The Paul McCartney tour of Australia was hardly the best kept secret in town by the time it was formally announced during a chat with musician/comedian Tim Minchin on Wednesday night. But hey, there's not a lot of secrets left for one of the biggest names in pop history.
McCartney, who was last here when prime ministers were expected to serve more than two years and presidents could comb their hair without an engineering degree – 1993 in the old money – will return in December for shows in four capital cities.
![Paul McCartney, now a knight, is on his way to Australia in December.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170621132353im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/t/a/m/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwvkez.png/1498042560475.jpg)
Those four stops do not include Adelaide, the city which 53 years ago this month gave McCartney, and his fellow Beatles, one of the largest public receptions ever, save possibly for a royal tour.
Still, if Adelaide's fans will moan that they can't buy [me] love from McCartney, it's likely the man who should properly be known as Sir Paul McCartney (of Kintyre? Of Allerton, Liverpool?) won't be short of buyers elsewhere for shows which he promises will canvas his career from The Quarrymen, through the Beatles and Wings, to a solo career that has even survived working with Kanye West.
"I was a little bit nervous at first," McCartney said of working with West. "I thought 'Oh God it could go horribly wrong' but I was intrigued to see what he was up to and how he did it, really. And it was a very intriguing process; you basically don't write songs. You basically talk and noodle a bit and record it all on your phone and then he goes away and (makes rap noises) that's basically his record.
"It was great doing it though because I don't work like that I normally sit down with a guitar. So I think it kind of does influence you."
Having played in not just any colosseum but in fact the Colosseum, in Rome, in Red Square in Moscow, and as the final show in San Francisco's Candlestick Park (which was where the Beatles played their last concert 50 years earlier), McCartney will step out in nib Stadium in Perth on December 2, AAMI Park in Melbourne on December 5, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on December 9 and – for the only indoor show – Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on December 11.
In a live Q&A; with Tim Minchin, when asked which was his favourite Beatles album, Sir McCartney replied: "It really is a difficult question because they change your favourites and also they are like your children, you don't want to have a favourite.
"This year it's got to be Sgt. Pepper 'cause I'm re-listening to it, because it has re-released after 50 years .. I do like Rubber Soul and Band on the Run."
Tickets go on sale from July 4.