Linda McCartney Centre Charity Concert - Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool 17th June 2000

The weekend of June 17th and 18th saw Paul McCartney's 58th birthday and we were in the right place to celebrate it…Liverpool!! What made it even more special, was The Linda McCartney Charity Concert, which was held at the Litherland Town Hall, where the Beatles themselves played 'Once Upon A Long Ago'!! We were in Macca Heaven! After a day of shopping and drooling in The Beatles Shop we made our way to The Adelphi Hotel where a bus came to take us to Litherland! It really was a most enjoyable night! Two of the best Macca tribute bands were lined up to help us 'Have A Party'!

Lawrence Gilmour was fantastic! He treated us to a wonderful acoustic set, not to mention, the very haunting sound of "No Other Baby". What memories that must have brought back for you Lawrence! Singing that song! Lawrence dedicated 'I Saw Her Standing There', to TWIL's friend Gemma, who had recently celebrated her 17th birthday! It took her by surprise but she managed to regain her composure and we danced and sang along!! We also joined in with 'Mull of Kintyre', 'Yesterday' and Jo's all-time fave Paul song, 'Little Willow', (for reasons only her close friends know!)

Then came Banned On The Run, a very underrated band who in our eyes deserve much more than they get!! Banned On The Run gave us everything they had and more!! Singing songs like 'Live and Let Die', 'My Love', 'Young Boy', 'My Brave Face' 'C'mon People', 'Jet', 'Band on the Run', 'Silly Love Songs'...what more could we gals ask for!!!!? 'C Moon', 'Whole Lotta Shaking Going On'... and by this time there was!!!!! Not forgetting 'Honey Hush' (where half the ladies dived out of the loos and ascended on the dance floor in total mayhem!! Oh and that haunting Ricky Nelson classic 'Lonesome Town'... Ahhh!! You would never have believed it was bands first public performance with their new line up! You sound brilliant guys!!

We were left very happy…and for some of us the night didn't end there!! We all strolled back to the Adelphi Hotel and we were pleased to see it was an officially 'Eileen Downey Free Zone'!! We, the boozy editors of The Word Is Love, Banned On The Run, Lawrence, his wife Mary and son Clarke, our friends Eleanor, Helen, Jean, Barbara, Jane and her husband, all sat in the Adelphi Lounge chatting about everything Beatles into the wee small hours! (And some of us didn't 'Get Back' to were we belonged until, shhh, 6am!!)

It really was a fantastic weekend and we would like to thank all those involved in the concert!! One last thing…Banned On The Run guys you are the best, really great and we are looking forward to your next gig! We have our requests at the ready…. 'Melody 9' (for Marcus, of course!), 'We all Stand Together' and 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'!! Is that OK, Marc? Oh yeah and one final question for Bob Bartey himself…have you learnt the words to 'Standing Stone' yet?

Jo Rishton
TWIL Issue One July 2000