City marks arrival of former Beatle with 'Paul McCartney Week'

Trish Kozicka, Global News : Wednesday, November 28, 2012 6:45 PM

The anticipation is building for what will be Sir Paul McCartney's first concert ever in Edmonton Wednesday night.

The City has been celebrating the arrival of the former Beatle all week in the downtown core, with a recreation of Abbey Road, horse-carriage rides in Churchill Square, English beer and Scotch tasting at Three Bananas Cafe, and more.

Over the Wednesday noon hour, the celebrations continued at City Hall, where Mayor Stephen Mandel officially proclaimed November 26th to 30th 2012, "Paul McCartney Week."

Beatles cover band, Pepperland, were brought in as entertainment for the occassion. Two of the five lads in the tribute group are actually from Brazil, and have been honouring the work of their idols for the past three years.

"It's easy to convince people to come to our gigs because everybody loves them," says Alvaro Hartman.

You can take a look at their performance at City Hall below:

Hartman's bandmate, Ivan Rocha, adds that the music is timeless so it brings out people of all ages to their shows.

"It's fun, it's youthful, creative and full of energy."

And that helps make it a strong seller at Old Strathcona music store, Permanent Records.

"Every year they're coming up with new ways to keep The Beatles alive, whether it's iTunes, box sets, (or) vinyl," store owner Clint Anderson explains.

But Anderson also believes Paul McCartney has proven himself as a solo artist.

"After they broke up," says Clint Anderson, "I think McCartney really showed that the sound, the music didn't have to stop with The Beatles."

McCartney's visit to Edmonton is one of only two Canadian stops on his international tour. It's a concert many loyal fans thought they would ever see in Edmonton.

"Actually made a trip a few years ago, because I thought this would never happen, so I flew to Halifax to see him," says Ron Behnke, who will be seeing him again in Alberta's capital on Thursday.

For those who don't have tickets, there's still hope, as Irfan Chaudri learned by checking sites like Kijiji and StubHub.

Despite trying in vain to get tickets when they went on sale in September, Chaudri was able to snag four tickets in the 200 section for $70 each last week.

"You have to sift through them but there are tickets available from people who just can't make the show and just want their face value money back," he explains.

Others found some on Wednesday for under $30 in the 300s.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Live Nation also tweeted this:

Lmtd # of tix have been released for the @paulmccartney shows tonight & tmrw @northlands -> bit.ly/UsOUQk #OnTheRunEdm #YEGMcCartney
— LiveNationWestCanada (@livenationwest) November 28, 2012

If you're using second-party sites, however, and the prices seem too good to be true, they probably are. The Better Business Bureau advises people to call Ticketmaster to confirm that the ticket numbers match those of legitimate tickets. You also check out the seller and ask for their ID.

Meanwhile, just after 4 pm...