Sir Paul McCartney, Anfield Stadium, Liverpool: Macca's long and winding road brings him home

Macca at Anfield, the return of the native or the World's Greatest Living Scouser comes home, was always going to be so much more than just another stadium pop concert.

The self-styled world capital of pop music is in the middle of its Capital of Culture celebrations, a year-long jamboree which, after a troubled start, is – to bemused acknowledgement from the the city's cynics – rekindling Merseyside's self-confidence as it edges its way back on to the road to prosperity. This imperative was brought home to the 34,000-strong crowd – few of whom make this trip each Saturday to watch Rafael Benitez (himself observing the show from the stands) and his team perform – as they snaked their way through Anfield's crumbling terraces. These homes, the kind that Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starkey would have recognised readily in their youth, are now earmarked for demolition.

This was Liverpool FC's gift to the people this year, a final concert before the team moves to Stanley Park, and McCartney's presence certainly helped the job along, with the city's hotels sold out for the first time in years. But deep down, this was all about the past rather than the future.

So what did the faithful get? There were generous tributes to George Harrison, McCartney stage patter, replete with touching references to his birth in nearby Walton hospital, vignettes of 1950s bus travel, and all those indelible early memories of a place where the band which fashioned pop music as we know it was born.

After the tedious headlines which have dogged the 66-year-old during his divorce from Heather Mills, it was pleasing to be reminded that, above all, McCartney is an outstanding performer and musician and a genius songwriter.

Clad in retro Beatle jacket, he charted his way though rock'n'roll by way of the best of Wings ("Jet", a pyrotechnic "Live and Let Die", and "Band on the Run" with Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters) and – he would not dare disappoint the faithful – Beatles classics, "Eleanor Rigby", "Drive My Car", "Got To Get You Into My Life", "Long and Winding Road", as well as a deeply moving version of "Blackbird" and a lovely, tender "Something", which included a rare mistake from McCartney who, himself moved, was forced to start again.

There was even a smattering of new songs – well received – but the best was saved for last, with "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday" lifting the roof. But true fans could not have failed to have been choked by his encore version of "A Day In The Life", a rare, if not unique, live nod to his late songwriting partner, John Lennon, which even extended to "Give Peace a Chance".

Finally a word for the support acts Kaiser Chiefs and The Zutons, both of whom paid heartfelt homage to the great man coming in their wake.

The Kaisers, perhaps somewhat oddly gatecrashing the Liverpool Sound week from across the Pennines, paraded their distinctive style of anthemic, air-punching pop with trademark efficiency – a useful preview of what the crowd at this month's Isle of Wight Festival can expect.

Local lads The Zutons, due to embark on a typically idiosyncratic tour of the nations' woodlands later this week, were rewarded for their manful warm-up routine with a generous – and justified – ovation.

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