Long and winding road to Israel

There is still a debate regarding the true reason behind declining The Beatles' arrival to perform in Israel. The common story behind it was simply the lack of money and the prudence of the Israeli government. Due to Israel's poor economical situation in the 1960s the organisers and promoters could not come up with the sufficient funds that were claimed and when they appealed to the Israeli government for help, they were turned down because "The Beatles were a threat on the morality of the youth".

Earlier this year, the Israeli government has sent its ambassador in Britain to officially apologise to Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and to the relatives of John Lennon and George Harrison for its unfortunate decision. After weeks of nerve-racking anticipations and contradicting headlines, Sir Paul jumped on the stage in Tel Aviv in front of an audience of 50,000 people and gave us an outstanding night to remember and a story to tell our children and grandchildren.

The concert, entitled Friendship First, was set to start at 8 p.m. Needless to say that many fans had stood outside the gates of Hayarkon Park since the early morning. Some even spent the previous night sleeping at the location. I intended to get there with my wife and 10-month-old son at around noon but we managed to get there only later, around 4 p.m., after my friends from The Israeli Beatles Forum had already burst into the fenced off defined area. At that point the organisers ordered to close the gates and not to allow people in till later. I was very disappointed and had to stay with my wife and son outside the gate until the official opening.

However, while being busy phoning the whole world in effort to get myself a pass, a few fancy cars drove by. My wife said that it could have been Sir Paul arriving at the site but I told her that during his stay in Israel he was taken around in a big black car... I didn't get the chance to finish that sentence when "a big black car" drove through... the back window opened and Sir Paul leaned out of it, smiling at us and waving...

Thank God we arrived late for it allowed me to actually be within three metres from a truly legendary phenomenon, for a few seconds.

We finally were allowed in the outer area at 5 p.m., exactly when Sir Paul conducted his final audience-free rehearsal. We managed to hear him behind the fences and were so excited. I was especially happy for my wife and son for they didn't have a ticket. This way they managed to taste a few moments of good entertainment.

After a while they went their way and I headed into the audience area. The atmosphere was great but I couldn't bare the anticipation. I think I had felt all 43 years of anticipation on my shoulders at that point. The magnitude of the stage was inconceivable and the sight of tens of thousands of people - babies, children, youth, adults and elderly people - was a sight to remember. The fact that the range of ages was so wide teach us of the true greatness of Sir Paul. And then it actually happened. A warm-up music was playing loud and the area was darkened. Sir Paul suddenly arrived from nowhere and the spectacular mega-concert had begun with a fantastic first welcome song -The Beatles' Hello Goodbye. The crowd went crazy! During the two-and-a- half hour concert Sir Paul performed 32 songs; 11 of his post Beatles solo career and the rest were Beatles' songs.

The concert had many climax moments. One of those moments was when he dedicated in Hebrew his My Love song to Linda, his first wife, who died of cancer in 1998. Another peak was when he sang Something, in commemoration of George Harrison and A Day in the Life, followed by a fantastic switch to Give Peace a Chance in commemoration of John Lennon.

Another unforgettable moment was the Hey Jude sing along. Sir Paul called this song Ahalan Jude and in the finishing "na na na na na na na" he asked the men and women in the audience to sing alternately.

The fireworks in Live and Let Die were spectacular and so powerful. Of course Let it Be and Yesterday were a must. During the show I suddenly imagined I was actually watching all four members of The Beatles exactly as they were in their concert tours in the 1960s.

Sir Paul chose to end the show with a stupendously outstanding medley of Sgt Pepper's powerfully sliding into the historical and hysterical state of the art genius piece of The End - the very last song of The Beatles, ending with the words: "And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make".

During the whole show, 66-year-old Sir Paul McCartney was jumping around the stage like a teenager, switching instruments and mastering them beautifully and in rapid pace. He played on his historical Hofner badd guitar, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, a Ukelele, Piano and more. He has the ability to let each and every one in the audience feel he was the only one there and that Sir Paul was playing just for him.

I will never forget that night!