Beatlemania in Israel as McCartney plays for 'peace'

 

By Joseph Krauss AFP

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com

 

Beatlemania has taken hold in Israel as Paul McCartney prepares to play his first ever concert in the Jewish state on Thursday, saying he hopes to spread a message of peace in the troubled region.

 

Four decades after the Fab Four were forced to cancel a gig over official fears they would corrupt the country's youth, Paul will perform an outdoor concert in Tel Aviv, defying death threats from an Islamist cleric and calls from pro-Palestinian groups who wanted him to boycott Israel.

 

Tight security will surround Hayarkon Park, where tens of thousands of people, some paying as much as 791 pounds for the privilege, will watch the legendary left-handed guitarist belt out his tunes.

 

"You have to realise that any high-profile event brings with it some worries," the 66-year-old said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post published on Sunday.

 

Earlier this month, militant Lebanese cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad was quoted by London's Sunday Express as saying McCartney should not travel to Israel. "He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him."

 

But McCartney, one of two surviving ex-Beatles along with Ringo Starr, said he hopes his "Friendship First" concert will spread a message of peace.

 

"It often does happen you know, you'll go to a place and it can affect the audience," he said on his website.

 

Several pro-Palestinian groups had urged the pop star to boycott Israel because of the way it treats Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

 

"I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come," McCartney told Israel's top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper. "I do what I think, and I have many friends who support Israel."

 

McCartney made a surprise trip on Tuesday to the West Bank town of Bethlehem just outside of Jerusalem, where he visited the Church of the Nativity, built on the traditional site of Jesus's birth.

 

He also paid a brief visit to the Edward Said Music Conservatory there, where he watched a rehearsal by young Palestinian students.

 

The musician had earlier told journalists and fans who greeted him at Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv on Wednesday that he wanted to bring "a message of peace and love" to the Middle East.

 

And for many Israelis, the concert is an opportunity to make up for a past wrong.

 

The Beatles had planned to play in Israel at the height of Beatlemania in 1965, but they were cancelled after sponsors failed to raise enough money as members of parliament voiced concern they might corrupt young Israeli minds.

 

"There is no doubt that it was a great missed opportunity to prevent people like you, who shaped the minds of the generation, to come to Israel and perform," Israel's ambassador to Britain Ron Prosor said in a letter to McCartney earlier this year.

 

"We thought it was quite amusing really, being banned," the ex-Beatle said on his website. "It's kind of cute that they are apologising. It's very courteous, but you know I wasn't really offended in the first place."

 

More than 40,000 tickets have been sold since they went on sale online on Tuesday, with regular seats going for 81 pounds and special VIP seats thirty metres (yards) from the stage selling for 806 pounds.

 

McCartney and his entourage have taken up 21 rooms in a luxury hotel on the Mediterranean seashore, where their bill is expected to exceed 53,684 pounds, media reported.

 

 

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWE-al...6Xn0Uc43LjZsVbg

and from the Telegraph

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...e-a-Chance.html

This was the setlist:

 

The usual suspects with one or two pleasant surprises:

 

Hello Goodbye

Jet

Drive My Car

Only Mama Knows

All My Loving

Flaming Pie

Let Me Roll It

My Love

Let Em In

The Long and Winding Road

Dance Tonight

Blackbird

Calico Skies

Follow The Sun

Mrs Vanderbilt

Here, There and Everywhere

Eleanor Rigby

Something

A Day In The Life

Give Peace A Chance

Band On The Run

Back In The USSR

I Got A Feeling

Live and Let Die

Let It Be

Hey Jude

Lady Madonna

Get Back

I Saw Her Standing There

Yesterday

Sgt Peppers