Paul McCartney at London’s O2 Arena: A wonderful Christmastime with the world’s greatest living songwriter

If you could bottle the pure joy fizzing around London’s O2 Arena tonight, a mere teaspoon would make an even greater festive gift than the actual seasonal treat that Paul McCartney gives us: a magical rendition of ‘Wonderful Christmastime’, replete with sackfuls of falling snow and a raucously “ding-dong”-ing children’s choir. The jovial presence of the still-sprightly 82-year-old is like Santa for music fans; grown men wave homemade signs bearing the number of shows they’ve attended (“136… that seems a bit much,” chuckles our ringleader), while a roving crowd cam spotlights all kinds of banners, outfits and custom-made Macca merch. When he launches into ‘Band On The Run’, a co-ordinated cohort at the front of the crowd inflate ‘Fans On The Run’ balloons to wave: playing the last date of his current Got Back Tour, tonight is as much a pilgrimage as it is a gig.

Digging back to the earliest days of The Quarrymen (The Beatles’ earliest incarnation) with a skiffly rendition of their first ever song ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’, and then fast-forwarding a full 65 years to last year’s lost release ‘Now And Then’, tonight’s set is a full three-hour delve into a history-shaping career whose influence will likely never be matched. Under the watch of even some of the world’s greatest, 180 minutes can seem like a stretch; here, it feels like Macca could probably do three hours more and still have hits to spare. From the opening, iconic chord of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, he dips between Beatles and Wings classics, compering the whole thing with utter, lovable charm. Prone to a little grandad dance in between songs, yet still capable of hitting the high notes on ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ or giving it the full rocking belt on ‘Helter Skelter’, it makes the show feel both massive and wonderfully intimate.

Aside from a host of slightly bizarre AI videos that back some of the set’s early wares, the production works hard to separate a six-decade career of eras and moods, plunging us into a trippy psychedelic wonderland on ‘Sgt. Pepper’s…’ cut ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite’ and lifting the musician up on a massive twinkling toaster stage for a lighters-aloft ‘Blackbird’. ‘Live And Let Die’, meanwhile, is buoyed by so much fire and fireworks that it’s a wonder the front portion of the crowd don’t get their eyebrows singed off. Macca brings out old Rolling Stones pal Ronnie Wood for ‘Get Back’, but when Ringo emerges in the encore for the aforementioned ‘Helter Skelter’, the celebratory, slightly surreal nature of hearing these legendary songs in the flesh levels up even further. It’s a moment of madness only surpassed by the drummer shouting “South London!” apropos of nothing. “OK Ringo, off you go now,” steers Macca patiently.

By the end of his epic stint, the musician barely even looks tired. Of course, with shows like this there’s the feeling of soaking up the inimitable experience while you still can, but judging by tonight, Macca’s still got enough gas in the tank to keep the memories coming for a good while yet.