Paul McCartney [ tickets ] played a free concert Sunday (7/20) in Quebec City for the town's 400th birthday bash, according to The Canadian Press.

Local media raved about the show, using words such as "dazzles" and "trumpeting a conquest" while reviewing the event, which was held at the Plains of Abraham--a 108 acre plateau within The Battlefields Park, where in 1759 the British army fought the French to take control the area.

However, last week, several Quebec nationalists questioned McCartney's participation in the event. They claimed the Brit's presence would evoke painful memories of Britain's conquest of New France in 1760.

McCartney reportedly brushed off his critics by telling them to "smoke the pipes of peace." He also showed his affection for Quebec by waving a fleur-de-lis flag, wearing a souvenir Quebec sweatshirt and punctuating his songs with expressions of thanks spoken in Quebecois French.

McCartney played 36 songs that came from both his Wings and Beatles catalogs during the two-and-a-half hour outdoor show--his first in Quebec City. He only left the stage once before returning for a five-song encore.

Quebec City singer Pascale Picard and Montreal band The Stills [ tickets ] opened the show, which was attended by an estimated 200,000 people.