Paul McCartney Co-Op Live review: 'The greatest spectacle' you'll see

Throughout the years, it has been said that “Father Time is undefeated”, but McCartney is certainly proving that theory wrong. At Manchester’s Co-Op Live, Paul performed 36 songs in a set that was close to three-hours long. Despite being 82-years-old, McCartney continues to operate on a level that is unheard of, and remains the cream of the crop in the music scene.

What McCartney has achieved throughout his career is nothing short of sensational, and will never be seen again. He’s a one-in-a-billion talent and the most remarkable thing about him is his longevity and timeless appeal. At 15-years-old, Paul joined John Lennon in The Quarrymen and since then he has been at the top of his game for close to seven decades.

The other major detail that stood out is the quality of McCartney’s voice. The singer’s vocals remain in pristine condition, and on tracks such as the piano-led ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’, McCartney sang in falsetto to effortlessly hit the high notes - a testament to McCartney’s vocal maintenance throughout the decades.

Throughout the evening, Paul was in a reflective mood as he reminisced about his career and the memories he’d made along the way. During a rendition of ‘Let Me Roll It’, Paul and his backing band performed an extended outro to pay tribute to Jimi Hendrix and spoke about how humble the legendary guitarist was when he met him.

McCartney’s tribute to fellow bandmate George Harrison also proved to be a particularly poignant moment in the set. Paul reflected on the brilliance of Harrison before a rendition of the ukelele-led ‘Something’ that takes time to build and layer before it erupts with a solo in the middle accompanied by pictures of Harrison appearing on the screen behind.

In the middle of the set, McCartney touched on his relationship with John Lennon and explained how in the past, he couldn’t say “Hey I love you man” to his bandmates before performing a heartfelt rendition of ‘Here Today’ about an imaginary conversation between him and John. Lennon later reappeared during the encore to harmonise with Paul during an electric performance of ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’. The full band also appeared together on the screen during an emotional performance of the ballad ‘Now and Then’ that left Paul teary-eyed, symbolising the brotherhood that was forged between the four members.

Emotion, reflection and nostalgia are among the key themes of the evening, and tracks such as the acoustic-fuelled ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’, ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’ that’s accompanied by animated visuals of The Beatles adventures, the lyrically wonderful ‘Junior’s Farm; the piano-led ‘Let It Be’ and the Otis Redding-inspired ‘Drive My Car’ all transport you on a trip down memory lane.

Despite performing in front of tens of thousands of people for decades, Paul retains a fondness for small sets and the intimate venues he honed his sound in as he performed ‘Love Me Do’ that has a gorgeous harmonica riff, ‘The Quarrymen’s ‘In Spite of All the Danger’ and the mandolin-fuelled ‘Dance Tonight’ with scaled back arrangements.

As the night unfolded, it turned into a full blown bash as the rock and roll hit ‘Lady Madonna’ accompanied perfectly by a brass section provides invitation for a sing and a dancealong, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ erupted into a mass singalong and a riveting rendition of the James Bond theme ‘Live and Let Die’ was a real extravaganza as pyrotechnics went off on stage. Whilst ‘Hey Jude’ provided the biggest feelgood moment of the evening as the audience belted their hearts out, and allowed McCartney to sit back and play conductor.

And lastly, would it be Christmas without the sound of ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ reverberating around the Co-Op Live? The festive favourite elicited a euphoric response from the audience as Paul belted out the hit flanked by a brass section dressed as elves, a children’s choir and fake snow falling from the sky.

After returning to the stage waving a British flag, McCartney closed out the evening with the aforementioned ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’, the raunchy hard-rock classic ‘Helter Skelter’, the iconic ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and a medley of ‘Abbey Road’ hits in ‘Golden Slumbers’, ‘Carry That Weight’ and ‘The End’ to close out the show in fine form.

In comparison to the major stadiums he has been performing in, Manchester’s Co-Op Live made for a more intimate setting than Paul McCartney has typically performed in as of late.

However, no matter where he is performing one thing is guaranteed: he will deliver an unforgettable performance that will no doubt be the greatest spectacle you’ll have ever witnessed.