Sir Paul McCartney performed his first concert in the United Arab Emirates, with a show at the Yas Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi as part of his On The Run tour.
The day before McCartney and his wife Nancy watched the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The concert was the last event in three nights of Formula 1 weekend events, which also saw performances by Britney Spears, Incubus and The Cult. The F1 concert series was available to holders of tickets to the Grand Prix races.
McCartney's band was Paul 'Wix' Wickens (vocals, keyboards, guitar, percussion, harmonica), Brian Ray (vocals, guitar, bass), Rusty Anderson (vocals, guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr (vocals, drums). Here's their version of Paperback Writer from the concert:
McCartney greeted the crowd with a shout of "Marhaba Abu Dhabi!" The setlist was identical to his 4 August show at the Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati:
- Hello, Goodbye
- Junior's Farm
- All My Loving
- Jet
- Drive My Car
- Sing The Changes
- The Night Before
- Let Me Roll It
- Paperback Writer
- The Long And Winding Road
- Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five
- Let 'Em In
- Maybe I'm Amazed
- I've Just Seen A Face
- I Will
- Blackbird
- Here Today
- Dance Tonight
- Mrs Vandebilt
- Eleanor Rigby
- Something
- Band On The Run
- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
- Back In The USSR
- I've Got A Feeling
- A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance
- Let It Be
- Live and Let Die
- Hey Jude
I just love Paul's travelling band - both their performance and the fact that they and Paul genuinely seem to enjoy performing together.