by Shane Dingman

MONTREAL — The smoke has cleared from last week’s skirmish on the Plains of Abraham.

Quebec City was briefly in a tizzy over free concerts
That settled, the province’s newspapers are left to marvel at just how much McCartney loves Quebec. The front page of Saturday’s /Le Devoir/ reported that “Sir Paul is already charming Quebec City.” Not only has he agreed to play a concert there, the newspaper wrote, he recorded a special video message. “Hello everybody in Canada,” the message goes. “Hi. How’re you doing? Paul McCartney here, and I’d like to announce that I am doing a gig, a big gig, in Quebec City on the 20th of July. That is to help Quebec celebrate their 400th anniversary. That’s a long time. Anyway, we’re coming to Quebec for the first time, we’re going to have a great time, and I would love to see you there.”

Yes, the message was in English and might have been missed by the majority of francophone Quebecers who are not bilingual. But McCartney is not culturally insensitive. In fact, the /Journal de Québec/ reports, he is taking a crash course in French this week. “He wants to speak to the crowd in French,” an official with the 400th anniversary celebrations told the newspaper. “He’s making a special effort for this concert in Quebec.”

Word is he has already mastered one phrase: “Michelle, ma belle, sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble.” Next up: “Bonsoir Québec!”

/— Graeme Hamilton/