MEMORY ALMOST FULL -MACCA RULES

Sir Paul still rocks!

June 9, 2007

LONDON -- A man who's reached Paul McCartney's stage in life - a certain age, a gilded stature - could be forgiven for taking it a little bit easy. He could, for example, show up on stage, mumble a few hellos and sing a few hits, safe in the knowledge that everyone would go home thrilled just to have been in the same room.

It's clear, after spending a couple of hours in Sir Paul's company in a club in north London, that he's not that kind of guy. He is a guy who still wants to rock, and seduce his audience, and behave like the fizzy kid who turned the world on 45 years ago.

"Hey Camden," he sang with the enthusiasm of a first-time pub rocker as he arrived on stage: "We're going to rock 'n' roll tonight, we're going to have some fun, it'll be all right!" Then he launched into Drive My Car with the gusto of a man who hasn't played in Britain in two years, and who - we've all read about his disastrous divorce - perhaps needed to blow off some steam.

He certainly seemed in the mood to prove himself to the 1,000 people packed into Camden's Electric Ballroom - celebrities upstairs, granted access via black wristbands, and a collection of music-industry folk and contest-winners below. Actor Pierce Brosnan was allegedly there, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, but I couldn't say. I can tell you that Kate Moss and Stella McCartney sang Viva Las Vegas while putting on their makeup in the ladies' room.

The occasion was the release of McCartney's new solo record, Memory Almost Full, and he celebrated like the world's youngest almost-65-year-old, flying between bass and mandolin and piano, his shirt eventually soaked in sweat. "This one was written for John," he said, introducing Here Today. "I'd like to dedicate this one to our fallen heroes - John, George, Linda."

It was the Beatles songs, unsurprisingly, that made the crowd wild. "I'm a massive, massive fan," the guy beside me said before the show, "even if the solo stuff is a bit dobbins." Dobbins? I had no idea what he was talking about, although I could guess from the context.

I begged to differ: A bunch of the songs on the new record are quite rocking, and worthy of inclusion in the McCartney songbook. He played a few of them with the same devotion (and in some cases tenderness) that he gave to the more celebrated material.

It was the more familiar chords of Hey Jude that got the audience swaying, as McCartney led a singalong of increasing power. How is it possible to maintain such enthusiasm for a song you've performed countless times?

After the show, two tourists from Saskatchewan stood inside the club, dazed at their good fortune. Heidi St. Amand and Kristi Law had been shopping in the Camden area earlier in the day, saw the crowd outside the club, joined the lineup, and were given tickets to the show. They are just 20, but they're Beatles-crazed. Two days earlier, they'd been on a Beatles walking tour.

"This is the most amazing thing ever," said St. Amand, who is studying psychology but says the piano is her real passion. Her friend agreed: "He's definitely the best monument we've seen in London."