The Macca Concert

Alright, so it here it is. My official commentary on the Paul McCartney Concert.

 

 

Like previously stated, Paul was amazing. He may have even outdone himself in the previous Paul concerts I’ve attended (I’ve been lucky enough to see him three times now).

 

It was a chilly and rainy evening and traffic getting to the stadium was very slow, but once inside… even the air was exciting. Covers and remixes of Paul’s music was playing when we found our seats and every time the music stopped, the audience began to cheer in anticipation for the show. It was about 8:30 when the man himself stepped out on the stage and launched into “Magical Mystery Tour”.  It was 4 songs later before I remembered that I would probably enjoy the show more if I continued to breathe regularly. But seeing him play “Junior’s Farm”, “All My Loving”, “Jet”, and “Drive My Car”… Honestly, who has time to breathe when you’re so busy screaming and singing along?

 

He played quite a few songs that I’d never seen him play live, including “The Night Before”, “Paperback Writer”, “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five”, “I’ve Just Seen A Face”, “Get Back”, “Mrs. Vanderbilt”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, and “My Valentine”. Of course, he also included the standard songs like “Let It Be”, “Live and Let Die”, and “Hey Jude”. He seemed to be in a great mood and his energy was high. He did quite a bit of talking with the audience, taking the time to read signs, finding out if the audience prefers “St. Louie” or “St. Louis”, and taking a moment to soak in the audience adulation, since he’d not done a “proper” big show like this since May. He also treated us to a slight wardrobe change and even managed to get the audience to bark during a short call and answer bit between numbers.

My view of the stage

 

After playing “And I Love Her”, Paul gave Rusty a good natured hard time about flubbing the solo – and made sure the audience knew he’d never messed up that solo before. He even had Rusty redeem himself by having the band play that section of the song again! Then during “Dance Tonight”, the drummer, Abe Labrioel, accompanied the tune with a bit of amusing choreography. I, of course, shed a couple tears during Paul’s tribute to John (with “Here Today”) and George (with “Something”). And was pleasantly surprised to hear his rendition of “A Day In The Life” blended with “Give Peace A Chance”. Then during “Live and Let Die”, the stage was literally ablaze with a ton of pyrotechnic tricks – that even caused me, someone who was expecting some sort of firework drama, to gasp in surprise. And during the very last number, he took a bit of a tumble and despite the fact that it surely had to hurt, he popped right back up, struck a pose and even joked that it was a staged fall.

 

Paul’s energy was unparalleled throughout the evening and his musical ability is still as astounding as it was 40 years ago. To see someone at age 70, play music he wrote decades ago with so much enjoyment is incredible. The love from the audience was clear and it was just as clear at how much he loves the audience. It was one of the most amazing nights of my life. So for that, I must say thank you to the audience and the band for being so great. Thank you to my best music friends for coming along and making it an unforgettable experience for me. And of course, thank you to Paul for being such an amazing showman and musician. Thank you for your music, that has given me so much enjoyment and helped me to make some very good Beatle-friends. And thank you for all the memories. I love you, Paul!