The Concert for Linda was a benefit tribute to

Linda McCartney Linda Louise, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, cookbook author, and activist. She was the keyboardist and harmony vocalist in the band Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings tha ...

, wife of

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

. It was held at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 10 April 1999."Paul McCartney leads Linda tribute"
''BBC'', 11 April 1999 Linda McCartney died after a long battle with cancer nearly a year earlier, when she was 56. They were married for 29 years. The event was organised by two of their friends, Chrissie Hynde and Carla Lane.Costello, Elvis. ''Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink'', Penguin (2015) ch. 5 Comedian

Eddie Izzard Suzy Eddie Izzard ( ; born Edward John Izzard, 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomi ...

hosted the concert, with proceeds going to various

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

charities. Chrissie Hynde and Linda had worked together supporting various animal rights groups, including

PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...

. Tickets to the show, with 5,000 people attending, sold out within an hour after going on sale.

Performances

Besides Paul McCartney's unannounced performance, the show featured more than a dozen artists singing their own songs and their own versions of Beatles' material. Among the other groups performing were

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

the Pretenders The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (ba ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

, Tom Jones,

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

Des'ree Desirée Annette Weekes (born 30 November 1968), known by her stage name Des'ree (), is an English pop and soul recording artist and songwriter, who rose to prominence during the 1990s. Known for her distinctive contralto voice and uplifting l ...

Heather Small Heather Marguerita Small (born 20 January 1965) is an English soul music, soul singer and lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, ''Proud (Heather Small album), Proud'', was released in 2000. Her second and ...

, guitarist

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...

and

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of ''isicathamiya'' and ''mbube (genre), mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with American Paul Simon on his 1986 album ''Grace ...

. Faithfull, who wanted to appear, said "I didn't know Linda well, but she made my friend very happy, and that's the main thing." McCartney was not expected to perform, as he had not done any shows since his wife died. However, he attended the event with his four children. After he took to the stage to thank the audience, at the urging of Chrissie Hynde, he sang one of his and Linda's favorite 1950s songs,

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he began a ...

's " Lonesome Town". He was backed by members of the Pretenders, along with Costello. The song was Paul's first recorded song since Linda died. He followed that with his 1963 hit, " All My Loving", originally performed by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

."The Night Paul McCartney Dedicated an Emotional Concert to His Late Wife Linda"
''Ultimate Classic Rock'', 12 April 2014 Most of the night's performers joined him on stage to provide the chorus. Costello said that for this particular event, "there was something incredibly poignant" about the song's opening lyrics: ''Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, Tomorrow I'll miss you, Remember I'll always be true.'' After those songs, Hynde rushed over and gave McCartney an emotional embrace. Everyone then joined in for the closing song, " Let It Be".

References

{{Reflist Paul McCartney Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall 1999 in British music 1999 in London Tribute concerts in the United Kingdom April 1999 in the United Kingdom