Paul McCartney played a 12-song, full band acoustic set last night (July 25th) at the Liverpool College Of Art. Earlier at the school yesterday, McCartney sat for a Q&A with Pulp‘s Jarvis Cocker in which he spoke about his famous past and upcoming album, Egypt Station, which drops on September 7th. LIPA, which is housed in the building where McCartney and George Harrison’s school, the Liverpool Institute High School For Boys, was located, sits next to the Liverpool College Of Art where John Lennon and original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe studied.

McCartney’s setlist included a few surprises; including his first full band live take of the original “Blackpool” — which has been kicking around since the summer 1971 Wild Life sessions — and his first performance of the Beatles’ “From Me To You” since 1964. During yesterday’s chat, “Macca” revealed he would be playing yet another “surprise” gig somewhere in Liverpool today (July 26th).

According to fan reports, McCartney’s setlist at LIPA last night was: “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” “San Francisco Bay Blues,” “Every Night,” “From Me To You,” “Mrs. Vandebilt,” “On My Way To Work,” “Love Me Do,” “Confidante,” “I Lost My Little Girl,” “Midnight Special,” “Blackpool,” “and “We Can Work It Out.”

During yesterday’s chat at LIPA, McCartney explained that in many ways the upcoming Egypt Station collection hearkens back to when albums meant something more than just a collection of songs: “These days you’ve got, like, the big stars, like, Beyonce, Taylor Swift. . . and their songs are in a way, a collection of singles; y’know, they’re all great commercial tracks. But it doesn’t kind of roll through like a Pink Floyd album used to — or a Beatle album. So, I thought, ‘Well, I can’t compete with that kind of Taylor Swift-thing.’ I thought, maybe what I can do is do what used to be called a ‘concept album.’ So, it’s an album you can, sort of, listen all the way and it should roll through and take you somewhere. That’s what I’ve done with this new one.”

SIDE NOTES

• It looks as though Paul McCartney‘s die-hard fans will be getting the ultimate tip of the hat with the next pair of “McCartney Archive Series” reissues. Beatlefan magazine scooped that inside sources say that the first two Wings albums — 1971’s Wild Life and 1973’s Red Rose Speedway — are getting the nod for release this fall.
• Wild Life — billed solely to Wings — was released on December 8th, 1971 and peaked at Number 10 — the worst chart showing for an original McCartney album in the 1970’s.
• Red Rose Speedway — billed to Paul McCartney & Wings — was released on April 30th, 1973 — bumped The Beatles 1967-1973 from the Number One spot and topped the charts for three weeks.