Mike London: "Some of the biggest stars from the world of pop will pay tribute"

George Michael, Elvis Costello and Tom Jones will lead the star-studded tribute to the animal rights campaigner.

All 4,000 tickets were snapped up almost as soon as they went on sale last month. Proceeds from the sale of the tickets - priced between £25 and £75 - are going to animal rights charities.

The show comes almost a year after Sir Paul McCartney's wife died in the US aged 56 after a long battle with breast cancer.

Sir Paul 'may appear'

Elvis Costello: Lined up to play at the Albert Hall

Sinead O'Connor, Des'ree, The Pretenders and M People singer Heather Small will also appear.

A spokeswoman for the production said: "It's a very carefully-crafted show. Some of the artists will be performing their own songs, then they'll be performing other tracks, like Beatles songs, which will all be with Linda in mind.

"There will be a lot of renditions of songs that you wouldn't normally hear."

Sir Paul McCartney may well appear at the show, but organisers say he hasn't made a definite decision yet.

The spokeswoman added: "He's leaving his decision until the last minute. If he does appear it'll be a surprise for fans, but it's obviously a difficult time for him."

'Reflecting Linda's personality'

The show is organised by Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde, who said: "This is the show that Linda, myself and our friends talked about often.

"It was Carla Lane who suggested we finally do it now, for Linda. We hope this show will reflect something of Linda's personality and her upbeat sense of humour."

Other acts to appear will include soul singer Lynden David Hall, Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, Neil Finn, Marianne Faithfull and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.