LONDON: Paul McCartney, who turns 65 on Monday, is getting back to where he once belonged. A year after his split from Heather Mills, the ex-Beatle is enjoying life - still rocking and spending a lot of time with his children.
While divorce proceedings and childcare commitments for his three-year-old daughter Beatrice prevent him from undertaking a full tour, the Beatle has recently thrilled fans with private gigs in London and New York.
The star's daughters, Mary and Stella, are unfailingly spotted among his celebrity-studded audiences, and frequently seen in his company in the bars and clubs of London.
Heather, meanwhile, appears to have relented in her scathing public attacks on her estranged husband, and the couple is reported to be on friendly terms.
"Music is my saviour, and the guitar is my healer," Paul told London's Big Issue magazine on the launch of his latest album "Memory Almost Full".
The title, he joked, is derived from his mobile flashing the message that its memory had reached capacity.
"I thought this is symbolic of life. You take in so much information that you have to erase some in order to cope."
The album, critics have said, is a "survey over a life lived long and well".
"It is an album that aches with a meditative, personal humanity," wrote the Guardian. "After close on 50 years of playing gigs, he knows how to leave them wanting more."
The repertoire of "Hey Jude", "Lady Madonna", "Let It Be", "Get Back", and the "Long and Winding Road", among others, movingly performed, was peppered with off-the cuff remarks, participants said.
Paul dedicated the track "Here Today" to John Lennon, George Harrison and his late wife Linda McCartney, whom he called "our fallen heroes".
"I still remember how it was before, and I am holding back the tears no more," he said.
"It's a difficult song to sing, that one. We love 'em," said Paul.
"Memory Almost Full", fans have noted, is an anagram of "For My Soulmate LLM" - the initials of Linda, who died of breast cancer in 1998 - a coincidence Paul has left uncommented on.
But Paul, a multi-millionaire now at pension age, is by no means a sad and lonely man.
"McCartney has never been busier, and his personal profile higher, since The Beatles split," said the Guardian.
"At 65, it's the old Paul again," enthused a fan.
