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Paul McCartney Confirms NYC Concert
The Who, James Taylor, Macy Gray, Bon Jovi, John Mellencamp, Melissa Etheridge, Goo Goo Dolls, and India.Arie are expected to perform and more artists may be added to the bill.
The show will be broadcast on MTV, VH1 and other networks.
The former Beatle has been in New York since The World Trade Center disaster and announced the initial plans for the show September 21 on the air at WPLJ radio. The date an venue were confirmed September 27.
“I was here in New York when the disaster happened. I was actually on a plane, on the tarmac, when the pilot said it’d all been closed down,” he said. “I’ve been here in New York ever since and, in a way, I was pleased to be here to witness all the heroism.”
At the time, Mac was flying home to plan an October concert in Moscow’s Red Square. “But that doesn’t seem appropriate now, so I’ve postponed that,” he said.
“But what I am going to do is to do a concert here in New York … to benefit all the firemen. I also have a connection there, because my father was a fireman in Liverpool during World War II.
McCartney last toured the U.S. in 1993 and has played only a handful of special shows in the States since then.
During World War II, McCartney’s father, Jim, was a volunteer fireman in Liverpool. Between August 1940 and January 1942, Liverpool endured 68 air-raids, which killed or injured more than 4,500 of the population and completely destroyed more that 10,000 homes in the city.