Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney performs with his band during a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008. After a 43-year wait, Paul McCartney performed his first concert in Israel on Thursday, kicking it off with the familiar Beatles’ song ‘Hello, Goodbye’ to the joy of tens of thousands of cheering fans. McCartney billed the concert ‘Friendship First,’ saying he is on a mission of peace for Israel and the Palestinians.

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The Pipes of Peace or Live and Let Die? It must have been a tough choice for Paul McCartney, considering the message of brotherly love that he hoped to disseminate with his first concert in Israel, a country under constant attack from militants of all stripes that prides itself on offing its foes with Bond-like ruthlessness.
Luckily for the crowd in Tel Aviv, McCartney put a bullet through the head of the insipid little peace ditty and opted for the James Bond setpiece that turned around what had been, up until then, a rather uninspired start.
It lit up the stage in a volcanic eruption of fireworks that must have been visible in the hills of the West Bank, where the Palestinian leadership were sulking about being snubbed by the ex-Beatle.
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Sir Paul McCartney performs during his first ever show in Israel, the ‘Friendship First’ concert at Park Hayarkon on September, 25, 2008 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

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The Israeli crowd lapped up Sir Paul McCartney’s concert playlist of Beatles favourites on Thursday night, but what really got them going was his moving performance of ‘Give Peace A Chance’.

By Tim Butcher in Tel Aviv

All the old Beatles favourites were included, like Yesterday, Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby and Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band, but somehow the peace anthem seemed to resonate strongest with the Tel Aviv audience
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Sir Paul has even extended his security measures to his accommodation at Tel Aviv’s five star Dan Hotel where he has hired three floors at a cost of around £70,000 Photo: GETTY

Sir Paul, 66, has recruited the team, which includes police, officers from Britain’s MI6 and Israeli agents, in the wake of death threats from Islamic extremists.
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