Unlike some of his fellow classic-rock survivors - Bob Dylan and Neil Young, letвЂ™s say - McCartney displays little interest in spontaneity or unpredictability, to say nothing of the bewilderment and confusion that Dylan seems to relish sowing in his audiences.

(A week after his birthday, heвЂ™ll become the oldest person ever to headline EnglandвЂ™s massive Glastonbury festival.) McCartney has long viewed his live show as an opportunity to condense his lifeвЂ™s work - music with the Beatles, music with Wings, music on his own - into a 2ВЅ-hour survey of crackling riffs, honeyed harmonies and the kind of deep-seated emotional optimism that led him to accompany вЂњGetting BetterвЂќ on Friday with a video that depicted flowers springing up through the rubble of a post-apocalyptic landscape. Still, the stage is where McCartney seems most invested in stewarding his legacy as he prepares to turn 80 next month. We assess 50 years of post-Beatles Paul: from DIY solo to Linda and Wings, from Stevie to MJ to Rihanna and Kanye. Music Every Paul McCartney single, ranked

But as an icon, what McCartney gets is that people crave art that makes magic from their everyday experiences. And вЂњrelatableвЂќ probably isnвЂ™t the word for a guy with more money than he could ever spend. ItвЂ™s not that he lacks rock-star swagger. вЂњThat baby in my jacketвЂ™s now got four babies of her own,вЂќ he told the capacity crowd, itself a clear bastion of grandparenting, at the end of the song.ДЄfter more than half a century as one of musicвЂ™s biggest acts, Sir Paul has an earnest charm that remains his superpower. You know the photos, the most famous of which - snapped by his late wife Linda, about whom he wrote вЂњMaybe IвЂ™m AmazedвЂќ - appeared on the back cover of McCartneyвЂ™s homemade 1970 solo debut, when heвЂ™d retreated into the bosom of his family amid the BeatlesвЂ™ painful breakup. Even - or especially - in front of 50,000 adoring fans, Paul McCartney was just another proud grandparent.ДЄs the 79-year-old pop legend sang his classic soft-rock ballad вЂњMaybe IвЂ™m AmazedвЂќ on Friday night, giant screens at InglewoodвЂ™s SoFi Stadium flashed old images of him cradling his newborn daughter Mary inside a shearling jacket.

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