Paul McCartney returned to Australia on December 2, 2017, for his first concert there in nearly 25 years. (The concert in Perth was part of his “One on One” tour.) McCartney‘s mini seven-date, two-week tour of Australia was his first visit there since 1993.
The holiday season performance at Perth’s nib Stadium had an almost identical setlist to what he had been performing throughout 2017, with a few notable exceptions. As one of the encores, McCartney played one “we don’t always do,” namely, “Mull of Kintyre,” which featured a spectacular group of bagpipers. (Watch it below.)
The 40-song performance of Beatles, Wings and solo favorites opened with “A Hard Day’s Night,” just as it has since McCartney first surprised his fans with it in 2016.
Later, McCartney noted: “George was a great ukelele player,” and then told a story about Harrison’s love for the instrument before sharing that his bandmate had given him the very one he then used to perform “Something” solo. Halfway through, the band joined him for the rest of the song, in front of a backdrop of a slide show of the two.
Watch two back-to-back favorites among the encores
Halfway through the encores, McCartney led the band in a song “we don’t always do.” Two minutes in, they were joined by a group of bagpipers for a spectacular flourish.
“Mull of Kintyre” was an enormous #1 hit in the U.K. when it was released in 1977, selling over two million copies there. Go figure: It failed to chart in the U.S.
Paul McCartney, nib Stadium, Perth, Australia, December 2, 2017 Setlist
A Hard Day’s Night
Junior’s Farm
Can’t Buy Me Love
Letting Go
All My Loving
Let Me Roll It
I’ve Got a Feeling
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Maybe I’m Amazed
I’ve Just Seen a Face
In Spite of All the Danger
You Won’t See Me
Love Me Do
And I Love Her
Blackbird
Here Today
Queenie Eye
New
Lady Madonna
FourFiveSeconds
Eleanor Rigby
I Wanna Be Your Man
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Something
A Day in the Life
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore
Yesterday
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Helter Skelter
Mull of Kintyre
Birthday
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End
Related: McCartney opened his 2023 tour… in Australia
1 Comment
Actually, Mull of Kintyre was never released as an “A” side in the U.S. It was the “B” side to “Girls School”, a modest hit reaching #33 on the Billboard charts.