Hamburg meeting and soundcheck

Taken from behind the band at the City Park in Hamburg. Photo: ©Rockabella 2018/Donny Wightman

Former President of the Norwegian Wood Beatles fan club, Linda Engebråten, and former secretary in the same club, Joakim Krane Bech were among those who travelled to Hamburg for Ringo Starr's concert on Sunday. When the concert was postponed to Monday night, they knew that they would not be able to make it. They were travelling by car, and had to start their journey back to Norway before showstart in order to make it back in time for work. The couple are both teachers. Of course, missing the concert was a disappointment to them, but they did get a huge compensation: They got to meet Ringo! This was a goal they had been working towards for some time, and their efforts finally paid off, just an hour before the concert was going to take place.

Ringo, Linda & Joakim, just an hour before the concert.

Linda: "Our little get together took place in the area behind the stage. Sir Ringo was very welcoming, nice and talkative. And he was sorry that we had to miss the concert, due to our departure for the trip home. We joked and laughed together, took pictures, got hugs and, of course, some peace and love. Unreal. And absolutely amazing!"

While they were waiting to meet up with Ringo, the band was having their soundcheck, and Joakim was kind enough to jot down for us what he heard:

1. I’m Not In Love (intro)
2. Jam (instrumental)
3. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (part of)
4. Tomorrow Never Knows (mainly instrumental jam, some vocals)
5. Things We Said Today (part of)
6. Matchbox (part of)
7. Dreadlock Holiday (intro)
8. Dreadlock Holiday (about half the song, w/vocals)
9. The Things We Do For Love (about half the song, w/vocals)
10. The Things We Do For Love (first verse only)
11. Who Can It Be Now? (w/vocals)
12. Rosanna (w/vocals, first verse only)
13. Rosanna
14. Rosanna (intro only)
15. Back in Black (part of)
16. Rosanna
17. I’m Not In Love
18. Photograph (intro only, played on acoustic guitar)
19. Matchbox (intro only)

Ringo did not participate in the soundcheck. Linda and Joakim arrived on the scene while the band was playing, so there may have been other songs played before they got there.

Klaus Voormann (80) joins Ringo on stage in Hamburg

Ringo in Hamburg yesterday

Ringo made good on his promise to perform in Hamburg yesterday, after having to cancel Sunday's concert due to illness. On stage with him during "With A Little Help From My Friends" was 80 year old Klaus Voormann. The two of them met in 1960 at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg when Ringo was the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, who alternated with the Beatles at the club. Klaus later moved to London, and became the bass guitarist for Manfred Mann, as well as designing the album cover of "Revolver" for the Beatles.
Becoming a session musician in the seventies, Voormann played on a number of solo Beatles albums for John, George and Ringo. When the remaining Beatles were putting together "The Beatles Anthology" in the mid nineties, Voormann again designed the album and home video release art. Both Ringo and Paul McCartney played on Voormann's album, "A Sideman's Journey", which was released in 2009.

Here's a little bit of film from the Hamburg concert, uploaded to YouTube by Jan Reuter.

Tuesday, the two old friends took a trip down memory lane - or Grosse Freihet - as the street in Hamburg is called, stopping briefly outside no. 36, where the Kaiserkeller is still in operation, although the music has changed.

Ringo and half of Klaus outside the Kaiserkeller, Klaus is pointing out where the Star Club used to be.

You can see a replica of the old concert poster from 1960 announcing "Rory Storm and his Hurican" as well as "The Beatles" just behind Ringo, see below for a detailed view.

The poster

Thank you hamburg for a great night was a lot of fun and joy I also had a good time meeting up with my old friend Klaus Vorman peace and love 😎✌️🌟💖🎶🥦🍒☮️ pic.twitter.com/SqXVHi55Sj

— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) June 12, 2018

Paul plays the Phil - debuts new song

Yesterday - during Paul McCartney's surprise visit to Liverpool - fifty ticketholders were treated to an intimate concert at posh "The Phil" - The Philharmonic Pub and Dining rooms. Back in the late fifities and early sixties, John Lennon used to have a few ints there, together with his friend, Stu Sutcliffe, the Beatles' first bass guitarist.
The day before yesterday, the tv audience company SRO Audiences was looking for local people to be in the audience for an exclusive secret gig with a "global superstar". The lucky few who successfully applied for the free tickets took away a pleasant surprise: The "global superstar" was Paul McCartney. He played a gig in front of 50 fans in the Philharmonic pub as part of his surprise visit to Liverpool yesterday.

Some film footage have now started to leak from the concert, including the clip below, which sounds like a new song, likely from McCartney's upcoming studio album, which has been in the works for at least a year.

Set list in no particular order:
A Hard Days Night, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Jet,  Drive My Car, Love Me Do, I've Just Seen a Face, I'll Come On to You (? - new song), I've Got a Feeling, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude (with James Corden), Back in the USSR and Birthday.
In March, when asked who he would love to see take part in the show, James Corden told BANG Showbiz "Paul McCartney I think. He would be amazing." This may have been what took place in Liverpool yesterday, as Paul and James were seen driving together, James at the wheel.

During his visit, McCartney was also seen in the Penny Lane district, where he proceeded to sign one of the street signs. Of course, Penny Lane has been plagued by souvenir seekers stealing the street signs, so for many years, the only street signs have been painted on to brick walls.

Mark Ashworth, a fellow blogger point out the spot where Paul has signed.

Paul's signatur

In Penny Lane

Here's one more photo from Paul McCartney’s visit to Penny Lane. The shelter in the middle of the roundabout in the background. The shelter housed a Sgt Pepper Bistro in the nineties, and got an extra floor a couple of years back, but the refurbishing stopped and nothing has happened since.

The video below has been put together from several sources.