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Liverpool Echo

World

Tom Scotson

Paul McCartney's potential set list for headline Glastonbury show

Paul McCartney The Beatles Glastonbury Echo

Sir Paul McCartney’s highly anticipated Glastonbury set is rife with speculation.

The famous Beatle's Saturday night slot will last for a lengthy two hours and 15 minutes, giving him the opportunity to play at least 35 songs. However, Sir Paul admitted as late as March 2022 that he hadn't even started planning it, according to NME.

Earlier this year the 80-year-old wrote on his webpage: “To tell you the truth we don’t know exactly what we’re going to do yet, but we are definitely planning on having a few tricks up our sleeve…”

The ECHO broke down a list of tunes Sir Paul could play when he tops the bill this evening. The multi-instrumentalist isn’t short of material, having written or co-written 192 songs during his career.

The famous Beatle last headlined the iconic event in 2004 and performed a mammoth 33 songs, including 22 Beatles tunes, to 100,000 fans. A couple of key singles he left out, which we might expect him to play tonight, including Love Me Do, A Hard Day's Night, She Loves You, I Feel Fine and Help.

In his last few gigs, McCartney has alternated between opening with The Beatles’ Can't Buy Me Love or the band’s Instrumental Jam followed by a cover of Carl Perkins’s Matchbox. At his last concert, he began proceedings with Can’t Buy Me Love so he may be due to play another tune first.

However, as this is arguably his biggest gig in decades there is no doubt he is going to be performing some crowd-pleasing classics.

Even at the age of 80, Sir Paul has been playing 40 songs at most gigs. He equalled this tally when he last played in England on December 16 2018 to a packed O2 Arena.

But even with two hours and 15 minutes to play with it will be difficult to fit 40 songs in a set, especially if he takes a couple of breaks to speak to the crowd. The ECHO estimates he will play between 33-35 tunes.

According to SetListFM his most five played songs are Let It Be (697), Hey Jude (686), Band on the Run (671), Live and Let Die (661) and Lady Madonna (658). Sir Paul's performed Lady Madonna at each one his 32 gigs this year and has only sung Let It Be at half of them.

He played all five of these in his last concert so it is highly likely he will keep them in his playlist. Anthem Hold Me Tight is unlikely to make an appearance.

The record, which was written by the bassist, was not one he remembers well and described it as an album filler. There are strong rumours Sir Paul will be reunited with a hologram of John Lennon on stage, according to the Bristol Post.

There also could be an opening for Mull of Kintyre, a former Christmas number one written by Wings. Although the frontman has not played it since 2017, the song is synonymous with Nottingham Forest who were promoted to the Premier League for the first time since 1999.

This creates an opening for McCartney to blow the dust off the 1977 record.

Sir Paul will become the oldest ever solo artist to rock the Worthy Farm festival.

Here is the ECHO’s setlist prediction:

Potential Setlist

A Hard Day’s Night (by The Beatles)

Can’t Buy Me Love (by The Beatles)

Flaming Pie

All My Loving (by The Beatles)

Yesterday (by The Beatles)

Got To Get You Into My Life (by The Beatles)

Blackbird (by The Beatles)

Let Em In (by Paul McCartney and Wings)