Paul McCartney Performs for the Queen's Jubilee, Announces He'll Close London Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paul McCartney has announced he'll be the closing act at the London London Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 27.

Earlier this year, the former Beatle let it leak that he was in negotiations to play some sort of major role in the celebrations.

"I've been booked," McCartney finally told the BBC on Monday.

A cast of 15,000 people will take part in the opening and closing ceremonies, but in terms of rock stars, McCartney's name is the only one attached to the event so far. The lineup for the ceremonies, which are being overseen by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, has been a closely guarded secret; however, the rest of the star-studded lineup will be announced in the days ahead.

The Olympic Games take place July 27 to August 12.

In other McCartney news, he and Elton John performed in London last night as part of Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee event. You can see McCartney and his band perform "Magical Mystery Tour," "All My Loving," "Let It Be," "Live and Let Die" and more in the video below.

Photo: Bob Gannon

Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.