For when all is said and done, the reason that the fans are ready and willing to pay the obscene ticket prices is for the opportunity to have that once in a lifetime chance to see Paul sing the Beatles songs once again.
For his enduring presence and his music from that golden period in rock is, in the final analysis, for many, a vehicle back to the serene, uncomplicated long-ago dream world of lost youth.
He offers them a chance to relive those old days and to forget about life for a couple of hours. He can, and does, take them back to a time when life seemed so much easier, when the promises that tomorrow held were infinite, and where middle age was so far away that it didn't even exist in their minds.
To this end, he did not disappoint when he ripped into songs like Back in the USSR, Hey Jude, Band on the Run, and an absolute killer version of Live and Let Die. He took them back there to that place one last time.
As I say, it was a magical evening with a still fresh and viable Paul McCartney. A night that saw half-forgotten memories from long ago and far away dragged out of those dusty corners of the mind and into the sunlight of today.
As he has done throughout his long career, McCartney left his audience on their feet, smiling, happy, and screaming for more.
And as I sat there watching him close out, I was struck by a thought that kept drifting through my mind. Not only is Paul McCartney the most successful singer/songwriter in history, and an enduring musical legend, above all else, Paul remains the keeper of the Beatles flame.
Paul Collins is an American freelance writer and public relations consultant who lives in Massachusetts.
