Here's an article from The Times (slightly shortened) about the concert in London:
Linda McCartney's most widely respected work was honoured at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday, 10th of April 1999 before any of her famous friends took a bow. Projected on to the back of the stage throughout this spangly celebration of her life were examples of her distinguished photographic endeavours, an eloquent legacy for a woman vilified for her individuality by those who thought Beatles wives should seldom be seen and never heard.

Linda's soul mate Chrissie Hynde gathered with a dozen artists to send a celebrity bouquet to mark the first anniversary of her passing, with the proceeds earmarked for Carla Lane's Animaline charity. The sentiment was warmly endorsed but, as the evening was to show, not so easy to articulate. Star turns are dab hands at tribute shows which simply call for the reinterpretation of a body of music. Without such a catalogue at their disposal, how might they express their love and respect, short of breaking open the veggie bangers for a celebrity grill-fest?

The best answer was to conjure songs that offered some lyrical resonance with Linda's public and private personae. So after the first of host Eddie Izzard's what-am-I-doing-here links, Hynde, still feisty at 47, opened with her admirable Pretenders on "Message Of Love". Johnny Marr joined them, inviting us to sing along with the "Meat Is Murder"......

..... Sinead O'Connor's erratic submission included her tribute song to Princess Diana, and while one thought she may have wandered in, from the wrong tribute, there was a roundabout poignancy in the juxtaposition with McCartney, since both women were the targets of tabloid bile in life, yet were never mentioned without the sobriquet "brave" in death. .....

..... Tom Jones upped the ante with his customary indomitable magnetism, notably with "She's A Woman". Marianne Faithful exuded weatherbeaten splendour, joined by Marr for a charming "As Tears Go By".

Elvis Costello provided the nights most open-hearted testimonial with his reminiscence of Linda's kind attentions while he was working with Paul some years ago. His touching set included one of those collaborations, "That Day Is Done".

But the mood moved up two gears once George Michael breezed on. He underlined his immense charisma and warmth of spirit during painstaking readings of "Eleanor Rigby" and "The Long And Winding Road", before leading the party on "Faith".

The appearance of a moist eyed Paul was the final emotional endorsement; before we shambled through an inevitable "Let It Be", he had found the fortitude to play "All My Loving" and "Lonesome Town", the Ricky Nelson chestnut that he and Linda had loved thousands miles apart as teenagers, years before they became Mr and Mrs Macca.

Paul Sexton, The Times

 

 

 
 

And a personal review from Bianca (Cavalini):
The concert itself was awesome of course.. it was so great to finally see him perform live on stage, and apparently so thought the rest of the crowd, because he got an overwhelming standing ovation that lasted for minutes when he finally appeared on stage.

Wish you were there... so you could have seen it for yourself. I know you wanted to be there real badly.. and you've tried to be there, but financially such a last minute trip was too much. I understand that.. I know of plenty of other fans who wanted to be there, but simply couldn't afford to go... such a shame!! :o( Not to mention the people who did have the money, but couldn't get any tickets because they sold out so quickly. In that regard I was lucky... and I owe you my eternal gratitude.. if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have had the information in time on where to buy tickets. So a big THANK YOU for that girl.. I will never forget it! :o)

*hugs*

 

 

 

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