Paul McCartney resumes Out There tour following illness

Paul McCartney resumed his illness-interrupted Out There tour over the weekend with his first concert in more than two months, delivering a show that ran nearly three hours on Saturday in Albany, N.Y.

“It’s great to be back,” McCartney, 72, told the audience, alluding to a virus that sidelined him while on tour in Asia, forcing the cancellation or postponement of a number of shows. Some U.S. tour dates were rescheduled after his doctors advised him to continue to rest.

He reportedly included one new song, “On My Way to Work,” that he told the audience he had never before performed in public.

The Albany show, which took place a day before the 57th anniversary of the day McCartney met John Lennon in Liverpool, also included a digression to allow a fan to come on stage and meet the Beatle before proposing to his girlfriend. The woman had held up a sign saying, “He won’t marry me til he meets you.”

The Out There tour will bring McCartney to California for stops Aug. 10 at Dodger Stadium, where the Beatles performed in 1966, and on Aug. 14 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, where the Fab Four also performed in 1966 in their final public concert.

McCartney’s Candlestick Park show next month is slated to be the final event in the former home of the San Francisco 49ers. The stadium is scheduled for demolition in 2015.

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