PAUL McCARTNEY - '04 SUMMER TOUR
ITINERARY - Page 2
© 2004 COPYRIGHT JORIE GRACENMay 25 - Gijon,
Spain - Estadio El Molinon
May 28 - Lisbon,
Portugal - Parque Bela Vista, "Rock In Rio Festival"
May 30 - Madrid,
Spain - Estadio De Madrid La Peineta
June 2 - Zurich,
Switzerland - Letzigrund Stadium
June 4 - Leipzig,
Germany
- Leipzig Zentralstadion (Leipzig
Stadium)
June 6 - Prague,
Czech Republic - Park Kolbenova
June 8 &
9 - Horsens Forum, Denmark - Horsens Stadium
June 12 - Gothenburg,
Sweden - Ullevi Stadium
June 14 - Oslo,
Norway
- Valle Hovin Stadion
June 17 - Helsinki,
Finland - Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium)
June 20 - St.
Petersburg, Russia - Palace Square
June 24 - Paris,
France
- Stade de France
June 26 - Glastonbury, England -
Worthy Farm Pilton - Glastonbury Festival
Paul arrived in Prague the
day before the show. He got to Park Kolbenova the day of the show
around 3pm and waved to fans saying he had no time to stop and
sign autographs. The soundcheck started around 3:15 pm and could
be heard outside the 
stadium
which was like an open industrial park. Those outside could see
the large video screens and watch the soundcheck. Hundreds of
people who were waiting for the gates to open sang along with
the songs, applauded and shouted getting into the concert groove
early.
Songs played: a blues jam that consisted of the lyrics; "Rock
me, rock you, rock everybody," "Coming Up," "C
Moon," "Honey Don't," "Matchbox," "San
Francisco Bay Blues," "Midnight Special," "My
Love," "You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight,"
"Blackbird" and "Lady Madonna" (played twice).
While waiting for the concert to begin, some fans kept shouting
"We want Paul! We want Paul!" while others shouted the
lyrics of A "Hard Day's Night." The preshow started
at 8:15 pm and lasted about 20 minutes. Songs not reported before
in the DJ's remix were "Loup-1st Indian On the Moon"
and "What's That You're Doing."
The preshow ended with a man walking on stilts shouting "ARE
YOU READY? THREE, TWO, ONE!" On "ONE!" the curtains
were pulled apart revealing Paul and his band who immediately
launched into "Jet."
Macca played to an estimated
crowd of 50,000 very enthusiastic Czech fans. The setlist was
unchanged. Paul wore a red Nehru jacket, blue jeans and a long-sleeved
V-neck T-shirt with white trim around the neck and on top of the
sleeves.
After "Got to Get You Into My Life he said, "Dobr vecer,
Praho! Neumím moc dobre cesky" (Good Evening, Prague!
I am not able to speak Czech very well.) Paul tried to talked
in Czech during the 
show,
but he wasn't always understandable though fans appreciated the
effort and found his pronunciations to be humorous. They cheered
everytime he spoke Czech.
When Paul spoke English, an immediate translation to Czech was
typewritten on the screen behind him. Paul made fun of the spontaneous
translations on the screens and tested the skill of the "two
ladies in the back" translating what he said. Speaking slowly,
he said, "I'll try to say everything very sloooooow..."
Then he spoke very fast, "But you know, sometimes I just
can't help speaking fast..." He laughed when the translators
could not type fast enough to keep up with him. Then he said to
test them, "....yellow fish under the bridge in nice Prague."
Wix and Abe fooled around at the beginning of "Maybe I'm
Amazed," with Wix imitating Abe's cymbal playing. The band
called the Czech Republic, "Czechoslovakia" several
times.
Before acoustic set when the band left the stage Paul said, "Ted
tu s vámi budu sám." (I'll be alone with you
now.)
Paul asked the crowd to sing
the "Oh-oh-oh-oh"s of "In Spite of All The Danger,"
and they did. In the audience was a fan who brought his harmonica
and played in sync with the song entertaining those around him.
Paul unfortunately could not hear him.
Some people shouted song titles
they wanted Paul to play. Paul did not pay attention to most 
of them, but he replied two of them. Someone
yelled, "Blue Jean Bop!" and Paul said, "No, we
won't play 'Blue Jean Bop' tonight." Another guy shouted
"Maybe I'm Amazed!" to which Paul replied in a surprised
way, "Maybe I'm Amazed? But we played that one ten minutes
ago!" The guy carried on shouting "Maybe I'm Amazed!"
and Paul mocked the guy's way of shouting, waved his hand and
said, "Ah, I'm not listening to you!" That made the
audience laugh.
The concert went well with hardly any mistakes until the acoustic
set when Paul started the story of a song saying that this is
one song that he never played live before this tour. Then he realized
his mistake and said, "Oh no, we've already done that one!"
He said jokingly that the audience confused him, shouting requests
for "Blue Jean Bop," and "Maybe I'm Amazed,"
and complained about having to read the fan's signs while trying
to remember the chords and the words.
Signs in the audience: "BEATLES FOREVER" "Thank
you for the magic!" "We love Wings and Solo Macca!"
"Crying, Waiting, Hoping, Rocking," "Paul please
come to Poland!" "Macca Schau," "Magical Mystery
PAUL," "Hungarian Pilgrims," "Diagnosed with
PAULITIS" (which made Paul laugh). People held red hearts
drawn on papers (similar to the ones that can be seen on the "Back
in the US" DVD during "The Long And Winding Road.")
Paul repeated the line "I love you," four times in the
song "Here Today" which he dedicated to his "dear
friend John." The audience sat in silent respect and held
up lighters in John's memory. Paul's missed the last high note
of the song because his voice cracked. It was an emotional moment.
There was no "Yellow Submarine"
singalong because of the audience not knowing about the "traditional"
singalong tribute to Ringo.
Paul reprised the last line of "I'll Follow The Sun"
three times right after the song, and reprised it two more times
later. First, when Wix introduced "For No One" and said,
"At last, Prague is a city where it's not raining..."
to which Paul sang, "...but tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow
the sun," which made the audience cheer. The final reprise
came in it's normal place right after "For No One."
"Drive My Car" and "Penny Lane" went down
particularly well, and the crowd went crazy for "Get Back"
and "Helter Skelter."
Rusty had his auto-language translator which was supposed to say
something funny in Czech, but it didn't work at first. Paul kidded
Rusty, "Do you have the skill to turn it on?" It finally
worked and said, "Nenechávejte zvkacky prilepené
pod sedackami!" (Don't let your chewing gum stick on your
seats!) The Czech audience laughed.
"Band On The Run" had the slow
intro familiar from the Back in the World tour. During the song
images of fire were projected behind the band, while on the large
screens at the sides of the stage, Wings footage was shown.
Abe introduced "Live and Let Die" with the usual "Are
you ready to rock? And, more importantly, are you ready for the
fire?" to which the audience replied with a definite "YEEEEEAAAH!"
There were eight flame throwers on stage constantly working and
fireworks after the song, which could be seen from outside the
stadium.
Paul messed up the "oh
yeah" and "oh no" parts of "I've Got A Feeling."
Rusty sang the "Everybody had a good year..." part.
The two-minute improv song before "Lady Madonna" had
Paul singing about how happy he was to be in Prague and how glad
he was that it didn't rain! The field was very muddy from rains
the day before and fans were full of mud. He called the song "Night
in Prague."
John Hammel (Paul's assistant) came out to do something, but when
he got a big applause from the audience, he fled to the backstage
area grinning.
At the encore Paul brought out the Czech Republic flag and wore
the red 'no more land mines' T-shirt.
"Helter Skelter" was one of the show's highlights. The crowd went totally wild when the opening riffs of the song were played. Paul's vocals were unbelievebly strong and Abe did some fantastic drumming.
When "The End" finished, Paul gestured, pretending to write an autograph to encourage fans to throw albums to sign. The stage was too far from the audience, so record covers fell short into the security area. Security refused to give the albums to Paul and gave them back to the disappointed fans. Someone did throw a teddy bear on stage which Paul got (Congrats to Rada Popova)
At the end of the show when
the band was taking their bows, the preshow performers and the
DJ joined everyone onstage to take a bow. Paul and the band gave
each other hugs. Brian and Rusty danced, kicking up their legs
can-can style with their arms were around each other. Confetti
shot out from the stage towards the audience as the band left.
Paul stayed in the presidential suite at the Four Seasons Hotel
in Prague.
BACK TO TOUR ITINERARY
Paul, Heather, Bea and her nanny stayed
at the five star, Hotel Kongebrogården where Macca spent
275,000 kroners ($44,458) a night on hotel, food and drink for
himself and the crew. His double suite, The Queen Suite, cost
$2,000 a night, occupied the top floor, and interconnected to
other suites with a view of the water. The room had been custom
furnished for the McCartneys. The rest of his crew stayed at the
Bygholm Hotel. Paul did get some time to relax and take a boat
ride in Lillebælt Sound.
At the hotel, Paul signed a few autographs inside the hotel but
didn't have time to sign for the group of waiting fans outside.
Paul said on his way out for the soundcheck, "Sorry, I can't
give everyone my autograph. There is not enough time for that."
Paul started his one-hour soundcheck at
4.25pm. Songs heard at the soundcheck: an opening improv jam with
Paul singing about Horsens. "Coming Up," "Honey
Hush," "Honey Don't," " another jam, unidentified
song, "C Moon," "Let 'Em In," a new song called
possibly, "Follow Me," "Midnight Special"
(with the words "If you've ever been to Horsens"), another
jam, "You Never Give Me Your Money," "Lady Madonna
(twice - once normal, second one a jam).
People waiting outside could see one of the large video screens
during the soundcheck. Paul was wearing a purple shirt and black/dark
grey trousers. He was very relaxed, drinking something between
most numbers as the sun was very hot. His comments between songs
couldn't be heard because the microphones were turned off between
numbers.
The show was attended by many politician, business and showbiz
people in the VIP seats, but the most important visitors were
Princess Alexandra and Prince Joachim (brother of the Crowne Prince).
The concert got underway at 8.30 pm with the preshow which the
audience found quite amusing. It set the party tone for the rest
of the evening and raised the excitement level from the start
when the curtains parted and Paul blasted into "Jet."
The 20,000 plus crowd rocked the night away with the band not
missing a note. Paul wore a red long-sleeved t-shirt (also red
on the back), the red Nehru jacket and jeans. He looked slim and
fit.
The setlist was the same and the 'scripted'
dialogue by Paul and the band members. Paul did speak in Danish
thanking the audience with "Mange Tak" (thank you very
much) and "Tusind Tak!" (Thousand cheers!) "God
aften Horsens!" (Good Evening Horsens) He had problems pronouncing
the Danish words. He read from a piece a paper. At one point he
started talking German by mistake and laughed.
Before "You Won't See Me" he said, "Jeg har faktisk
ikke spillet denne sang førindtil denne tourne."(I
haven't actually played this song until this tour.)
For the acoustic set he said in Danish, "Og nu ervi helt
alene sammen." (And now we are alone together). He told the
story about recording "In Spite of All the Danger" for
5 pounds at a Kensington studio. When he mentioned "Kensington"
someone yelled out. Paul joked, "there's always one person
at each show who knows about Kensington." After the song
there wasn't a great response. In the VIP section (left side)
there were many people (2,000) who talked incessantly during the
show which could be heard by other sections including Paul. They
talked during the song. Paul mumbled afterwards, "Well what
do you expect for 5 pounds?"
Paul did the "Yellow Submarine"
singalong after "All Things Must Pass" and 
noticed yellow hats in the audience and
commented that they were "...'Yellow Submarine' hats!"
For the intro to "Get Back" he asked the crowd, "Do
you want to get back? I want to get back."
Paul was in great voice sounding like he did when he was with
the Beatles and the most impressive numbers were, "She's
a Woman," "Drive My Car," and "Penny Lane."
But crowd went absolutely crazy for "Get Back", "I've
Got A Feeling" and "Helter Skelter" the crowd went
absolutely crazy. When Paul's intro to "Helter Skelter"
was "Let's get dirty!"
Rusty's language translator said to the crowd in Danish. "Husk
venligst at det ikke er tilladt at sætte tyggegummiet under
sæderne i denne biograf." (Please remember that it's
illegal to place your gum under the chairs in this cinema!)
For the improv piano song before "Lady
Madonna,"Paul sang/canted over and over, in voice like a
priest in church "Are you having a good time...?" And
added singing like a prayer, "Please keep the rain away oh
yeah. Let it go away here in Horsens..."
Abe did his usual intro before "Live and Let Die," notspeaking
in Danish saying, "Heeellooo Horsens! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK...?"
Signs in the audience: "This is my 9th concert!" "Macca
My Biggest Idol" (Paul rocked his guitar wildly to the fan
with the sign) and a T-shirt that said "Concert no. 2995"
(Paul pointed to the shirt and said, "All Right!")
Paul wore the 'no more land mines" T-shirt and carried a
gigantic Danish flag when he came out for the encore. Wix chased
him carrying a tiny British flag. A fan from Iceland threw a "Sgt.
Pepper's" album to Paul which he signed and threw back and
someone threw some flowers on the stage. Before he left the stage
he said, "See you next time!"
June 9th Concert
Security was tighter for the
second night because of demands from Paul. This caused huge lines
of people trying to get into the stadium right up until showtime.
Everybody was checked and items were taken away for storage, even
sandwiches.
Songs heard at the soundcheck: "Sgt. Pepper," "Matchbox,"
"Celebration," C Moon," "Follow Me" (great
new song) "Coming Up," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore,"
and "Lady Madonna."
For the second show he wore the purple/blue Nehru jacket, pinstriped
dark pants and the t-shirt that is white on the back and red on
the front. He talked a bit more at the second show and seemed
overall a bit more relaxed. There was torrential rain an hour
before the concert started, but it stopped 10 minutes before the
show.
At this show when Paul did "In Spite of All the Danger,"
the crowd was more enthusiastic. No annoying VIP section. Paul
said, "Thanks a lot! You're a great audience. You should
have been on the demo recording!"
Paul's humorous intro to "Drive My Car" was "...asked
the girl what she wanted to be, and she said baby, I don't have
a clue."
PHOTOS
from both shows by Morten Fischer
INTERESTING FACTS
ABOUT THE HORSENS CONCERTS
The road from downtown Horsens to the soccer stadium was renamed
"Abbey Road" for the two days Paul was in town.
The local promoters took out a 4 million krone ($600,000) insurance
policy on Paul McCartney in case he became ill and couldn't play
the concerts in Horsen. The main concern was McCartney getting
a sore throat and canceling the show. Costs to insure both shows
were higher than any other concert performed by world class acts
in Horsens.
STAGE LOGISTICS
-- EXCLUSIVE!!!
In London,
two stages were constructed - 65 (195 ft) meters wide, 28 (84
ft) meters deep and 21 (63 ft) meters high. It takes two days
to construct a stage so one stage has to be in transit to the
next show while the other stage is being used. The stage used
in Horsens came from the Leipzig, Germany show. The other stage
was in Prague which was sent to Gothenbug, Sweden where Paul performs
Saturday June 12. The stage used in Horsens will travel to Oslo,
Norway for the concert there Monday, June 14.
The Leipzig (Friday, June 4) stage was taken down right after
the show and transported to Horsens by truck and arrived on Sunday,
June 6. The crews constructed the stage June 6th and 7th. On Monday
June 7th the lighting and sound equipment arrived from the Prague
(Sunday, June 6) concert.
There is only one set of lighting and sound equipment, which has
to be transported to each show. After the second show in Horsens,
the light and sound equipment had to be dismantled in no more
than four hours so it could be transported by truck to the next
show in Gothenburg, Sweden (Saturday, June 12).
There are 40 trucks and trailers that transport all the equipment
on the tour provided by You
Rock-We Roll.
PAUL 'MOVED'
IN HORSENS
Paul said in
an interview with NRK, that he saw a distinguished gentleman with
his arm around his wife standing in the audience. The expressions
on their faces and the way they stood together moved Paul so much
so he had to look away or break his concentration and ruin the
song. He focused elsewhere on fans having fun to maintain his
composure.
BACK TO TOUR ITINERARY
On Friday June 11, there was
a Beatles festival at a place called "Trägårn"
in Gothenburg, where a Beatles cover band called Lenny Pane performed.
Rusty Anderson was there and played an acoustic set, signing his
album "Undressing Underwater" afterwards.
(For more on Rusty's show click here!)
Paul flew in the day of the show (Saturday)
from London after spending Friday celebrating his second anniversary
with Heather and daughter Bea. The soundcheck started before Paul
arrived around 4pm and at 5pm Paul joined the band. The soundcheck
continued until 5:40pm. Songs heard: "Coming Up," "Lady
Madonna."
Macca took the stage dressed in a turquoise Nehru jacket, a red
T-shirt with a white trim V-neck and stripe on the sleeves, and
pin-striped trousers. He played to a non-capacity crowd of 36,227
at Ullevi Stadium. Swedish celebrities in the audience: Robert
Wells ( from Rhapsody in Rock) and Per Gessle (singer with Swedish
band Roxette).
The beginning of "Jet" seemed to have a microphone problem
that was quickly corrected."God afton Göteborg"
(Good evening Gothenburg)" Paul said in perfect Swedish after
the song.
It took a Beatles song to get the lukewarm Swedish audience warmed
up. By the last half of the concert Paul had Sweden rocking.
"Jag pratar inte så
mycket svenska (I don't speak very much Swedish), but tonight
we've come here to rock YOU!" said Paul launching into "All
My Loving." The crowd came alive, dancing and singing.
Paul talked in Swedish throughout the
show and the audience appreciated it. He asked them how he was
doing and the audience cheered. He commented, "Not bad for
an Englishman talking Swedish, eh? Even though I know you can
speak English better than me."
In the beginning of the show, a women in the front held up a bag
with a Paul silhouette sewn on it and Paul smiled at her as he
continued to sing.
In Swedish he said, "Och nu er jag ensam med er," (And
now I'm alone with you) when the band left and he started the
acoustic set.
For "In Spite of All the Danger" he mentioned the story
about recording the song with John, George and two other guys
who all chipped in money to pay for the record. Then he said once
the record was made, there was only one copy and they all took
turns borrowing the record. He asked the audience to repeat his
"oh-oh-oh-oh's" and they did. He said,"Excellent!"
and started the song. When it came to the part where the audience
was to participate singing the "oh-oh-oh-oh's," only
a small majority responded. It might have been their unfamiliarity
with the song. It was during the rest of the acoustic set that
the audience reponded with better enthusiasm to more familiar
Beatles songs like "Blackbird" and "We Can Work
It Out."
Wix introduced "For No One"
and joked, "Are you all here to see the football game?"
Paul is leading 12- 0!" When Wix talked some fans in the
front waived to Paul who waived back and blew small kisses to
them in an exaggerated silly way. He also made lots of eye contact
with people, giving them the thumbs up.
Someone in the audience screamed, "WE LOVE YOU!!!" during
a quiet moment catching Paul's attention. Paul screamed back "I
LOVE YOU TOO!!!"
When he talked about how you don't always say what you want, for
the intro to "Here Today," someone screamed out "YOU'RE
BRAVE!!!" At first Paul didn't hear it but then the person
repeated it and Paul said, "Oh, well thank you." and
made a funny pose. When he finished "Here Today" Paul
said "Let's hear it for John!" and the audience continued
to applaud for a long time.
Just as Paul dedicates "All Things Must Pass" to George,
the band rejoins him onstage. After the song someone screamed
"RINGO!" and Paul said, "There's always someone
here up front screaming 'what about Ringo'? So do you want to
sing for him?" Then he conducted the audience in singing
the first verse and then the chorus for "Yellow Submarine."
When they sang the chorus a few times, Paul decided the song should
end. He stopped the audience, laughed and put his face in his
hands while shaking his head.
Rusty took out his voice translator, put it up to the microphone and played a message in Swedish spoken by an elderly female saying, "Valkommen till rock n' roll konserten. Hoppas ni ska trivas. Var vanlig satt ej era tuggummin under stolarna!" (Welcome to the rock n' roll concert. I hope you will enjoy it. Please do not place your gum under the seats!") That brought laughter from the audience. He also threw a guitar pick to the audience but it boomeranged back to the stage catching Paul's attention. Macca couldn't figure out where it came from and realized it was from Rusty.
Paul dedicated "Lady Madonna"
to "all the ladies," and then said, "...but first
this!" He played a funny song which
ended with "Sweeeden, Sweden, Sweden"... !
Paul introduced "Eleanor Rigby" and dedicated it to
the late Ray Charles, who died on June 11th. He said Ray Charles
would have done that song in a cool way. Paul started out singing
the beginning of the song in a bluesy style as a tribute to Charles.
(Note: The Beatles toured with Ray Charles in the early '60s)
Brian told the audience that when he was a child, he had an au-pair
(nanny) from Sweden and thought Swedish girls were very beautiful.
He got a lot of cheers from the male audience. Then he asked the
right side of the audience (seated) if they thought so and they
screamed, then asked the other side and then the middle.
Before "I'll Follow the
Sun" Paul made a comment that it didn't rain. Wix told him
that it had been raining earlier since Paul had only arrived the
day of the show. The band had flew to Gothenburg without Paul
right after the Denmark show.
"Band On the Run" showed some
nice photographs of Wings on the screens. The Swedish audience
exploded singing along and Rusty's guitar rocked.
A fan brought a red sweater that read "CCCP" and held
it up when Paul did "Back in the USSR." Paul looked
at him, smiled and raised his eyebrows.
Near the end of the show Paul
said, "We all have to go home now!" and everybody screamed
"NO!" Then he said, "Well, we have to go home sometime!"
And again the audience yelled "NO!" Then he said that
the audience had to go home, which made everyone "boo."
He said, "YES!" and the audience screamed "NO!"
He kept on doing that a few more times, which brought laughter
from the audience.
"Sgt. Pepper" had the whole stadium jumping up and down,
singing and cheering. On the last note of "The End"
fireworks exploded above the stage and red, white and blue confetti
rained down on the crowd from the stage.
Signs in the audience: "Hey
Rusty! Beer?" "Happy anniversary Paul [heart] Heather,"
"Happy birthday, Love," and "Paul, keep on rocking!"
Paul and Heather stayed in a hotel. The rest of the band stayed
at the SAS Radisson hotel and chatted with fans who showed up
there after the show.
BACK TO TOUR ITINERARY
Tonight's concert is the 5th
concert by McCartney in Norway since 1972 when he and his band
Wings filled the Njårdhallen venue in Oslo to full capacity.
The concert also marks his 100th show since he started his world
tour back in April 2002.
Paul arrived in Oslo on Sunday, June 13 and checked into the Grand
Hotel, but for some reason he had to fly back to London that day
and checked out of the hotel. The band took a train from Gothenburg
to Oslo and checked into the Grand Hotel. Paul flew back to Oslo
from London the day of the show and was an hour late arriving
at Valle Hovin. When he got to the stadium at 4:30pm, there were
two cars: the one he came in, and the Lexus that was to be given
away. He arrived at a VIP entrance at the back of the stadium,
near the stage, observed only by a few fans.
At the soundcheck Paul was dressed in the clothes he travelled
in; a dark pinstriped suit and an aubergine-colored shirt. Paul
refused to do any signing inside the arena. "Sorry mate,
have to do my bit..." he said, as he was pointing at the
stage and the waiting band.
The soundcheck was played to an audience of 6 lucky winners of
exclusive soundcheck tickets from TV and radio competitions. However,
the sound carried through to the people waiting in line outside
the stadium.
Songs heard at the soundcheck with Paul's
commentary:
Fragments/riffs from "Helter Skelter" (the band without
Paul)
10 minute jam (just the band then Paul arrived.)
"Welcome To The Soundcheck" (sung as "Welcome To
The Wild Stuff.")
Paul: "Good evening Oslo land of
the shining sun!"
"Coming Up: (partly Pete Gunn-theme bass from Paul)
"Honey Don't"
Paul: "Thank you very much! Small but loud audience!"
"Matchbox"
Paul: "Thank you soundcheckers!"
"C Moon"
"Celebration"
"Midnight Special" (with "Calico Skies"ending)
"Don't Get Around Much Anymore"
Paul: "Thank you very much, standard lovers or lovers
of standards!"
"Follow Me" (new song)
Paul: "Thank you very much, people making noise!"
"You Never Give Me Your Money"
"Massage" music/talk improv
"Lady Madonna"
Backstage Paul gave away a Lexus RX300 four-wheel drive, 230 horsepower,
3-liter, six cylinder automatic worth
$36,000 to the 8th millionth ticket buyer, Siri
Sørflaten (28). The lucky winner was picked by McCartney's
people before the concert. She was taken backstage, where Paul
personally handed her the car keys and gave her hug during a photo
opportunity.
The preshow
started at 8:15pm and Paul got onstage around 8:35pm. Macca was in a great mood beaming at the
Oslo audience throughout the show. He wore a purple/blue Nehru
jacket, pinstriped dark pants and a t-shirt that is white on the
back and red on the front.
"God
aften Oslo!" (Good evening Oslo) said Paul to the crowd of23,000
after "Got To Get You Into My Life." He spoke Norwegian very well looking at the telepromoter
from time to time to rehearse his Norwegian sentences. He talked
Norwegian throughout the show because the audience reacted well
to his pronounciations. When he spoke it was almost in a shy manner.
The audience was charmed.
"Tuuu-sen takk, Oslo!" (Thousand cheers, Oslo!)
"Mange takk!" (Many thanks) His lines were much the
same as spoken in different countries on the tour.
He invited the audience to
sing the "oh-oh-oh-ohs" during "In Spite of All
the Danger" which they did and they also harmonized with
Paul who was surprised and very pleased. After the song he thanked
the audience for the backing vocals and said something about making
a demo together and then said sarcastically, "When will the
demo be out? Tomorrow on the Internet!"
Macca fumbled a little bit at the start of "Blackbird,"
but recovered nicely. When he began the intro to "Here Today"
fans near the front began singing, "Give Peace a Chance."
Paul said, "Let's hear it for John!" And there was a
long applause.
After "All Things Must Pass" the leader of the Norwegian
Wood fanclub shouted, "What about RINGO!" Rusty accompanied
the audience singalong of "Yellow Submarine" on acoustic
guitar while Paul led the audicence without strumming. When the
singalong ended the audience cheered and Paul put his face in
his hands and laughed. Fans shouted, "What about STUART?"
"What about PETE?" They were ignored.
Rusty pulled out his trusty language translator again and it did
the chewing gum joke. Some fans yelled, "We already know
about the chewing gum!"
During the show, Paul pretended to throw the Hofner into the audience.
When fans reached for the prized instrument, Paul shook his head
and waved his index finger in a scolding gesture of "No!
No! NO!"
Brian spoke some Norwegian: "Hvordan
har dere det? Dere er best! (How are you doing? You are the best!)
The audience found it very amusing.
Macca shouted to the audience, "Are you having a good time?"
To which the audience replied, "YES!" "I thought
you would," said Paul.
Wix said during his intro that he will be the one to take all
of England's penalties in the future, referring to Beckhams miss
in the European Soccer Championship the previous day.
Paul mentioned the winner of the car and pointed to her in the
audience before "Drive My Car" making a gesture like
he was holding an imaginary steering wheel.
He introduced Abe in Norwegian, "Og her er vår kule
trommis!" (And here's our cool drummer.) Abe did his usual
introduction for "Live and Let Die." The fireworks for
the song were hardly visible because of daylight in the Norwegian
night.
Someone yelled out something unintelligible as Paul was doing
his intro to "Lady Madonna" and Paul forgot to do his
'tribute to women" dedication. He did do the improv song
before "Lady Madonna," saying "Oslo" many
times in the song and pronounced the city's name Norwegian style
"Ooo-slo."
When Paul finished "Hey Jude" the audience continued
to sing the "Hey Jude "coda until Paul reappeared on
stage for the first encore carrying the Norwegian flag.
After "Yesterday" fans in front waved their banner above
their heads. It took five fans to hold it stretched between them.
The banner read: "Norwegian Wood" (which is the name
of the Beatles fan club in Norway). 
Paul read the banner, but didn't do the song. He
just acknowledged it by saying, "Isn't it good?"
Before "I Saw Her Standing There" Paul said, "What
do you think about myNorwegian?" The audience cheered, to
which Paul replied, "Tack så mycket!" (which is
Swedish for "Thank you very much!") Then Paul said in
Norwegian, "Vil dere har mer?" (Do you want more?) and
launched into the song.
People had signs in the audience that read: "Happy Birthday
Paul!" WhenPaul left the stage for the second encore, fans
began singing "Happy Birthday" to him.
When he came back, Paul said to the crowd, "I've got a feeling
you wanna rock some more!" They cheered and the band started
the opening chords to "Helter Skelter."
At the end of the show, Paul said, "Jeg vil takke mitt superband, men mest av alt dere!" (I want to thank my superband, but most of all you!)
When he tried to leave after taking his bows, the audience kept on cheering. He said, "Nå må vi gå hjem, og det må dere også." (Now we must go home, and so must you too). "You've been a fantastic audience! Hope you didn't get cold... but you've been rockin' all night!"
As he left he said to the crowd,
"How do you pronounce
Oslo?" And they replied "Ooo-slo!" And he said,
"Vi sees!" (See you!) "See you next time!"
After the show, Paul flew straight home and the band returned
to the hotel. Some lucky Dutch fans got the band's autographs
the next day.
BACK TO TOUR ITINERARY
The band arrived
in Finland a few days before the concert on June 15 and Paul flew
in the day of the show. There was a soundcheck that started late
and fans were not let in until 6pm instead of 5:30pm. Songs heard
at the soundcheck: "Coming Up," "Honey Hush,"
"Midnight Special," "C Moon," "Follow
Me " (new song) "Lady Madonna."
It had been a cold, rainy
day. In spite of the weather, 35,000 (not sold out) concertgoers
were rocked at Olympiastadion for the first Paul McCartney concert
in 32 years! Paul has not performed in Finland since Wings played
there in 1972. It was cold and rained heavily before the concert
with some rain during the show. The crowd came prepared dressed
in disposable raincoats and were in high spirits.
As at other concerts Paul tried to speak the local language and
the Finnish audience was astonished and pleased by his attemps
to pronounce the difficult language. "Hyvää
iltaa, Helsinki!" ("Good evening, Helsinki!") "In
English, we have come to rock YOU!" said Paul.
He told the
audience, "En puhu paljon
suomea." (I don't speak a lot of Finnish.) Paul read from a paper at his feet with
Finnish phonetic spellings, and on one occasion he had difficulties
reading what he was going to say next. He couldn't quite figure
it out and stared at the paper not saying anything for an awkward
moment. By then the audience realized that he was actually reading
from a script. Paul just grinned and said, "I'm not reading
these, you know!"
Paul talked about the evening
sun in Finland. "The sun doesn't seem to go down hardly at
all. How do you know when to go to bed? You must party all night
long!" which brought cheers from the audience.
"Tämä on kappale jonka esitämme ensimmäistä
kertaa tällä kiertueella Helsingissä," (This
is a song we're going to play live for the first time on this
tour in Helsinki) said Paul when he introduced, "You Won't
See Me."
For "In Spite of All the Danger,"
Paul encouraged the audience to sing the "oh-oh-oh-ohs"
during the song. They did, though it sounded bad because the audience
didn't know the song. When the song finished, Paul praised the
audience's effort and said, "PERFECT!"
During the tributes to John and George, a double rainbow appeared
in the sky.
There was no "Yellow Submarine" audience singalong.
No fans screamed out "What about Ringo?"
Paul noticed seagulls in the stadium area. "Hello you there.
Why are you here?" he asked jokingly.
Rusty's language translator told the audience in Finnish not to
put chewing gum under the seats and that "a clean seat was
a happy seat!"
Brian talked about climbing on top of hill near the stadium where
he could see a picturesque view of Töölönlahti
Bay.
Paul thanked the audience several times during the show, "Kiitos!
Kiitos paljon!" (Thank you! Thank you very much!) And asked
them, "Are you having a good time? Do you want more?"
They screamed for more.
During "Lady Madonna," there were images on the video
screens of various female figures. One of them was the President
of Finland, Tarja Halonen, which drew a loud cheer from the audience.
He directed the crowd in Finnish during
the "Hey Jude" singalong with "vain miehet,"
(men only) and "vain naiset" (ladies only).
Signs in the audience: "Happy birthday, Paul! "We will
still need you, we will still feed you, when you're sixty-two"
and "I came from Australia to see you."
Just before "Sgt. Pepper," Paul said, "This is
the last one, we've got to go home." The audience protested
and Paul bated them with "Yes!" and they said "NO!"
One of the funniest moments came at the end of the show when the
band and Paul were saying their goodbyes. Paul pretended to throw
his Hofner bass to the audience. He and the band goofed around
wiggling their butts and at one point Paul and Abe grabbed each
other and started waltzing! They did some dance steps and and
twirled around a few times before they left.
Paul was staying at Hotel Kämppi
and signed autographs
for about 30 waiting fans after the show. At 12 noon the next
day, Paul, Heather and the band left for the airport. Paul and
Heather went back to London and the band flew to St. Petersburg
and checked into the Baltic Hotel.
BACK TO TOUR ITINERARY
When Paul arrived in St. Petersburg
on June 18, he had a short conversation with his fans at the airport.
A fan managed to pass McCartney an old "bones" Beatles
bootleg record, which Soviet fans used to make from X-ray film
to record banned music.
Paul, Heather and Bea spent most the time
at the Konstantin Palace in Strelna, where they stayed in an elite
secluded cottage. They dined at three restaurants in St. Petersburg
during their stay
where they had vegetarian food. At one restaurant Paul celebrated
his birthday with Heather, the band and close associates on the
tour. Despite rumors that no one traveling with McCartney is allowed
to eat meat, Sir Paul's team ordered fish and meat.
On Saturday, McCartney went
to see the famed fountains of Peterhof and also met with St. Petersburg
Governor Valentina Matviyenko.
Paul did a
soundcheck in the afternoon. Songs heard at the soundcheck: Jam #1, "Coming Up," "Honey
Don't," "Matchbox," "India," "C
Moon," "Midnight Special," "San Francisco
Bay Blues," "Follow Me," (new song), "St.
Petersburg Jam" (improv), "Lady Madonna," Jam #2.
It took longer than expected for concertgoers to pass through
tight security armed with metal detectors which caused delays.
And that along with rain, delayed the concert an hour and a half.
Paul performed
his 3,000th concert to a rainsoaked crowd of over 70,000 in St.
Petersburg. Fans were prepared for the weather, decked out in
raincoats and umbrellas. The preshow started around 7:15 and Paul
came onstage at 7:30. Torrential rain fell just before the show
started and then the skies began to clear up due to organizers arranging for three jets to
spray the clouds with dry ice. The technique helps to stop rain
by holding water in the clouds and cost $36,000.
There was a thunderous
roar when Paul stepped onstage. Fans shouted to Paul during the
show in Russian and in English "S
dnyom rozhdeniya!" (Happy Birthday), "Happy birthday!" and "WE
LOVE YOU!"which pleased Paul. Macca joked about the weather,
"We thought we were going
to get wet but we're getting a suntan instead!"
Throughout the show Paul praised the crowd in Russian. "Spasibo!" (Thank you) and "Horosho!"
(Good!) After "Got To Get You Into My Life" Paul said,
"Privet, Piter! Privet, rebyata!" (Hi, St. Petersburg!
Hi, guys!) "St. Petersburg is so beautiful. And we will rock
it tonight!"
When Paul introduced, "Here Today," he said in English
with the Russian translation posted on the video screen behind
him, "Sometimes we don't say what we want to, to people when
they are with us, and then it gets too late when they pass away.
That's why I wrote this song for my friend John Lennon."
"Eta pesnya ispolyayetsya vpervye v Rossii." (I am performing
this song in Russia for the first time.), Paul said when he introduced
"For No One." His Russian accent was understandable.
Before "Lady Madonna" Paul played a song he made up
about St. Petersburg which he sang like a prayer, which brought
a roar from the crowd each time the city was mentioned.
For "Hey Jude" Paul spoke in Russian for the singalong
in Russian. "A teper' tolko muzhchiny!" (And now just
men!) "A Teper' tolko devchonki!" (Now just girls!)
"Hey Jude" along with "Let It Be" and "Yesterday,"
drew the most excitement from diehard Russian fans. Beatles songs
received the biggest reaction and enthusiasm from the crowd. The
crowd went wild when images of the Beatles were projected on the
video screens.
When Paul left for London Monday afternoon, fans gathered at Pulkovo
airport to say goodbye and chanted, "Malo!
Malo!" (It's not enough!) McCartney waved to them.
Read
Richard and Irina Porter's story about the St. Petersburg gig!
BACK
TO TOUR ITINERARY
Paul flew to
Paris the evening of June 23. Macca chatted with fans the next
day when he left the Paris Ritz Hotel around 4pm. He arrived at
Stade de France before 4:30pm and started the soundcheck which
lasted one hour. Songs heard at the soundcheck:
A jam which sounded something
like "Why don't you get rising..." (jam) "Coming
up," "Matchbox," "Honey Don't," Improvisation,
"C Moon" "Celebration," "San Francisco
Bay Blues," "Midnight Special," "Follow Me"
(new song), improvisation, "Lady Madonna," "Baby
Face," jam.
Paul performed to 50,000 people at Stade de France. He wore a
red button down shirt with yellow flowers on it, 
black jeans and the purple Nehru jacket.
The concert started late at 9:15pm. As soon as Paul got onstage
the crowd sitting in the back of the lawn rushed the stage and
stood in front of people with seats in front of the stage. This
upset the people in the front who paid a lot of money for their
seats. In the audience was the French Minister of culture Renaud
Donnedieu.
He addressed the French audience with, "Bonsoir Paris! Salut les copains!" (Good 
evening Paris! Hello buddies!) We have
come to rock you!"
Paul spoke French a lot during the show and said that he speaks
French "Je parle Français un petit pois." (I
speak French, a small pea) instead of "un petit peu"
(a little bit). But the audience understood.
There was
a setlist change, "Michelle" was added to the acoustic
set just before "Eleanor Rigby." When he introduced
the song he said, "This song hasn't been played on this tour
but, I couldn't come to Paris and not play it. Une chanson dont vous allez comprendre le paroles."
(A song of which you will understand the words). During the song
photos of French landmarks like the Eiffel Tower were shown on
the video screens.
For the most
part Paul was in good voice but it cracked a few times. This was
more evident on "We Can Work It Out" when he was straining
to reach the higher notes.
"C'est la première fois que j'ai joué cette
chanson de phase à Paris." (This is the first time I have played this song live
in Paris.) He said for songs "In Spite of All the Danger,"
"For No One" and "I've Got A Feeling."
Paul spoke some French
when he told the story about recording, "In Spite of All
the Danger" and explained that the song was done in the pre-Beatles
days. He said, "...avant même de nous appeler les Beatles."
(... before we were called the Beatles.) He had the audience chanting
the "oh, oh, oh, ohs" in the song which they did very
enthusiastically. At then end of the song he said, "I wish you were on the record!"
When introducing "Here Today" Paul talked about not
always getting a chance to tell people that you loved them. A
fan shouted out "I LOVE YOU PAUL!" Paul laughed and
said "I LOVE YOU TOO!" At the end of the song he sang,
"I love you..." four times.
Before "All Things Must Pass" Paul said, "Cette
chanson est à memoire de George." (This song is for
the memory of George.)
Before, "I'll Follow the Sun" he said, "Paris est la plus belle
ville du monde, après Liverpool!" (Paris is the most
beautiful city in the world, after Liverpool!) "J'aime Paris!"
(I love Paris!) After "I'll
Follow The Sun," Paul repeated the phrase, "for tomorrow
may rain, I'll follow the sun," twice. And joked, "We
wrote short songs in those days."
Wix said Paris was so close
to home, that some of his friends were in the audience as well.
Some of these friends were even there with him back in those days
when he was still in a band which didn't had so many hit songs.
He ended his story with the words: "Well, that was until
we changed our leadsinger." Wix's wife was sitting with Heather.
Paul introduced Rusty in French, "...Rusty un extraordinaire
guitariste." (Rusty an extraordinary guitarist) Rusty used
his translator with the joke about chewing gum under their seats.
Both Abe and Brian spoke French well. Abe said his usual, "Êtes-vous
prêt pour le feu?" (Are you ready for the fire?) Brian
said, "Vous allez bien les lulus?" (You are well, guys?)
The audience was amused. (Congrats to "harleyblues"
for receiving a "Hi Harley!" greeting and two picks
from Brian Ray during the show.)
Paul conducted the "Yellow Submarine"
singalong after "All Things Must Pass" because fans
yelled, "What about Ringo?"
There was no 'slow' intro to "Band On the Run."
Before "Lady Madonna" he sang a 'special' song for Paris
with the words "We're
gonna have fun in Paris." He pronounced Paris as "Paree."
For "Hey Jude" he invited everyone to singalong and
said, "You will all know
the words at the end of the song." The crowd was such in a singing mood that they started
to singalong with Paul from the very beginning of the song untill
the end. Paul lead the singalong in French asking first "les
garcons" (the boys) to sing, then, "les filles"
(the girls) and finally "ensemble" (everyone).
Before "I Saw Her Standing There," he said in French,
"Vous en voulez encore?"
(Do you want more?) The crowd demanded more. Heather was seen
in the photo pit dancing up a storm with Paul winking at her.
Sign in the audience: "Fans On The Run Mexico 2002."
At the beginning of the last encore Paul said, "Il est temps
de partir." (It's time to go.) Crowd: "No! No! Nooooooo!"
Paul: "Oui! oui, OUI !" Crowd : "No! No! Nooooooo!"
Paul : "Yes, yes, YES!"
Someone threw a soft toy cow on stage and Macca caught it. He
placed it on the stage and carried off later.
Macca threw his "no more land mines" T-shirt (the one
he was wearing over his shirt) into the crowd and Brian threw
his tambourine at the end of the show to his personal assistant.
Paul thanked the crew and
thanked "mon groupe extraordinaire" (my extraordinary
band). He kissed the female dancers goodbye. Red, white and blue confetti shot out
from the stage and covered the stadium.
BACK TO TOUR ITINERARY
Mike McCartney told a BBC commentator
that Paul's helicopter couldn't land at Glastonbury because of
the weather and had to be diverted 20 miles away to Bristol Airport,
which caused his concert to be delayed. Paul was driven by chauffeured
limo to Worthy Farm Pilton.
Backstage Paul had his own catering team flown in from France
to provide vegetarian cuisine for him and his crew inside a specially
built tent. He also had private toilet facilities brought in for
him and Heather with a compound built around it, guarded by security.
Macca built offices for his staff, dressing rooms and kitchens.
Paul performed on the Pyramid
Stage to 100,000 + mud covered, rainsoaked concertgoers. Because
the stage was prebuilt for the festival, only the video screens
behind Paul were used from his stage. Paul was last act to perform
around 11:30 pm and his set lasted two and a half hours. BBC 2
and BBC 3 aired the last part of the concert on television in
the UK switching annoyingly from one station to another in the
middle of Paul's concert.
"It's great to be here in Glastonbury finally," Paul
said starting his set. "We are digging it. I'm feeling the
atmospheeeere. I'm feeling the vibraaaatiooooons!"
There were a few hecklers in the audience who yelled "BORING!"
They were ignored. The audience happily participated in the singalongs
and prompts by Paul to sing designated parts of songs. Both "Penny
Lane" and "Lady Madonna" inspired the crowd to
singalong. The rain held off during the set and concertgoers enjoyed
dancing in the mud to Paul's biggest hits.
During the Wings songs fans chanted "LINDA! LINDA! LINDA!"
After "Get Back" Paul said,
"Get Back Glastonbury...and the weather turned out good!"
Paul welcomed the live coverage from the BBC and the crowd cheered.
For his tributes to John and to George he encouraged audience
cheers with, "Let's hear it for Johnny! Let's hear it for
Georgie!"
"Live and Let Die" had the usual stage flame throwers and pyrothechniques onstage, but at the end of the song the sky was lit up in a spectacular fireworks display.
Paul led a lively singalong
of "Hey Jude" with the audience of 100,000 joining in
on the "nah-nah-nahs," prompting even those who thought
Paul was "old and uncool" to sing their lungs out. Paul
shouted, "I can't stop this thing!" and continue with
a few more codas before he finished the song. Then the band took
their bows for the encore left the stage and Paul came back wearing
the 'no more land mines' T-shirt.
After "Yesterday" Paul said, "OK, here's a new
song. A brand new song for Glastonbury," and performed for
the first time in concert "Follow Me" which has only
been performed at soundchecks during this tour.
"Now here's an old song for Glastonbury," he said for the intro to "Let It Be." Everyone sang along.
He kidded with the crowd and said, "Is
it possible to rock in 
wellies?" (rubber boots) Paul showed off his
own pair of wellies. "Yes it is!" Then launched into,
"I Saw Her Standing There."
Paul thanked Glastonbury organizer Michael Eavis, "Hey, we thank Mr. Eavis tonight for lending us his field! Oh-Kaaaaaaaay!" and began "Helter Skelter, " The audience sang along, "Helter skelter...helter skelter..."
When the song finished Paul
told the audience, "It's time to go home!" The audience
protested. He continued, "Time for us to go home and time
for you to go home... Oh, no! This IS your home!" The crowd
who wasn't going anywhere with another day left of the festival,
cheered. Paul thanked his crew and band since it was the last
night of the tour and thanked the crowd. He began "Sgt. Pepper"
and finished with "The End."
Paul and the bands took their bows and before Paul left the stage
he said, "See you next time!"
Backstage after the concert, Paul gave Michael Eavis a big hug
and a kiss. He also had a banquet for his band and crew, vegetarian
of course.
Follow
Me
You lift up my spirits,
you shine on my soul
Whenever I'm empty,
you make me feel whole.
I can rely on you,
to guide me through, any situation.
You hold up a sign that reads: "follow me."
You give me directions,
you show me the way,
You give me a reason
to face every day.
I can depend on you,
to send me to, any destination.
You hold up a sign that reads: "follow me, follow me."
Down the track of loneliness,
down the path of love,
through the words of heartache to the end.
On the shores of sorrow
where the waves of hope crash in.
The perfect place for me to find a friend.
ahh, yeah-yeah-yeah, waah-whoa-oh...
You lead to me to places,
that I've never been
uncovering secrets,
that i've never seen.
I can rely on you,
to guide me through, any situation.
You hold up a sign that reads: "follow me, follow me, follow
me, follow me-ee, follow me, follow me-ee."
BACK TO TOUR ITINERARY
Jorie Gracen