A Nova Scotia teen received a once-in-a-lifetime birthday gift Tuesday at the Paul McCartney concert in Quebec City.

Megane Rand says The Beatles are her all-time favourite band and it was surreal to see McCartney in concert. But her night took an exciting twist after she flashed a homemade sign from her spot on floor.

The music legend spotted Rand’s sign, asking him for a birthday hug. She couldn’t believe it when he offered to grant her wish.

“I was freaking out! You know, it was Paul McCartney!” says the 13-year-old Kentville resident. “He said ‘um, well, it’s either you come up here, or I’m coming down there’ as a joke because I was frozen on the spot.”

Randmade her to way to stage where she received a hug from McCartney. He also gave her an autograph and serenaded her with a rocking rendition of The Beatles “Birthday” song.

“I don’t remember it very much because it was like a dream!”

News of Rand’s special birthday hug and serenade spread quickly through her hometown of Kentville after a video of the moment was posted on YouTube. Her mom received the exciting news the next morning.

“I had an email that said, ‘look at this. You will fall off your chair.’ And I started the video and I did feel like crying,” says Karine Moses. “There was Megane, right on the stage with Paul McCartney, getting her birthday hug.”

At first, she said she wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not.

“It’s unbelievable. I could not…first, my brother’s a computer engineer. I thought he had done a little trick.”

Rand will return to Nova Scotia next week, after visiting with relatives in Montreal. Her mom says she is already talking about telling the story to her own children one day.

“She even said, ‘I will tell my children, have I ever told you about the time I went on stage with Paul McCartney? And they will say ‘yes’ and I will say ‘I will tell you again!’”

Rand may have many birthdays ahead of her, but she says this year’s celebration will be hard to top.

“I think that birthday gift was worth about 50 birthday gifts!”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster