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Paul McCartney to play at O2 Christmas spectacular
By Felix Allen and Amar Singh, Evening Standard Last updated at 09:51am on 22.10.09Sir Paul McCartney is to play his only British gig of the year with a festive spectacular at the O2 Arena to end his European tour.
British gig: Paul McCartney will play the 02
The concert on 22 December will be his first public appearance at the venue and comes 46 years to the day since he played the first Beatles Christmas gig at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.
The star last played an arena show in London six-and-a-half years ago and it is thought it may be some time before he plays another British gig.
He said today: “This is my chance to bring our current show home to where it all began. Starting in Hamburg, ending in London and rocking everywhere in between.”
News of the gig comes as the O2 arena was named the world's most popular venue after selling more than one and a half million tickets in the past year.
Official figures from concert industry magazine Pollstar put the venue at the top of the world's 100 concert arenas. It sold four times more tickets than New York's Madison Square Garden, while Wembley Arena is in 10th place.
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Reader views (2)
yes yes yes,he finally remembered us
- Sissi, here there and everywhere
The O2 arena is so popular because no bands or artists of a certain size ever seem to play anywhere else in London - and sometimes don't play anywhere else in the UK when they visit (i.e. Mr McCartney). I assume it's because it's a cheap venue to hire, as it's subsidised by the O2 sponsorship. It’s certainly not the acoustics!
Which reminds me, sponsorship is one thing, but why do subscribers to a phone network - a service that is unrelated to music - get to buy their concert tickets 48 hours in advance?! O2 seems to have a monopoly on UK music venues. Grumble grumble.
- Pinky, Not in London
