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HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/25/07 — Paul McCartney will reportedly play a “surprise” concert at Amoeba Records in Hollywood on Wednesday, a spokesman said. The former Beatle, whose new album enjoyed a strong start on the pop charts earlier this month, will reportedly perform, and cause a traffic ruckus, at the Sunset Blvd. store about 7:30 p.m. PDT, according to Ticket News.

Paul has a long history in the Hollywood area that runs from times when Beatles classics like “Fool on the Hill” were written when they lived here. John Lennon was one of the senior founders of the VIP area at the nearby Rainbow Club.

In lieu of launching a full-scale concert tour to promote “Memory Almost Full,” McCartney is playing a few hastily arranged free shows in small venues.

The album is McCartney’s first release under a new deal with a label co-founded by coffee retailer Starbucks Corp., has spent two weeks at No. 3 on the U.S. pop charts, giving him his best showing in years.

McCartney is listed in The Guinness Book Of Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with sales of 100 million singles and 60 gold discs.

On 2 July 2005, he was involved with the fastest-released single in history. His performance of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with U2 at Live 8 was released only 45 minutes after it was performed, before the end of the concert. The single reached number six on the Billboard charts, just hours after the single’s release, and hit number one on numerous online download charts across the world.

McCartney played for the largest stadium audience in history when 184,000 people paid to see him perform at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on 21 April, 1990, and he played his 3,000th concert in front of 60,000 fans in St Petersburg, Russia, on 20 June 2004. Over his career, McCartney has played 2,523 gigs with The Beatles, 140 with Wings, and 325 as a solo artist.

He did say of the upcoming show, “I hope we pass the audition.”