Sir Paul McCartney rocks BBC Electric Proms with Live And Let Die

27-Oct-2007 • Event

Now in its second year, the BBC's Electric Proms are supposed to be about creating 'special moments', in the words of festival director Lorna Clarke. 'Special' is one of those notoriously elastic words; in the argot of arts festivals, it tends to end up meaning one-offs, or debuts of things, or specially-commissioned collaborations. Quite often, though, especially with the E-Proms, it means bunging someone an orchestra and seeing if it flies - reports the Gaurdian.

This year's recipient is DJ Mark Ronson, musical It Boy of 2007 (Paul McCartney, meanwhile, is accompanied by a string section). Ronson produced great swathes of Amy Winehouse's and Lily Allen's hit albums as well as releasing his own collection of nouveau Motown coverversions. He's an excellent choice of opening mascot, compering an evening where over a dozen singers perform his swanky refits. In the background is the pleasantly swinging BBC Concert Orchestra, all too often drowned out by Ronson's own Dap-Tone horns.

Gangling and drolly mid-Atlantic, Ronson does orchestrate some truly special interludes. Frustratingly, he fails to pull others off. Lily Allen stands him up at the last minute ('people have lives', Ronson pleads unconvincingly) and her substitute, Kaiser Chief Ricky Wilson, makes a shouty hash of his own band's song, 'Oh My God'. No one expected Amy Winehouse to show, but at least her deputies - Charlie Waller of the Rumblestrips crooning 'Back to Black' and Kyle Falconer of the View singing 'Valerie' unexpectedly sweetly - really impress.

Ronson can count on his best mate Sean Lennon, too. They've never shared a stage before ('special' alert!) but go way back: when the young Ronson ran away from home once, he went all they way to New York's Dakota building to stay with Sean and Yoko. Lennon and Ronson do 'Sail On Sailor' by the Beach Boys, and, for the encore, a cover of Stevie Wonder's cover of the Beatles's 'We Can Work It Out'. The night's real revelation? Adele, whose debut album is shaping up to be a big talking point next year.

But do we really need orchestras to make popular music more of an event? There are surely enough orchestras in those other Proms. Perhaps next year, when the E-Proms might move to Liverpool (City of Culture and all that), there will be more nice shiny machines. Why don't pop producers Xenomania ever get invited to these things?

You have to ask hard questions, too, about having Paul McCartney on at an event such as this. His presence gives the E-Proms the gravitas that all these things must have. But if it is the BBC's aim to drag young people off YouTube and back into the fold (which it is: the E-Proms are, admirably, all over the TV, radio and internet) is he the wisest choice? Can British music ever break free of the Beatles? Even the man of 2007, Mark Ronson, who made his name in hip hop, can't quite.

McCartney, curse his charming ways, makes a compelling case for why it shouldn't. His generous performance is utterly winning. It's all a little cosy, sure; but there is something ineffable that happens every time a roomful of people all sing the 'na na na's' to 'Hey Jude' that just defies critical reason.

He is in a tremendous mood tonight, wittering amiably on about the full moon, howling a little every now and again. The backdrop is aglow with lava lamps, as the Roundhouse might have been in the Sixties, and TVs on tall stands litter the stage, playing the audience back at itself. The visual ideas are all McCartney's, drawn from his own archive. (That'll be the 'special' stuff, then.)

The songs come from McCartney's most recent solo outing - the rather fine Memory Almost Full - with bits of Wings thrown in ('Band on the Run' is delivered with gusto) and great lashings of Fabs. He plays 'Let It Be' live fairly regularly but 'I'll Follow the Sun' sends unexpected shivers of pleasure down your spine. Everyone jumps and roars when the explosions go off on 'Live and Let Die', as though we were at a Guns N' Roses show rather than in the most civilised venue in London. It is, truth be told, just a little bit special.