Paul McCartney live: the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert, London

Sir Paul McCartney brought the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert to a close at the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace, London.

He played a five-song set, opening with ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, followed by ‘All My Loving’, ‘Let It Be’, ‘Live And Let Die’, and ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’.

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).

Paul McCartney performing at the Queen's diamond jubilee, 4 June 2012

The band members were in high spirits on Twitter in the lead-up to the concert, posting photographs from around London and gossip from the soundcheck.

The Diamond Jubilee Concert had performers from every decade of the Queen’s 60-year reign, including Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Elton John, Sir Tom Jones, Dame Shirley Bassey, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and will.i.am.

The event was seen by 18,000 ticket holders, with tens of thousands more watching from the Mall. The three-hour concert was also broadcast by the BBC.

Paul McCartney and others at the Queen's diamond jubilee, 4 June 2012

For the closing song, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, the band was joined by all the acts from the night. McCartney played a Höfner bass guitar emblazoned with a Union flag design. The lining of his jacket, which he took off before the song, also had the same design.

After the final song a speech was given by Prince Charles in tribute to the Queen. The event ended with the Queen lighting a beacon flame, and a firework display.

Page last updated: 11 July 2024

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6 thoughts on “Paul McCartney live: the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert, London”

  1. That was a nice concert. I especially enjoyed Tom Jones who at 72 still had an amazing voice – and looked fanastic with his silver hair! 😉
    Too bad this can’t be said about Paul, his age shows more and more in his voice AND his looks…
    Still in a very good shape considering his age and touring shedule…

  2. Paul looked amazing. I loved seeing him, he looks in great shape for his age.
    And he was sick. Everyone is, like, criticizing the man, I thought people would have the capacity to see he was sick. Until a month ago he was giving great performances, with a great vocal in it, and a few weeks ago(in the LIPA thing), he said he wasn’t feeling so well, he’s not 20 any more so obviously it’s a lot difficult for him to recover especially when it affects his vocal ability. So I think it was a phenomenal performance regarding him being a little bit under the weather.
    Everyone was fine. I liked most of the performances. A lot of great musicians.

    1. THANK YOU for pointing this out. It was clear when he was talking during the concert that he was sick. Finally got to see him in Nashville, TN two years ago. He sang great and it was hard to believe I was actually SEEING him. Hands down the best concert I have ever been to! I’ve loved this man since I was 7 1/2 years old in 1964. To see him was the ultimate thrill.

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