McCartney Still Rocks!

Cafe Society
1

My wife and I went to see Sir Paul McCartney in Atlanta last night. It was an amazing show - a 67 year-old Macca rocked for 2 1/2 hours through 33 songs. 45,000 fans in Piedmont Park rocked with him. A 20-minute downpour did nothing to diminish the crowd’s enthusiasm or Paul’s - he commented that it was a “Woodstock moment” on its 40th anniversary. Unbelievable stage, first-rate sound, and a band as tight as the bark on a tree. Paulie mugged for the audience, had great stage presence, and delievered an unforgettable performance. It was the 44th anniversary of the Shea Stadium show, and Paul’s voice is a strong at it was then! If you get a chance to see him on this US tour, by all means do so.

Favorite moment: “A Day in the Life” segueing into “Give Peace a Chance!”

Setlist: Drive My Car, Jet, Only Mama Knows, Flaming Pie, Got To Get You Into My Life, Let Me Roll It, Highway, The Long And Winding Road, My Love, Blackbird, Here Today, Dance Tonight, Calico Skies, Mrs Vanderbilt, Eleanor Rigby, Sing The Changes, Band On The Run, Back In The USSR, I’m Down, Something, I’ve Got A Feeling, Paperback Writer, A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance, Let It Be, Live And Let Die, Hey Jude
(ENCORE 1) Day Tripper, Lady Madonna, I Saw Her Standing There
(ENCORE 2) Yesterday, Helter Skelter, Get Back
(ENCORE 3) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)/The End

Opening act: The Script - Excellent Irish power pop.

2

Jebus can that man put on a show!

I saw him on his “Flowers in the Dirt” tour mumble years ago and at one point he played the b-side of Abbey Road (the one that’s one continuous song?) ALL THE WAY THROUGH without stopping! Just jamming away jumping all over the stage at 50-something years old for like the whole half-hour or so it took just for that. I don’t know how the hell he did it - I was in my 20s at the time and almost had a heart attack just WATCHING him! Oh and this was in Indianapolis too - he sure didn’t phone it in for the small towns or anything. Amazing showmanship.

3

Yeah - I’m sorry it took me 58 years to see him. Did my heart good to see a bunch of 20-somethings there, though! The fellow next to me was 54 and brought his teen-age kids with him. They danced like crazy!

4

Yes, I went with my mom who saw the Beatles at the Indiana State Fair in (I think) 64? She has a hilarious picture of a swarm of people and a tiny white square in the middle with four dots on it. “There they are! There are the Beatles!” Okie doke mom!

5

Huh. I saw McCartney, what, 2 years ago now? when he came to Minneapolis. And he was definitely good, and funny, but I wasn’t blown away or anything. I did enjoy it, but I thought it could’ve been better. Coupla reasons:

[ol]
[li]The opening act was simply awful. It was just a DJ, and scratch/techno doesn’t really go with McCartney well. I thought the DJ was just there to provide house music while everyone filed in, then there’d be a proper opening band, but no. The DJ was it. Bad call. It’s not really Paul’s fault that he sucked, I guess, but it was definitely a poor choice. Mpls has tons of local bands that would’ve jumped at the chance, if nothing else. Perhaps Sir Paul just didn’t want to be upstaged.[/li][li]No horns. All of the songs that required trumpets or trombones or saxs or such were provided by synthesizer. Definitely bad form - Paul’s got more money than god, he can afford the real musicians. I’d seen Neil Diamond just a few months prior to the McCartney concert, and Neil had horns. I think this was my biggest disappointment - no horns.[/li][/ol]

I liked him, and it was definitely worth going, but Neil Diamond was better, IMHO. Oh, and for the record, I’m 32 and I took my mom, who’s crazy-go-nuts for the Beatles (tho’ she never got to see them in the '60s). I took her to Neil Diamond too, and she agreed that Neil put on a better show.

6

I had the pleasure of seeing McCartney on the Tripping the Live Fantastic tour many years ago, and it was a tremendously good show. Although really, any show with an ascending rotating piano plinth can’t be bad.

7

Outside of tiny venues, like bars, I don’t care much for live music. Almost always prefer the recorded versions. The sound quality is better, the seating is way better and I can skip right past “My Love” and “Hey Jude” (not that I didn’t love Jude for the first 25 listens.)

That said, Paul does have a song catalog, eh? I wouldn’t mind hearing him rev up “Helter Skelter” or “I’m Down.”

And since the sound was great, could you tell me the actual lyrics to “Live and Let Die.”

8

Well, then you’d miss the 45,000 people waving their hands in the air doing the “na-na-na nananana” with Paulie leading the way. Frankly, it gave me the chills!

He dedicated “My Love” to Linda, which was kind of poignant, but I’m with you - it’s not one of my faves, either.

It sure sounded to me like he said “And in this ever changing world in which we live in”- and I was listening closely! At least during the first verse - there were some serious pyrotechnics the erupted the first time he sang the words “Live and Let Die” that continued throughout the rest of the song. Pretty spectacular, really.
snickers - I would have liked a horn section myself. In fact my wife and I had just watched the Neil Diamond Madison Square Garden concert on network TV the night before, and I was REALLY impressed with the size of Diamond’s band.

That said, during “Got to Get You Into My Life” I thought the synthesizer covered the horn break just fine. The synthisized strings during “Eleanor Rigby” were wonderful.