Paul McCartney on Thursday confirmed he will play a "send-off concert at Candlestick Park -- the last scheduled event ever at the 54-year-old stadium" -- ending a "back-and-forth drama that had the city competing against the 49ers for the right to play host to the music legend," according to Matier & Ross of the S.F. CHRONICLE. S.F. Mayor Ed Lee "personally invited McCartney to close the Stick" when he played the Outside Lands festival in S.F. last year. The idea was "to say goodbye to the ballpark where the Beatles played their final paid concert" in '66. Things looked fine until McCartney's envoys "toured Candlestick last month and told city officials that ... they were negotiating with the 49ers to have Sir Paul christen the team's new Levi's Stadium" instead. A source said, "It was natural for McCartney to consider the new stadium -- it is the bright, new, shiny penny." But S.F. Recreation & Park Department GM Phil Ginsburg said, "We just kept pushing and were persistent and drove the deal down the field" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/25).
