![The St.Peterburg Times]( "The St.Peterburg Times")
The St.Peterburg Times
#978, Friday, June 18, 2004
Ex-Beatle Still Needed When He's 62
By Irina Titova
STAFF WRITER
Photo by Alexander Belenky / SPT
About 50,000 people are expected to attend ex-Beatle Paul McCartney's concert at St. Petersburg's Palace Square on Sunday.
The concert was almost sold out on Thursday, the impressive stage was under construction, and tens of thousands of Beatles fans were getting ready to experience their idol playing live.
McCartney was to arrive with his wife, Heather, in St. Petersburg on Friday as a part of his tour through Europe, and after his concert in Helsinki. Sir Paul will celebrate his 62nd birthday on Friday in the city.
Organizers say McCartney initiated the idea of playing in St. Petersburg, which impressed him when he visited it last year. However, in 2003 his only Russian concert was in Moscow's Red Square.
McCartney's concert will start at 6 p.m. and last 2 1/2 hours. Concert-goers will be admitted to the square from 4 p.m.
Dvortsovy Proyezd will close to traffic at noon.
Those, who have tickets to the area with seats will enter the square through the arch of the General Staff Building. Others will be entering it from the direction of Nevsky Prospekt, Admiralteisky Prospekt, Admiralteisky Garden, and Dvortsovy Bridge.
To allow the audience to get a good view and hear him well, Sir Paul has brought a special stage from Los Angeles that is 18 meters high and 68 meters long, making it 50 percent larger than the one on which he performed on in Red Square last year.
Security will be at the highest level.
More than 2,000 police and private security officers will provide safety in the area.
McCartney is to stay in one of the luxurious cottages of Konstantine Palace complex, restored last year in the St. Petersburg suburb of Strelna, and where a Russia-EU summit was held.
The two-story cottage is named after a Southern Russian city - Astrakhan.
According to organizers, McCartney's fans plan to set up a tent camp near the cottage to be near their idol.
However, employees of the palace are sure that nobody can get into the palace grounds.
Meanwhile, organizers of the show warn that any private photo or video equipment is prohibited at the concert.
The organization of the concert will cost about $2.8 million. The general sponsor of the event are TNK-BP company, which also sponsored McCartney's concert in Moscow last year.
McCartney's program in St. Petersburg has not been announced. Some sources say he may visit the suburb of Peterhof, famed for its fountain complex, and the State Russian Museum.
However, St. Petersburg fans of McCartney, already invited him to celebrate his birthday on Friday with them at the Gulf of Finland.
Sergei Parnas, one of St. Petersburg's Beatles fans, said local fans have for decades been organizing birthday parties for McCartney at the village of Tarkhovka.
"This time we wanted to have Sir Paul join us there," he said, adding that they yet don't know if McCartney will join them.
Parnas said that usually Beatles fans equipped with guitars, posters and tapes of The Beatles, and food for the picnic, gather on June 18 at Finlandsky railway station at 9 a.m. to leave for Tarkhovka.
"There we sing The Beatles' and McCartney's songs, and toast his birthday," he said.
Parnas said the most devoted Beatles fans, led by St. Petersburg's best-known fan Kolya Vasin, celebrate the birthdays of the other Beatles as well.
