Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney's spontaneous stopover at fan-created mural celebrating his music
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From the dizzying heights of Beatlemania in the ‘60s to a successful solo career for decades, Sir Paul McCartney undoubtedly deserves a spot in the music icon Hall of Fame – and a special mural in Newcastle can attest to that.
The Beatles legend made a surprise visit to the coastal city recently, where he encountered the mural commissioned by Venues NSW and painted by local street artist Mitch Revs.
The mural, which takes inspiration from several of McCartney’s musical numbers over his road to stardom, certainly caught the eye of the British musician, who praised Revs’ work as 'beautiful' and that he’s done ‘great work’.
McCartney was so impressed that he even gave the artwork a personal touch.
‘Let’s see what we can do, I’ve never done this before,’ McCartney jokingly said.
Revs replied, ‘I’ve seen your artwork’.
‘New career man, let’s go,’ McCartney said.
McCartney painted two smiley faces plus his initials on the mural – one drawn in the middle of the mural’s iconic ‘Yellow Submarine’.
‘Cheers, man,’ McCartney said as he returned the paint to Revs before posing for a photo together.
'I did this, all my own work,’ McCartney cheekily said while posing for a photo with a thumbs up.
‘Taking all the credit, I love it,' Mitch Revs replied, grinning, after taking a photo of the Fab Four legend.
'So I never thought that I’d be sitting in an alleyway on a Tuesday waiting for Paul McCartney,' Revs posted to social media afterwards, saying that it was an unexpected experience.
The street artist also discussed the potential impact the mural could have on Newcastle.
'I hope this mural says that there's a lot of opportunity for people in Newcastle to think bigger,' he said.
'For me personally, this is the biggest mural I've painted, and I think Newcastle is now pushing forward to be one of those capital cities that's offering more to everyone that comes here,’ he added.
And while this is definitely a special moment for Newcastle residents, it turns out McCartney has done painting before, unveiling a book of his own paintings in 1999.
'I've been interested in painting since I was in grammar school a long time ago, and then after The Beatles, I sort of started buying paintings in the '60s, so I've been interested that way,' McCartney said back then.
'I'm not trying to claim to be the greatest painter in the world, but I think I'm not bad,' he modestly admitted. 'I'm not really fussed what people think, I'm really not, because I'm not doing it for a living, this is not an exam, this is what I do for pleasure, and if anyone's interested, then take a look at it.'
‘But I don’t care if you don’t like it because I’m only trying to impress myself,’ he added.
One of the paintings in his collection included that of the Queen, which he painted from a picture in a magazine.
‘It’s affectionate, it’s not a portrait of the Queen, she didn’t sit for it, but it’s a bit of fun,’ he said.
McCartney is set to finish his ‘Got Back’ tour in Australia on 4 November, so you can still see him perform in Sydney, Brisbane, and Gold Coast! Read more about his tour here.
What do you think of this story? Let us know in the comments below!
The Beatles legend made a surprise visit to the coastal city recently, where he encountered the mural commissioned by Venues NSW and painted by local street artist Mitch Revs.
The mural, which takes inspiration from several of McCartney’s musical numbers over his road to stardom, certainly caught the eye of the British musician, who praised Revs’ work as 'beautiful' and that he’s done ‘great work’.
McCartney was so impressed that he even gave the artwork a personal touch.
‘Let’s see what we can do, I’ve never done this before,’ McCartney jokingly said.
McCartney posed with Revs behind the mural dedicated to his songs. Credit: news.com.au
Revs replied, ‘I’ve seen your artwork’.
‘New career man, let’s go,’ McCartney said.
McCartney painted two smiley faces plus his initials on the mural – one drawn in the middle of the mural’s iconic ‘Yellow Submarine’.
‘Cheers, man,’ McCartney said as he returned the paint to Revs before posing for a photo together.
'I did this, all my own work,’ McCartney cheekily said while posing for a photo with a thumbs up.
‘Taking all the credit, I love it,' Mitch Revs replied, grinning, after taking a photo of the Fab Four legend.
'So I never thought that I’d be sitting in an alleyway on a Tuesday waiting for Paul McCartney,' Revs posted to social media afterwards, saying that it was an unexpected experience.
The street artist also discussed the potential impact the mural could have on Newcastle.
'I hope this mural says that there's a lot of opportunity for people in Newcastle to think bigger,' he said.
'For me personally, this is the biggest mural I've painted, and I think Newcastle is now pushing forward to be one of those capital cities that's offering more to everyone that comes here,’ he added.
And while this is definitely a special moment for Newcastle residents, it turns out McCartney has done painting before, unveiling a book of his own paintings in 1999.
'I've been interested in painting since I was in grammar school a long time ago, and then after The Beatles, I sort of started buying paintings in the '60s, so I've been interested that way,' McCartney said back then.
'I'm not trying to claim to be the greatest painter in the world, but I think I'm not bad,' he modestly admitted. 'I'm not really fussed what people think, I'm really not, because I'm not doing it for a living, this is not an exam, this is what I do for pleasure, and if anyone's interested, then take a look at it.'
‘But I don’t care if you don’t like it because I’m only trying to impress myself,’ he added.
One of the paintings in his collection included that of the Queen, which he painted from a picture in a magazine.
‘It’s affectionate, it’s not a portrait of the Queen, she didn’t sit for it, but it’s a bit of fun,’ he said.
McCartney is set to finish his ‘Got Back’ tour in Australia on 4 November, so you can still see him perform in Sydney, Brisbane, and Gold Coast! Read more about his tour here.
What do you think of this story? Let us know in the comments below!
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