In the past few months the former Beatle has helped to oversee the remastering and reissue of the Fab Four's back catalogue, appeared in a video game (Beatles Rock Band), performed on The X Factor and, in the past week, has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his song (I Want To Come Home) from Robert De Niro's Everybody's Fine.

While many of his 60s peers are either no longer with us or have gone into retirement, McCartney is as busy and as relevant as ever.

This month saw the release of his new DVD, Good Evening New York City, which captures the best of his three performances in the Big Apple in July.

While the concert itself is every bit as good as you might expect from a man who's sold more than a billion records, there's an extra significance to Good Evening which perfectly ties together his illustrious past and his current position as the biggest name in music.

The concerts took place in Citi Field, the new home of the New York Yankees baseball team. The stadium stands on the site of their old ground, Shea Stadium, which was the scene of The Beatles' triumphant show in 1965.

"It felt very emotional, going back," says McCartney while preparing to go on stage in Cologne, Germany, as part of his current European tour. Most people like going back to the scene of something special that happened years before, and that's what those shows were.

"The Beatles at Shea Stadium has always been a very special thing. It was the first time a band had played a big stadium like that, so it was basically the start of stadium rock.

"It was amazing being in the same area. It reminded me of all the hysteria. We couldn't hear ourselves on stage, so it was nice to be able to hear myself this time."

Paying tribute to his three former bandmates, McCartney and his band added Beatles classic I'm Down to their set for the occasion, perhaps the stand-out song from their 1965 concert which saw John Lennon reduced to a giggling wreck, playing the electric piano with his elbows, and George Harrison falling about laughing.

The rest of the set might take casual fans by surprise. Of course, Beatles material makes up much of the 33 songs on the DVD, but there are also numbers from Wings -- McCartney's post-Beatles band -- as well as songs from his Fireman project and his solo career.

"It's always fun putting the set list together," he says.

"Originally when I started with Wings I said I wasn't going to do any Beatles' stuff, so we boycotted all of that, but then, once I'd proved a point and Wings was a success in its own right, we started doing Beatles' songs again.

Taste

"But now, there's none of that feeling so we do a bit of everything. It's good to mix it up, and it's good not to be pandering to one taste."

Meanwhile, the 19 million people who watched The X Factor final will have seen McCartney and his band performing two songs, the first fully live performances of the series.

"It was good and something completely different from what we ever do," he says.

"And they asked us, which was nice. I mean they could have asked anyone, let's face it. Most people play to a pre-recorded backing track but we said 'Come on, let's just go for it', and we did.

"I enjoyed it, but let me tell you, my crew really loved it! They were all there getting pictures taken with all of them. All my hardened professionals were there saying 'Ooooh, can I have a picture with Jedward?' and then they'd look over to me and say 'It's for my family.' Who am I to knock that?"

Good Evening New York City is available on DVD now in three-disc and deluxe four-disc editions. Paul McCartney plays the O2 tomorrow night

- Even by his own lofty standards, 2009 has been quite a year for Paul McCartney.