Paul McCartney Plays Covent Garden. Best. Busker. Ever.

Friday lunchtimes don’t get much better than today’s. If it wasn’t enough stopping the traffic on Hollywood Boulevard and Times Square, Paul McCartney decided to add the woes of London’s traffic wardens by parking his great big lorry outside the Punch and Judy Tavern in Covent Garden today.

“This is a change from the sixties – we’d have just been coming out of the clubs by now” joked Sir Paul as he and his band played a surprise gig at 1.30pm on the back of said lorry to a delighted – and packed – Covent Garden crowd.

Announced on Twitter with just an hour’s notice, this was a brief 20 minute showcase for McCartney’s new album, released on Monday and entitled “New”.

“We’re going to do some songs from the “New” album so get your phones out!” McCartney added before observing wryly, “As if they weren’t already…”

Playing four songs from the album, and latest single “New” twice, presumably for a video, the new (or is that “New”?) songs sounded great.

What with it being a last minute affair, I didn’t have a decent camera with me, but hopefully these pictures give you flavour of the thing.

Whilst not as epoch making as a certain rooftop show on the Apple Building in nearby Saville Row, this free Covent Garden busk a hundred yards from the Apple Store was a decent 2013 version.

As McCartney and band took a bow the former Beatle exclaimed, “Thank you! Now back to work!”

Here’s some YouTube footage:

As the rest of us trudged back to our offices, McCartney then popped across to an album signing at HMV‘s new store at 363 Oxford St, where earlier this week they celebrated its opening by giving away a free 7″ promo single of Beatles On Air – Live at the BBC vol 2.

Perhaps when the Beatles covered “Money” they had it wrong: what with free Beatles records and free McCartney gigs, this week it seems that the best things in life really are free…

Record #245: Paul McCartney – Queenie Eye

Paul McCartney Covent Garden show – set list:

• New
• Save Us
• Everybody Out There
• Queenie Eye
• New (again)