"Give peace a chance" at McCartney's Paris concert

"Give peace a chance" at McCartney's Paris concert
3-26-02


PARIS,(AFP) - Former Beatle Paul McCartney added an unscheduled number to the first night of his European tour when a French audience of 15,000 struck up a spontaneous rendition of "Give Peace a Chance" by his late songwriting partner John Lennon.

AFP Photo



McCartney had just completed "Here Today" -- a song he wrote after Lennon's murder in 1980 -- when the Tuesday night crowd at the Bercy sports centre in Paris broke into the celebrated peace anthem, originally penned to protest against the Vietnam war.

Visibly surprised, the former Beatle joined in the chorus but he otherwise made no reference to the war in Iraq (news - web sites), which is opposed by the overwhelming majority of the French public.

McCartney was kicking off the European leg of his world tour, in which he plays around 40 Beatles classics as well as hits by his second group Wings.