Sir Paul McCartney warmed up his vocal chords with a secret sell-out intimate pub gig on Friday, ahead of his headline performance at this year's Glastonbury Festival.
The music icon, 80, is set to make history as the oldest solo headliner when he closes the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm in Somerset tomorrow night (June 25).
The Beatles member however treated some fans to a performance in advance, providing an extraordinary opportunity to see the legendary artist up close and personal.
He played a tiny venue in Frome as a warm-up for Glastonbury earlier tonight, with him having performed in front of 600 fans at the Cheese & Grain venue in Somerset.
The intimate gig kicked off with a rendition of the Beatles' classic I Wanna Be Your Man, with the set list for the special concert also including the solo track Junior's Farm.
The singer - known as Macca - opted for a pale shirt and a pair of blue jeans for the gig, with him having been photographed arriving at the venue with wife Nancy Shevell.
He told the crowd: "Good evening, Frome. Why am I getting a feeling we are going to have some fun? We've got some old songs and some new songs and some in-between."
Those lucky enough to get to the venue for the gig paid a bargain price of just £25 for the show - a fraction of what tickets to see McCartney live on stage would usually cost.
VIPs at the show earlier this evening included Olivia Harrison, 74, widow of his late Beatles pal George Harrison, actress Leslie Mann, 50, and Brian Johnson, 74, from the band AC/DC.
Security staff asked fans to seal their phones in opaque bags so that no recordings could be made of the surprise gig, which had only announced yesterday.
Sarah McDonald, who was there with her family, had said prior to the show: "We're excited to see him. When the post about tickets went up people were sprinting down."
Following the special event, as he left the stage, Macca thanked fans, saying: "Thank you Frome-anians, we had a good time in here tonight. This was a good idea."
The singer performed at the Market Yard venue earlier this evening, with doors having opened at 4pm before he took to the stage at 5pm.
The venue boasted on its website about the gig ahead of the performance saying: "What an incredible opportunity to watch Paul warm up for his Glastonbury headlining performance this weekend.
"What an amazing treat… we are told this won’t be his normal set either so should be an afternoon full of wonderful surprises."
The 800-seat venue is a not-for-profit establishment which hosts live entertainment, markets and fayres for the local community.
Despite it's size the Cheese & Grain is a renowned stop for singers and artists to perform ahead of the iconic festival with previous performances including Foo Fighters, Fatboy Slim and Robert Plant.
Sir Paul last put in an appearance at Glastonbury in 2004.
Sir Paul has ditched the classic Beatles song Back in the USSR from his performances – including Glastonbury – in support of Ukraine but fans can expect many other big hits from the Fab Four’s back catalogue on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night.
He was due to perform at Glastonbury's 50th anniversary festival in 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the organisers were forced to call-off the event.
And the rocker shows no signs of slowing down as it was recently announced that all three of McCartney’s solo albums are to be released together for the first time.
The three albums, ‘McCartney’, ‘McCartney II’ and ‘McCartney III’ will be released as a limited edition boxset on August 5.
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