SIR Paul McCartney is to play a one-off Christmas show in London.

The former Beatle will end a seven-date European tour, his first in five years, with a concert at The O2 arena on December 22.

The performance will be 46 years to the day since The Beatles played their first Christmas show at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre and it will be McCartney’s first arena show in London for over six years.

The Good Evening Europe tour will kick off in Hamburg, Germany, the city where The Beatles played extensively before being signed.

“This is my chance to bring our current show home to where it all began. Starting in Hamburg, ending in London and rocking everywhere in between. I’m very much looking forward to ending the year on a high,” Paul said.

McCartney, 67, has only played a handful of UK shows since his last tour in 2003, including a headline slot at the Glastonbury musical festival in 2004 and a performance at the European Capital of Culture show in Liverpool last year.

Other cities McCartney will be stopping at include Paris, Berlin, and Dublin.

Tickets for the concerts go on sale at 9am on Monday October 26. When he played in Las Vegas earlier this year, tickets sold out in seven seconds.

Madonna could never perform live like Paul McCartney — she’d be too bored.

The pop superstar, 51, says she wouldn’t want to just “go out there and play guitar” like the former Beatle because she likes to work up a sweat.

“People have told me, ‘You could just go out there and play guitar and sing your songs like Paul McCartney,’ but I’d be too bored,” she told Rolling Stone magazine. “Most of the joy of the shows is the magic of creating them — theater. I’m a perfectionist. I like hard work. I like to sweat.”

The Queen of Pop also revealed that she sees a lot of herself in Lady GaGa.

“I see myself in Lady Gaga,” she said. “When I saw her, she didn’t have a lot of money for her production. she’s got holes in her fishnets, and there’s mistakes everywhere. It was kind of a mess, but I can see that she has that IT Factor. It’s nice to see that at a raw stage.”

Sir Paul McCartney’s grandchildren like impersonating him.

The Beatles bassist turned down the chance to recreate his biggest hits by playing the new edition of the computer game Rock Band – which gives gamers the chance to imitate members of the legendary group and perform simulations of their classic tracks.

However, Paul’s grandchildren, 10-year-old Arthur and Elliott, seven — the children of his daughter Mary — jumped at the chance to play the game.

“Paul watched the guys from developers Harmonix play the game,” said creative producer Giles Martin — the son of Beatles producer Sir George Martin.

“Then he held the instrument and was asked if he wanted to play. He said, ‘To be honest I was in the band the first time round.’

“I was at Abbey Road studios the other day and Paul was there.

“He was with his daughters Beatrice and Mary, who had her boys with her and I said to the boys, ‘Do you want to play the game pretending to be your grandfather?’ They loved it.”

Meanwhile, an exhibition in honor of Paul’s former bandmate George Harrison has closed after a signed picture of the guitarist was stolen.

The ‘For George’ display at Liverpool’s St. George’s Hall had been due to run until September 19 but was shut early after the rare picture, which dated from the mid-80s and was worth around $2,000, disappeared.

Organizer Denise Theophilus — who owned the picture — said, “It’s a shame but I want to make it clear that 10,000 people have seen this exhibition and it is only one person who has done this. I do not want to end on a negative note.”

Paul McCartney might be worth hunderds of millions of dollars, but he still likes to use the bus!

The Beatles legend says it makes him feel “grounded” when he travels incognito on public transport.

“It grounds you, you know? It’s a balance thing,” he said. “I’m just one of the people on the bus. I’m the famous one but I’m behaving normally.

“Really, it’s important.”

Paul, 66, said he was on a New York bus when one of the women recognized him and asked him if he was who she thought he was. “So I said: ‘Look, honey. Don’t shout across the bus. Come and sit here!” he said.

McCartney recently denied reports that his next tour in 2010 will be his last.

“All I can say is that I’m not retiring,” he said. “It’s like ‘Paul is dead’. ‘No, I’m not,’ is all I could say. I did talk about retirement in one sentence in one story and only to say ‘No way, Jose.’ But someone must have only read part of that one sentence.

“As long as people want to come and hear me, I’ll probably be doing this. It’s just so easy to start rumors.”

He’s still got it!

Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney performed outside New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre Wednesday for an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. (continue)

Sir Paul McCartney insists he “didn’t believe for a second” reports that Michael Jackson would leave the rights to the Beatles back catalog to him.

It was claimed earlier this year that Jacko — who died Thursday, June 25 after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles — was keen to repair his relationship with McCartney by passing the lucrative catalog on to him in his will.

Jackson’s 50 per cent share in the Beatles catalogue was one of the late singer’s most valuable assets and, together with other song rights, was estimated to be worth in the region of $450 million.

Jackson bought Northern Songs — which owned almost all the Lennon and McCartney Beatles compositions — in the mid 1980s, outbidding Sir Paul.

But Paul has spoken out to set the record straight.

“Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles songs to me in his will which was completely made up and something I didn’t believe for a second,” he said.

“Now, the report is that I am devastated to find that he didn’t leave the songs to me. This is completely untrue. I had not thought for one minute that the original report was true and, therefore, the report that I’m devastated is also totally false, so don’t believe everything you read folks!

“In fact, though Michael and I drifted apart over the years, we never really fell out, and I have fond memories of our time together.”

American President Barack Obama and Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney have paid tribute to pop superstar Michael Jackson, who died Thursday after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles.

“It’s so sad and shocking,” McCartney said in a statement. “I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones. (continue)

Paul McCartney wants to work with New York rockers MGMT.

The former Beatle — who has previously dabbled with electronic music under the name The Fireman — says he’s keen to collaborate with the Electric Feel hitmakers — and urged the duo to get in touch.

“I like MGMT,” said Sir Paul. “I’d like to work on some more dance-y stuff with MGMT. But it has to happen organically. We need to talk about it. I can’t call them. If they called me, I’d say, ‘How did you get my number?’. But I’d do it.”

Paul, 66, also revealed how he refused to vote in the U.K.’s recent European elections — because he is “disillusioned” with the politicians in charge of Britain.

“I didn’t vote in the last election,” he said. “All that expenses rubbish has made me disillusioned with British politics. I didn’t feel comfortable using my vote to get any of them in power. All of them seem to be up for ripping off expenses and making themselves as powerful as possible and I don’t want a part of that.”

Paul McCartney admits he has grown “fed up” of being a Beatle.

The music legend — who recently enjoyed a lunch date with actress Jennifer Aniston — says he often tires of the fame he attracts from being in the 60s band.

“You get fed up being him,” McCartney tells the USA Today newspaper. “You’re always that guy.

“If I was Bruce Springsteen, I might get fed up being Bruce Springsteen. I might want to be the kid I was growing up, when I didn’t have that image to live up to.”

However, Paul insists he still loves playing songs from his back catalog because he is aware his fans will want to hear his biggest hits.

“If I buy a ticket to a show, I know what I want to hear the band play,” he added. “So I start with that – what would I want to hear me play if I was in the audience? Then we start rehearsing stuff I’d like to play or that we haven’t done for a while, or never done. That creeps in.

“We just learned a couple Fireman songs. That’s interesting, because they’re improvisational and you’ve almost got to rewrite them into a shape we can all understand. Say I fancy playing electric guitar – I work in a couple of excuses for that.”

Paul — who is divorced from former glamor model Heather Mills and is currently dating millionaires Nancy Shevel — says he tries his hardest not to pay attention to the intense interest in his private life.

“I’m in the public eye, so you notice my trials and tribulations,” he explains “Most people my age have been through similar things. They’ve lost loved ones. Lots of people have been divorced.

“You have to try to understand it and move on. It’s never easy. How do I do it? I remember the good times.”

Bruce Springsteen has been named as the “other man” in a divorce.

Businessman Arthur J Kelly has cited the singer as the reason for the break-up of his 17-year marriage to mum-of-two Ann.

Court papers filed by Kelly in New Jersey claim Springsteen, 59, had a long affair with Ann.

Springsteen’s publicist has since told People magazine that Springsteen — nicknamed The Boss — stands by a statement he released in August 2006 — when reports surfaced that he was involved in another alleged affair — which says his commitment to wife Patti Scialfa “remains as strong as the day we were married.”

“I hesitate to use this Web site for anything personal believing it should remain a place where fans of my music can come free of the distractions that occasionally arise with the rest of my job,” Springsteen wrote on his Web site at the time. “However, due to the unfounded and ugly rumors that have appeared in the papers over the last few days, I felt they shouldn’t pass without comment. Patti and I have been together for 18 years – the best 18 years of my life. We have built a beautiful family we love and want to protect and our commitment to one another remains as strong as the day we were married.”

Mika Plans to Buy Michael Jackson’s Diamanté Gloves

Hey, remember Mika? (he’s the guy behind this.) According to British tab The Sun, the flamboyant singer is planning to splash out on Michael Jackson’s diamanté gloves when they go under the hammer later this this month.

The star — who has been in America working on the follow-up to multimillion-selling debut album Life In Cartoon Motion — plans to buy the gloves AND Jackson’s Zoltar The Fortune Teller fairground machine in the Neverland auction, starting on April 22.

However, Mika will need to dig deep — the gloves are said to be one of the most prized items in the auction.

Paul McCartney Seen Driving Gas-Guzzling Car

Uh oh! Paul McCartney is sticking his fingers up at the envirnomnet — he’s been spottted driving around Los Angeles in a C5 Corvette — which does around 16 miles to the gallon.

According to the Daily Mail, the former Beatle told reporters outside LAX that  “I don’t speak English” as he jumped behind the wheel of the car, which has a  5.7 liter engine and takes just 4.8seconds to go from 0-60mph.

Paul, 66, also owns a Lexus LS600H hybrid — which he had imported from Japan.