“The very centre of a serious political scandal”: The performance Paul McCartney was warned about
It’s pretty unfathomable to think about everything that Paul McCartney has seen and done in his lifetime. Being one of the most famous people in the world and a complete rock visionary is certainly enough to set his head spinning, but when on top of that he has also been subject of pernicious conspiracy and scandal more times than he can probably care to remember, it’s fair to say that he’ll have a story or two to tell.
Constant baseless rumours always swirled around The Beatles throughout their tenure – none more so than the Paul is Dead theory – but McCartney’s biggest real-life scandal came, in fact, much later on. Of course, it’s inevitable for a star who has never wanted to stay in the shadows to ruffle some feathers on occasion, but the lengths that Macca took this to almost threatened to derail his golden legacy.
The year was 2003, and though long after the days of the Soviet Union and the height of political tension that occurred then, animosity still existed between Russia and the Western world, particularly when it came to the influence of pop culture. But as he had done so many times before, McCartney decided to throw caution to the wind and in the spirit of The Beatles’ hit ‘Back in the USSR’, set about bringing his music to the Moscow masses.
Prior to this point, Macca had notoriously never set foot in the country, as The Beatles had been banned from Russia at the height of their manic fame in the 1960s. But nevertheless, the band had managed to become a beacon for the forbidden expanse of opportunity in the Western world and, as a result, had racked up quite the rebellious Russian fanbase over the years. It was for this reason that after the years had passed, McCartney knew it was time to finally make his presence known in the former Soviet sphere.
The result was a massive concert for over 100,000 people in the city’s Red Square, but the event didn’t come without its risks or opponents. The section of Russian society who still believed in the Soviet Union balked at Macca rocking into town, declaring that: “We find it absolutely senseless and blasphemous to hold rock concerts in a graveyard of a special kind where Stalin, Lenin, Brezhnev, Gagarin and other prominent personalities are buried.”
Their ultimatum to the former Beatle was that: “You may find yourself in the very centre of a serious political scandal,” but in typical McCartney fashion, he never paid the threat much mind. Instead, the gig was actually backed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, who himself became a punter at the gig, to the shock of the masses who congregated in the city centre to see the rock god grace the stage.
Subsequently, although the room for error was admittedly microscopic, McCartney’s concert in Moscow’s Red Square on May 24th, 2003, became the subject of undisputed lore for the Beatles king, from which he produced a documentary film recounting the experience. He can’t be accused of doing things by halves, but in that vein, McCartney can be defined as the ultimate rock star for the lengths he goes to in order to bring music to the masses.
