Linda McCartney's most widely respected work was honoured at the Albert Hall on Saturday before 
any of her famous friends took a bow. Projected on to the back of the stage throughout this spangly 
celebration of her life were examples of her distuingished photographic endeavours, an eloquent 
legacy for a woman villified for her individuality by those who thought Beatle wives should seldom 
be seen and never heard.

Linda's soulmate Chrissie Hynde gathered with a dozen artists to send a celebrity bouquet to mark the 
first anniversary of her passing, with the proceeds earmarked for Carla Lane's Animaline charity. 
The sentiment was warmly endorsed but, as the evening was to show, not so easy to articulate. Star 
turns are dab hands at tribute shows which simply call for the reinterpretation of a body of music. 
Without such a catalogue at their disposal, how might they express their love and respect, short of
breaking open the veggie bangers for a celebrity grill-fest?

The best answer was to conjure songs that offered some lyrical resonance with Linda's public and private 
personae. So after the first of host Eddie Izzard's what-am-I-doing-here links, Hynde, still feisty at 47,
opened with her admirable Pretenders on "Message Of Love". Johnny Marr joined them, dirly inviting us 
to sing along with the Smiths' "Meat Is Murder".

Lynden David Hall tiptoed through Here, There And Everywhere but found his own space with "Abraham, 
Martin And John". Des'ree contributed a common or garden "Blackbird" before teaming up with the 
increasingly ubiquitous Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Sinead O'Connor's erratic submission included her tribute song to Princess Diana, and while one thought 
she may have wandered in, from the wrong tribute, there was a roundabout poignancy in the juxtaposition
with McCartney, since both women were the targets of tabloid bile in life, yet were never mentioned 
without the sobriquet "brave" in death.

Neil Finn lent renewed grace with "She Goes On" and "Don't Dream It's Over", even if an audience of 
infrequent concertgoers were struggling to remember who he might be.  They were soon to have their 
moment of furry-dice soul with Heather Small. Tom Jomes upped the ante with his customary indomitable 
magnetism, notably with "She's A Woman". Marianne Faithfull exuded weatherbeaten splendour, joined 
by Marr for a charming "As Tears Go By".

Elvis Costello provided the nights most open-hearted testimonial with his reminiscence of Linda's kind 
attentions while he was working with Paul some years ago. His touching set included one of those
collaborations, "That Day Is Done".

But the mood moved up two gears once George Michael breezed on. He underlined his immense 
charisma and warmth of spirit during painstaking readings of "Eleanor Rigby" and "The Long And 
Winding Road", before leading the party on "Faith".

The appearance of a moisteyed Paul was the final emotional endorsement; before we shambled through 
an inevitable "Let It Be", he had found the fortitude to play "All My Loving" and "Lonesome Town", the 
Ricky Nelson chestnut that he and Linda had loved thousands miles apart as teenagers, years before 
they became Mr and Mrs Macca.

Paul Sexton