Admittedly, in recent years Paul McCartney has not ranked tops on most people’s list of their favourite Beatle. He has been rather naughty lately by planning to switch the writing credits from Lennon/McCartney to McCartney/Lennon, marrying a possible gold-digger of dubious origins and having his daughter, Stella, exposing his cheapskate ways.  Perhaps an undo amount of criticism has been launched in Paul’s direction, because the other Beatles are immune to it. George and John have both been sanctified in death with John even being hailed as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time, and Ringo has always been so self-depreciating as to never manage to offend anyone.  Thus Paul is left to face the public’s scrutiny alone. With all the tittle-tattling in the gossip rags and music journals, it’s too easy to write Paul McCartney off and to think of him as nothing more than an annoying prat.  However, to do so is to commit a crime of unspeakable dimensions. In truth it is impossible to overestimate Paul McCartney’s importance to pop music and to contemporary culture.

McCartney’s latest tour, “Back in the World” sets about to redress his image by reminding everyone of how great his music is, and does so with thunderous success.  If there was any doubt of this Macca’s world tour finale, home-coming at Liverpool’s Kings Dock, set those doubts to rest.  Packing in a whopping 35,000, the specially built venue was charged with excitement.  The crowd was up for it.  The audience, which ranged in age from eight to eighty, was anxious to welcome back the city’s most famous son back into the fold.

After a bizarre introductory pantomime, which I think was supposed to signify rock ‘n’ roll’s and therefore, Paul McCartney’s place in world culture. I’m not sure if this is the correct interpretation of it, but as no other reviewer has put forward a theory, or indeed even mentioned it, that’s the reading I am going to go with.  After wading through 15 minutes of this nonsense, McCartney finally hit the stage. He opened with “Hello/Good-bye,” and two things became instantly clear: his voice sounds as good as ever and he can still rock with the best of them.  To underline his rockin’ credibility McCartney made it a point to raise his guitar above his head in salute and to pump his fists between numbers.

To go through the entire set list would be impossible, but it was all killer no filler. Some of the highlights include: “Band on the Run,” “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” “Live and Let Die” (complete with pyrotechnics) and “Maggie Mae” (especially added for the Liverpool show).  Tear-jerking moments were supplied by his tributes to John and George (a bit of a cheap gimmick to get the audience choked-up but effective nevertheless).  Of course, the two best moments came with McCartney’s two undoubted masterpieces “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude.”

To remain unemotional during these numbers would be impossible.  In addition to their sheer beauty is the added truth that these songs are not just Paul McCartney’s songs but songs that belong to all of humanity.  They are so well-known, so well-loved as to surpass the level of a mere pop song to become a strand within the fabric of society.  They are songs that speak not just for one person or a small group of people but for all of us.  Looking around at the crowd at King’s Dock and seeing the transformed, fixated faces it was clear that your own personal love for the song was echoed and mirrored in everyone else there, all 35,000 of them. It was the witnessing of thousands of memories being united to create a history.  I burst out into tears upon hearing the opening crowds of “Let it Be,” and even Macca became emotional when the audience raised heart-shaped signs with the saying, “Home is where the heart is” during “Hey Jude.”

As the set ended, the crowd broke into a modified version of the football chant “Three Lions” cheering, “He’s coming home, he’s coming home, he’s coming home, Macca’s coming home.” Paul returned to the stage for two encores playing “The Long and Winding Road,” “Lady Madonna,” and “I Saw Her Standing There” for the first, and “My Little Girl” (his first composition ever and added for this show) and “Yesterday” for the second encore.

After the show everyone knew that they had just been a part of something special. The night was made of the kind of magic that is impossible to describe and impossible to forgot.  The show was undeniable proof of McCartney’s genius in songwriting.  There are simply few musical talents of the same caliber. He wrote songs that have actually changed the way we perceive the world.  The 60s would not have been the 60s without The Beatles, and The Beatles would not have been The Beatles without Paul.  Before we ever start to doubt Macca again, we should look back on the brilliance this night, and then ask ourselves what would have happen to pop music without him.  I, for one, know that the loss would be incalculable.