Sir Paul to rock Electric Proms

Sir Paul McCartney will rock the BBC Electric Proms on Thursday when he takes to the stage for a one-off gig.

The gig, at The Roundhouse in north London, will be his first UK appearance since his divorce battle with estranged wife Heather Mills went to court.

It is thought the veteran musician will play Beatles classics as well as songs from his new album, Memory Almost Full.

More than 80 acts are taking part in the five-day event, including Kaiser Chiefs, Jamie Cullum and Edwyn Collyns.

It is being billed as "specifically designed to create new moments in music" through collaborations between new and established acts or new material performed for the first time.

The Coral and Noel Gallagher kicked off the event in Camden on Wednesday, collaborating on the song In The Rain.

'Up all night'

Although Gallagher told BBC 6 Music the appearance was not as well practised as they has intended.

He said: "I was supposed to rehearse yesterday but as I have recently become a dad, my little lad put pay to that the night before by keeping me up all night, so I was knackered."

"So I just couldn't do the sound check but, you know, I am a musician, I know what I am doing. I listened to the song a few times, Bill sorted me out the chords and that was that... that was the third time we played it," he said.

New York based producer-DJ Mark Ronson teamed up with the BBC Concert Orchestra for a special performance at the event.

But the highly anticipated set that promised cameo appearances from celebrity friends Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Robbie Williams came to nothing.

In place of Allen, Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson appeared on stage to sing a cover of his own track, Oh My God, complete with his own take of Lily Allen's vocal inflections.

Kaiser Chiefs are due to deliver their own BBC Electric Proms performance on Friday when they will play alongside film composer David Arnold.