Heeding Israel's plea that "got to get you into my life," former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is to give a concert in Tel Aviv on September 25, Israeli media reported Sunday. ( dpa )
The show is expected to be the biggest in Israel's history.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the show, produced by promoter Dudu Zerzevsky, is expected to cost upward of 4 million dollars to stage "and will require a 100-person production team, an extra-large stage and expansive sound system, and additional touches such as two vegetarian kitchens at the show's location for the anti-carnivore musician."
It has taken McCartney 43 years to appear in Israel, after the Jewish state nixed a proposed performance in the country in 1965.
Admitting "I should have known better," Israel formally made amends in January this year, when Ambassador to the United Kingdom Ron Prossor presented an official letter of apology for the cancellation to John Lennon's sister, and similar letters were sent to the relatives of the late George Harrison, and to McCartney and Ringo Starr.
The Beatles had been asked to give a concert in Israel in 1965, an invitation the group's Jewish manager, Brian Epstein, accepted. But a group of politicians, fearful the group would prove a corrupting influence on Israeli youth, succeeded in getting the performance cancelled.