9 December 2009: Paul McCartney live at Gelredome, Arnhem

Paul McCartney performed at the Gelredome in Arnhem, Netherlands, on 9 December 2009.

It was the third show of the Good Evening Europe Tour, which lasted for eight dates in December 2009. This show was seen by 26,579 fans.

McCartney’s voice appeared to suffer as the evening progressed, with a noticeable hoarseness towards the end.

An audience of 39,000 saw the show. He twice told them: “See you next time”, hinting at further future live dates in Europe.

Arnhem played a small role in The Beatles’ story. The group and their first manager, Allan Williams, stopped there briefly while en route to Hamburg for the first time. On 16 August 1960 Williams, his wife Beryl, concert promoter Lord Woodbine, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best were photographed at the Arnhem War Memorial, possibly by John Lennon.

I had confidence in the band, even though they weren’t rated in Liverpool. It was mainly their personalities because most of the groups were a bit on the thick side, whereas they all had good educations; they were a bit posher and more articulate. So I thought, “No, I will take a chance”, and that’s when I drove them over to Hamburg. I took a wrong turning and we finished up in Arnhem in Holland. We had time to kill so we went round the town centre and into a music shop, and when we came out they were all laughing their heads off. I said: “What’s the joke, lads?”, and John pulled out a mouth organ – he’d stolen a bloody mouth organ! I thought, “Christ, we’re never even going to get to Hamburg, we’ll all be in jail.” The first time abroad and he had the audacity to rob a shop!

Allan Williams

McCartney had previously performed at the Gelredome on 25 April 2003 during the Back In The World Tour.

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).