McCartney in rehearsal

Paul McCartney goes over his tentative set lists for the “Up and Coming” tour. We could only wish the photo was in high resolution, so we could get some pointers on the “surprises” he wants to spring on us. The location for the rehearsals: The O2 arena in London, the same venue where he played a successful concert on December 22nd last year, concluding his short December tour of Europe.

The Daily Mail has an exclusive report from the rehearsals here.

The tour needs 31 trucks to carry all its equipment and employs a full time crew of over 150 people to make it all work. The total weight of all the tour’s equipment is a whopping 125,000 pounds! The indoor concerts on the tour use 90 speakers and the outdoor stadium shows use 130. Backstage at each show there are 14 touring offices and dressing rooms. The tour serves approximately 480 vegetarian meals a day to keep the crew going.

The show, which features a huge production and elaborate staging, needed a place big enough to use for rehearsals. The O2 Arena is the perfect place. Paul’s crew have built inside the venue an exact mock up of how Paul’s stage will look, including massive video screens, state of the art sound equipment, pyro and elaborate lighting.

Paul McCartney in rehearsal at London’s O2 Arena