A new Cavern Club was built across the street, and it was there, on December 14, 1999, that original Beatle Paul McCartney made an appearance to promote his new album, Run Devil Run. For the occasion, he brought with him not one but two fellow legends: former Deep Purple drummer and founder Ian Paice, and guitar legend David Gilmour.<\/p>\n
Paice and Gilmour had good reason to be on hand. Both had participated in the recording of Run Devil Run, an album that saw McCartney cover a dozen rock and roll classics and three originals. The album\u2019s creation followed a year of mourning for McCartney\u2019s wife and Wings partner, Linda.<\/p>\n
McCartney wanted to cut the album quickly, just as the Beatles\u2019 first albums had been made. To that end, he enlisted Chris Thomas \u2014 who had helped engineer the Beatles\u2019 1968 White Album<\/a> and played keyboards on four of its cuts \u2014 to produce the album in Abbey Road\u2019s Studio Two, where much of the Beatles catalog was tracked.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \n McCartney poses with his Run Devil Run band \u2014 including David Gilmour (center back) at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, December 14, 1999. (Image credit: Jon Super\/Redferns)<\/p>\n Gilmour, who played electric guitar<\/a> and lap steel on the album, was certainly no stranger to McCartney, having played guitar solos on tracks from his albums Give My Regards to Broad Street, from 1984, and Flowers in the Dirt, from 1989. Even before then, Gilmour had been among the many guitarists \u2014 including Pete Townshend<\/a>, Hank Marvin<\/a>, Laurence Juber<\/a> and Denny Laine \u2014 who performed on McCartney and Wings\u2019 star-studded \u201cRockestra Theme<\/a>,\u201d from that group\u2019s final album, 1979\u2019s Back to the Egg.<\/p>\n The guitarist\u2019s work on Run Devil Run occurred during a quiet period in his career. Pink Floyd had put out their 14th studio album, The Division Bell, in 1994, and would not release another until their final record, 2014\u2019s The Endless River. All was likewise quiet on Gilmour\u2019s solo career front.<\/p>\n In fact, two public performances were the main activities in Gilmour\u2019s career following The Division Bell: They comprised McCartney\u2019s 1999 Run Devil Run promotion and an appearance with the Who at their 1996 concert in London\u2019s Hyde Park, a celebration of the group\u2019s return to the stage after a seven-year hiatus. Gilmour performed on a pair of tunes from Quadrophenia<\/a>, singing “The Dirty Jobs” and playing guitar on “Love Reign O’er Me.\u201d<\/p>\n The guitarist\u2019s performance with McCartney \u2014 during which he played a rather well-worn blonde Fender Telecaster<\/a> \u2014 came close to satisfying a desire he\u2019d had for years to play with the Beatles.<\/p>\n \u201cI really wish I had been in the Beatles,\u201d Gilmour told Mojo in 2016. \u201c[They] taught me how to play guitar; I learnt everything. The bass<\/a> parts, the lead, the rhythm, everything. They were fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n You\u2019re sitting there with Paul McCartney, and your guitar is plugged in. You think that\u2019s an ordinary day\u2019s work, but of course, it isn\u2019t; it\u2019s magical!\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 David GIlmour<\/p>\n Recalling his participation in Run Devil Run, Gilmour told the magazine the experiencing brought him back to his childhood.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a kid, really,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get into Studio Two at Abbey Road, you\u2019re sitting there with Paul McCartney, and your guitar is plugged in. You think that\u2019s an ordinary day\u2019s work, but of course, it isn\u2019t; it\u2019s magical!\u201d<\/p>\n And as Gilmour revealed in that same interview, it was he who convinced McCartney to perform a Beatles song at the Run Devil Run promotion at the Cavern: \u201cI Saw Her Standing There,\u201d the first song on the the first Beatles album, 1963\u2019s Please Please Me.<\/p>\n \u201cManaging to persuade him to sing \u2018I Saw Her Standing There\u2019 at the Cavern, with me doing the John Lennon parts<\/a>, was absolutely fantastic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been in the Who, I\u2019ve been in the Beatles, and I\u2019ve been in Pink Floyd,\u201d Gilmour concluded. \u201cTop that, motherfucker!\u201d<\/p>\n The performance was released as a DVD, Live at the Cavern Club, in 1999.<\/p>\n Paul McCartney – I Saw Her Standing There (Live at the Cavern Club – 1999) – YouTube![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PiMuKm4UG6isTdwibzEJnn.jpg\")
\n<\/p>\n
\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788200178_847_maxresdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n