Sir Paul McCartney pays tribute to Rolling Stones during intimate Glasto warm-up

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Sir Paul McCartney started his intimate Glastonbury Festival warm-up in Frome with a tribute to Beatles rivals Rolling Stones, who are set to headline Hyde Park as Macca takes to Pyramid stage

Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to the Rolling Stones in his warm-up set - as his rock rivals are set to play 125 miles away in Hyde Park.

The two legendary artists are staging massive shows on the same night tonight.

And Sir Paul kicked off his gig in Frome on Friday night at the Cheese and Grain by acknowledging the historic occasion by playing I Wanna Be Your Man, which him and John Lennon wrote for the Stones in 1963.

It was to be the Stones' first Top 20 hit even if Lennon did later say that the pair knocked the song out in minutes, admitting: "Well, we weren't gonna give them anything great, right?”

Macca may play the song again tonight in his headline set on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage.

And there is a chance the Stones could repeat the favour - by playing the song as well when they take to the stage of London’s BST Hyde Park.

They performed it at this month’s huge Anfield Stadium show in Liverpool. At the time Mick said the band “decided…to do a cover song written by other local lads”. It was the first time the band had performed the song in a decade.

A source close to Macca said: “It seems only right that Sir Paul should acknowledge the incredible fact both are playing the same weekend. The fact that both artists are still at the top of their game after all these years is just something else. They are both the very best of the best.”

Paul McCartney on stage in Frome at the Cheese & Grain

Image:

( MJ KIM)

Three weeks after the Stones released I Wanna Be Your Man, the track then appeared on the album Meet the Beatles.

The Mirror was the first to reveal that Macca and the Stones were to perform on the same night.

Sir Elton John, Adele, the Eagles, Duran Duran, and Pearl Jam have all signed up to headline different nights of the BST Hyde Park shows, which run to July 10.

The Beatles and Stones have enjoyed a healthy rivalry over the last 60 years.

Last year Macca raised eyebrows by calling the Stones "a blues covers band". Jagger hit back at a gig saying: "Paul McCartney is here, he's going to join us in a blues cover later."

Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones will be headlining BST Hyde Park

Image:

( Corbis via Getty Images)

This aside, band members continued to collaborate through the years. Lennon and McCartney sang on the Stones' 1967 song We Love You, and Jagger and Richards both took part in the live TV satellite broadcast of All You Need Is Love in the same year.

The Beatles released their debut single Love Me Do in October 1962, while The Rolling Stones released theirs, Come On, in June 1963.

In a 2015 interview with Esquire magazine, Richards called the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album "a mishmash of rubbish" and argued that there was "not a lot of roots" in the Beatles' music.

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