Beatles, Not Battles, as McCartney Takes Colosseum
ROME (Reuters) – Taking the floor where gladiators once battled wild beasts and fought to the death, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney brought rock ‘n’ roll to Rome’s Colosseum for the first time.
“We understand it’s the first time there’s been a band in the Colosseum since the Christians,” McCartney joked with the audience, in reference to the persecution of the early Christians by the Roman authorities.
“Rock the Colosseum,” he yelled toward the end of the show on Saturday night, before launching into sing-along Beatles hit “Hey Jude” to a rapturous response.
Lighting in hues of orange gave an intimate atmosphere to the concert despite the immense space. In its heyday some 2,000 years ago, the Colosseum could seat as many as 80,000, but on Saturday just 400 people were let in for the benefit show.
“This is a beautiful, beautiful place,” the 60-year-old McCartney told the audience of VIP guests and a lucky few who nabbed rare paying seats in an Internet auction.
Proceeds from the auction will go partly to Adopt a Minefield, a charity set up by McCartney’s wife Heather Mills McCartney, and partly to archaeological projects in Rome.
McCartney made ample use of his treasure trove of Beatles hits, with 18 out of the 27 songs he performed coming from the pioneering 1960s band’s repertoire — including “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Let It Be” and “Yesterday.”
“I’ve loved these songs for more than 30 years, and to see him perform them in the Colosseum is almost too good to be true,” said Renato Jacopetti, who paid $1,263 for two tickets and came down from the northern city of Padua.
McCartney was due to give a second concert in Rome on Sunday, but this time just outside the monument, using its arches as a backdrop. The concert will be free, and organizers have said they expect some 200,000 people to turn up.
Proceeds from the sale of television rights for both concerts will go to an Italian archaeological mission in Iraq that aims to help the looted Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad get back in operation.
McCartney is in the final stages of a world tour that has made him the world’s highest-earning celebrity. By the time it finishes on June 1 in Liverpool, birthplace of the Beatles, nearly two million people will have paid to see him play.
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