March 25, 2015 -- PM.com
Paul To Headline Lollapalooza
TICKETS ON SALE AT 11AM ET HERE!
Paul announced
this morning that he will headline this year's Lollapalooza music
festival at Grant Park in Chicago. The appearance set to
take place on Friday 31st July - will mark Paul's first visit
to the festival.
Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell said of the line up announcement, "The heart of Lollapalooza has always been the music. The brotherhood and sisterhood of musicians is getting stronger and the unexpected surprises and collaborations are cementing magical moments that will live on in music history. Having young talented artists performing alongside legends is all I could ever ask for and I'll be grinning from ear to ear the entire weekend".
Other artists set to appear at the festival include Metallica and Florence and the Machine plus over 130 more. Lollapalooza 3-day general admission passes sold out on March 24th within an hour of going on sale. A limited number of single day general admission passes will be available from today. For more information on the festival head to their website by clicking HERE!
The festival appearance will form part of Paul's 2015 tour which kicks off in Japan at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka on 21st April. Paul's tour will then see him appearing in Tokyo and his first-ever concert in Seoul. From there he will visit the UK, France, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware.
For full details
of Paul's 2015 tour dates click HERE!
March
20, 2015 -- PM.com
International Day of Happiness
The United Nations Foundation and Pharrell Williams have teamed up to make this year's International Day of Happiness really special. Today, Friday 20th March, everybody is invited to join a global 'Happy Party' online to spread happiness and increase awareness about climate change.
You can join in by clicking HERE! (make sure to strike your happiest pose!)
Paul was happy (sorry!) to get involved with the #HAPPYDAY campaign.
For more information about the International Day of Happiness click HERE!
Very special additional Japanese 'Out There' tour date added
Paul McCartney Nippon Budokan Tuesday 28th April
PaulMcCartney.com pre-sale to take place at 10am (local / 1am GMT) on Saturday 21st March
With just over one month to
go until Paul returns to Japan with his 'Out There' tour, Paul
announces today a special one off show at the Nippon Budokan on
Tuesday 28th
April.
The special show was originally planned for last year but for
reasons beyond his control Paul was forced to cancel his Japanese
tour dates.
Almost 49 years since The Beatles began the Asian leg of their 1966 tour at the Budokan, Paul will return to the legendary venue with his current tour.
Speaking about his return Paul said: "It's very exciting to be returning to the Budokan because it is a very special place and was the first place we played in Japan. There was a lot of controversy at the time but I now know that it is a regular venue for a lot of people. But for me it has a very special place in my memory."
A combination of fans and protestors meant that the 1966 shows were heavily guarded and the only people allowed on the venue floor for the concerts were security and accredited journalists. At the time Paul and the band couldn't even leave the hotel they were staying in.
The 'Out There' tour features music from one of the best loved catalogues in popular music. Paul performs songs that span his entire career - as a solo artist, member of Wings and of course as a Beatle. Paul's current live show is nearly three hours long with over 35 songs in his set, when The Beatles performed in Japan their set list was made up of 11 songs.
In November 2013 Paul toured through Japan playing six sold out shows in Tokyo, Fukuoka and Osaka.
2015 Japanese
Tour Dates:
April 21st: Kyocera Dome, Osaka
April 23rd: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo
April 25th: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo
April 27th: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo
Special show
added:
April 28th: Nippon Budokan, Tokyo
March 20, 2015 -- The Daily Journal
The Dish: Fellow Beatle McCartney ushering Ringo into rock hall
Paul McCartney has agreed
to induct his former Beatles mate, Ringo Starr,
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month.
Stevie Wonder, Patti Smith and John Mayer will also usher in new
members, the hall announced on Wednesday. The 30th annual induction
ceremony is
scheduled for Cleveland's Public Hall on April 18. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
is located in Cleveland.
The Beatles are in the rock hall already, and so
are McCartney, John
Lennon and George Harrison as solo artists. Drummer Starr is the last to be
honored individually, and Eagle Joe Walsh will perform some of
his friend's music.
Wonder will induct Bill Withers, a fellow songwriter who had his
biggest impact in the 1970s. John Legend will perform Withers'
music, and it's still a mystery whether Withers, who quit the
music business more than 30 years ago, will sing. Rock hall spokeswoman
Shauna Wilson said it's still to be determined which inductees
will perform.
Smith will induct another artist indelibly tied to New York, the
late Lou Reed, and Beck will perform his music.
Mayer is speaking in honor of another blues guitarist, the late
Stevie Ray Vaughan. Vaughan's brother Jimmie will perform with
members of his brother's old band, Double Trouble.
Dave Grohl has committed to performing inductee Joan Jett's music,
although the hall hasn't announced who will give the speech for
the "I Love Rock and Roll" singer.
Peter Wolf will induct the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, with Tom
Morello performing the band's music. Fall Out Boy will induct
Green Day and guitarist Steve Cropper is scheduled to honor the
"5'' Royales.
HBO is taping
the ceremony and concert for a May 30 television premiere.
The rock hall will open an exhibit on April 11 honoring this year's
new class, and also has a special exhibit on photographer Herb
Ritts' work with musicians.
March 14, 2015 -- KentOnline (UK)
Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney has
been spotted at Sevenoaks School
A private school in Kent has played host to one of the most famous
names in music today.
Sir Paul McCartney was spotted at Sevenoaks School, and excited students took to Twitter to announce the news.
The Beatle, 72, was seen looking around the campus with his wife Nancy Shevell, but it is unclear why he was there.
The school confirmed Sir Paul was in the county on a passing visit, but refused to comment on the purpose.
The house, bought in the late 60s with his superstar Beatles money, is still occupied by the elder statesman of pop.
Indeed, it's where his reception after his most recent marriage to transport business woman Nancy Shevell took place. It's only a short walk from Abbey Road recording studios and in a fabulously well-to-do area.
Back in the 60s though, the singer/songwriter was in his twenties and rattling around in the massive mansion sized house with his giant sheepdog Martha.
It was then he hit, for some reason, on the idea of building a folly in the back garden - the kind of fake medieval ruin which the landed gentry often filled their grounds with in the 19th century as something to look at while they waited for television to be invented.
"I loved the idea of follies,"
McCartney said years later, explaining that a gallery owner friend
"put [him] in touch with an English architect who came up
with my geodesic dome."
And it's still there, and be seen clearly from the air.
A geodesic dome is a dome constructed out of geometric shapes
McCartney's is constructed out of pentagons. Despite the fact they've been around for less than 100 years, mystic charlatans quickly endowed geodesic domes with spiritual powers."It was my meditation platform," said McCartney.
Ah yes, "meditation" - well that was certainly the idea.
A place to retreat and contemplate - looking up at the sky above through the domed roof. Or maybe just get stoned out of his gourd.
Photographer Stephen Goldblatt took a series of pictures there in 1968, snapping McCartney puffing on a joint.
He said: "It was like a geodesic dome with a floor on a hydraulic lift that would just rise up and seal the top of the dome and then you could smoke pot and everyone could get stoned together, which is what we did."
Clearly a great place for party breakouts, as Noel Gallagher recently told BBC 6 Music's Matt Everitt.
In fact, when being taken down to a bed in the garden, Noel joked he thought that Paul might be trying to get off with him!
When visiting McCartney in the 1970s, Alice Cooper was taken into the round meditation dome roofed room at the bottom of the garden and exclaimed he had the perfect bed for it.
It had been a gift from Groucho Marx, and on his return to LA they jointly sent it to London as a wedding anniversary present for Paul and Linda. Cooper became an unlikely friend of the elderly Hollywood legend in 1974, after meeting him at his 84th birthday party.
We've written before about how Cooper paid for one of the letters in the Hollywood sign in Grouchos's honour. Well, they were great chums.
Upon visiting Cooper's completely unfurnished Los Angeles house Groucho gifted him his large circular bed, sending it around to Cooper's house the next day with a note which read "I never had any luck in it. Maybe you will."
In later years McCartney had
trouble convincing his kids that the room with the huge circular
bed in it, under a domed glass roof, was constructed as meditation
dome.
In 1997, he told biographer Barry Miles "my kids suspect
my motives."
Not surprisingly, with a perfectly fitting bed in a room, meditation is tricky. "It's changed the vibe of the whole thing; it's not easy to meditate on a big Hollywood bed, you feel more like getting laid!"
Yes Paul, we understand that, we just don't want to think about it. That's not a visual image we want stuck in our mind. Especially when you discover the addition Groucho Marx and Alice Cooper had made for their special present.
It has a brass
plaque on the headboard:
"May all your stains be large ones. From Groucho and Alice."
Meditation. Yes. Exactly.
March 12, 2015 -- PM.com
Throwback Thursday - One Year On!
One year ago this week we posted
the first #ThrowbackThursday photo of Paul. Each week since then
we've been looking through the archives to bring you a new fun
and interesting throwback image. We've loved looking through
all these photos and have many more great ones coming your way!
The first #TBT photo tied-in with the recently opened 'Linda McCartney: Retrospective' exhibition in Montpellier,
France. A year on, we have posted another photo of Paul taken
from Linda's exhibition which is currently showing in Seoul, South
Korea.
We've collected these photos into two image galleries which you
can check out by clicking HERE!
WEBMASTER'S
NOTE: 46 YEARS AGO PAUL AND
LINDA GOT MARRIED...
March 12, 2015 -- PM.com
Albert Maysles - A Eulogy From Paul
"I was so sad to hear
of the death of my friend and work colleague Albert Maysles.
"I first met him on The Beatles' first trip to America.
He and his brother, David, were the camera team assigned to cover
our exploits during this first trip. The style was very innovative
at that time and sometimes referred to as cinéma vérité.
They were attached to each other by what seemed to us to be like
an umbilical cord linking straight from Albert's camera to David's
sound recording equipment. When we would ask them if there was
anything they wanted us to do, they simply replied, 'Be yourselves,
act naturally and ignore us completely'. The results of their
work was a beautiful and fascinating film 'What's Happening! The
Beatles In The U.S.A.' which captures the innocence, intimacy,
good humour and, what was for us, one of the most exciting things
that had happened in our lives.
"After David passed away, I kept in touch with Albert
and was lucky enough to work with him again on another film covering
'The Concert For New York City', which we put on in the aftermath
of 9/11. As always, he was a great pleasure to work with and always
had a mischievous twinkle in his eye. The film came out - 'The
Love We Make' - and was a loving record of these difficult times
and the emotion released by the concert and events surrounding
it.
"Albert, it was a pleasure to know you and thanks from
all of us who did simply love you."
- Paul
McCartney
March 12, 2015 - NBCSanDiego.com
Colin Hay does what he wants
He's a man who picked himself up by his bootstraps after his band
Men at Work imploded in 1985 and made his own way through the
music industry ever since. He started a record label, Lazy Eye
Records, to release his albums when labels weren't calling. He's
toured (and continues to tour) worldwide. He's got one of the
most recognizable voices around, made cameos on "Scrubs"
and has written some of the catchiest pop hits of the last 30
years.
Knowing his penchant for storytelling and his lifelong affinity
with The Beatles -- and that he's hung out with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr
(even played in Ringo's All-Starr band for a while), I had to
ask: Did you freak out when you first met Macca?
"When I first met Paul McCartney,
it was at a small club in Hollywood called Largo. He came to the
club, and he may not have been there for me -- but in my head,
I decided he came to see me. [Laughs] But as I was going
on stage, he was just standing there. And it was very exciting
because that was the band to me, and for a lot of people
as well. I don't think anyone ever put anything together as incredible
as those guys. He actually pointed out to me in one conversation,
'The coincidence of four people meeting and getting together is
quite remarkable when you think about it. When you look at John, he's no slouch, George is no
slouch, Ringo is no slouch and neither am I. But having
all four of us meet and come together as a band is actually rather
extraordinary, you know?'
March 11, 2015 -- Macca Report News
Pre-Sale Info TICKET LINKS/ 'Out There' tour Europe
VIP TICKETS
UK & EUROPE
TICKETS
UNITED KINGDOM
LONDON O2 ARENA
SAT MAY 23, 2015
TICKETMASTER
ASX VENUE
TICKETS
LONDON O2 ARENA SAT MAY 24, 2015
TICKETMASTER
CROWSURGE TICKETS
ASX TICKETS
LIVERPOOL
ECHO ARENA THUR MAY 28, 2015 (SOLD OUT)
TICKETMASTER
BIRMINGHAM
BARCLAY ARENA WED MAY 27, 2015
TICKETMASTER
BARCLAY VENUE TICKETS
FRANCE
Friday 5th June Nouveau Stade Velodrome,
Marseille, FRANCE
VIP TICKETS LINK
PRESALE TICKETS
Sunday 7th June Ziggo
Dome, Amsterdam, HOLLAND
VIP TICKETS
LINK
PRESALE TICKETS
Monday 8th June Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, HOLLAND
VIP TICKETS
LINK
TICKETS
USA
Friday 19th June Firefly
Music Festival, Dover, DE USA
TICKETS
DENMARK
Saturday 4th July Roskilde Festival, DENMARK
TICKETS
SWEDEN
Thursday 9th July Tele2
Arena, Stockholm, SWEDEN
VIP TICKETS LINK
PRESALE TICKETS
NORWAY
Tuesday 7th July Telenor
Arena, Oslo, NORWAY
VIP TICKETS LINK
PRE SALE TICKETS
OUT THERE 2015 TOUR DATES - UK - EUROPE - USA
Saturday May 23rd The
O2, London, Great Britain (VIP TICKETS SOLD OUT)
Sunday May 24th - The O2, London, Great Britain
Wednesday May 27th Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, Great
Britain
Thursday May 28th Echo Arena, Liverpool, Great Britain
Friday 5th June - Nouveau Stade Velodrome, Marseille, France
Sunday 7th June ZiggoDome, Amsterdam, Holland
Monday 8th June ZiggoDome, Amsterdam, Holland
Thursday 11th June Stade De France, Paris, France
Friday June 19th Firefly Music Festival, Dover, DE USA
Saturday 4th July Roskilde Festival, Denmark
Tuesday 7th July Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway
Thursday 9th July Tele2 Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
March 11, 2015 -- Daily Mail (UK)
You're the Only
One for me! Kanye West warmly embraces close friend Sir Paul McCartney
as they reunite at Paris Fashion Week for Stella McCartney runway
show
They formed an unlikely alliance
after collaborating on a new track, and the friendship was still
in evidence on Monday morning as Kanye West and Sir Paul McCartney warmly embraced on a chilly day in Paris.
The pair, currently in the French capital for Paris Fashion Week,
were amongst the first to emerge ahead of Stella McCartney's Autumn/Winter 2015 runway show on Monday morning.
With a broad smile, characteristically moody rapper Kanye was clearly delighted after crossing paths with The Beatles legend, who he greeted like an old pal.
The 37-year-old looked typically casual in loose fitting black sweater and matching skinny jeans teamed with the heavy duty brown boots he's been favouring over recent weeks.
Sir Paul and Kanye formed a surprise partnership
on the rapper's recent single, Only One the first from his
forthcoming album, So Help Me God.
Speaking to NME, the British icon admitted he was inspired to
work with the enigmatic rapper after seeing him in perform at
London's O2 Arena with his Watch The Throne world tour.
'I was expecting it to be, 'Oh it's great, it's hip-hop, it's loud,' he recalled. 'But I hadn't until then got the urban poetry aspect. Like, Bob Dylan is a poet. And so is Jay Z and Kanye.'
For once Kanye appeared to
be without TV personality wife Kim Kardashian - a constant by
his side over the last few days - but had good female company
nonetheless in the form of willowy model Cara Delevingne.
The 22-year-old was also in attendance on Monday morning,
and she caught the eye in a striking monochrome striped top while
posing for pictures with Kanye, Sir Paul and Hollywood star Woody
Harrelson - another front row guest.
Older sister Poppy Delevingne,
28, looked no less distinctive in a black printed top beneath
a smart blazer jacker that remained casually draped across her
shoulders.
Designer Stella later took to the runway, where she was greeted
with a warm round of applause after debuting her latest collection
in the French capital.
The new line places a strong emphasis on classic designs with
a modern twist, with sleeveless gowns and conventional trousers
suits featuring alongside vibrant colours and bold prints.
Exiting without Stella later
that day, Sir Paul and Nancy appeared
to be in great spirits - with The Beatles icon even treating onlookers
to a spot of air guitar before making his way towards a waiting
car.
March
11, 2015 -- Ultimate Classic Rock
Paul McCartney
Explains Why He's Working With Kanye West
Cross-cultural collaborations are nothing new to Paul McCartney. After all, some of his biggest hits in the '80s were duets with Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Still, we were all surprised when it was revealed last summer that he was considering working with Kanye West. McCartney recently explained how West caused him to understand what hip-hop was about.
As he told NME, it happened
while seeing West and Jay Z's Watch the Throne tour at London's
O2 Arena in 2012. "I was expecting it to be, 'Oh it's great,
it's hip-hop, it's loud," he said. "But I hadn't until
then got the urban poetry aspect. Like, Bob Dylan is a poet. And
so is Jay Z and Kanye."
While it may have seemed strange for a man in his 70s to be listening
to hip-hop in the first place, no less attending concerts, for
him, keeping his eyes and ears open to what's new is a way of
preventing himself from going stale.
"If I'm gonna do a tour I like to go and see what other people are doing. I didn't wanna bring my tour out and be amazingly old-fashioned. So people if are going, 'Oh man, Beyonce, she was killer!' I like to go there and go, 'Yeah, we can do better than this.'"
To date, the pairing of McCartney and West has produced three songs. "Only One" was released on New Year's Eve. "FourFiveSeconds," which features Rihanna on vocals, arrived three weeks later and became the first McCartney song to hit the Top Five in more than 30 years. Earlier this week came the newest offering, "All Day," which has its roots in some unreleased music McCartney wrote in 1969.
West, for his part, has said
that it's a successful pairing because his knack for exposing
his emotions is similar to the way John Lennon
did. "I might be a little bit more 'angst' than Paul,"
he said. "And remember the last time when Paul had somebody
really 'angst' working with him, the type of music they made?
March 11, 2015 -- Female First (UK)
Paul McCartney
records with Hollywood Vampires
Sir Paul McCartney has recorded
some new material with supergroup Hollywood Vampires.
The Beatles legend left Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp impressed when he visited their LA studio, along with his drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., to record a version of 'Come And Get It' - the track he wrote and produced for Badfinger.
Joe who has never worked with Paul before said to Rolling Stone magazine: "He knew all the chords, the lyrics, everything.
"He didn't have any cheat sheets. It was like he'd been playing it his whole life. Me and Alice and Johnny were standing there and looking at each other and I tell you -- if there's any ego-lever in a room, it's Paul.
"It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. If Paul's in the room, he's there. It was hard to focus on playing."
According to the star, Paul and Alice share lead vocals on the track - a tribute to Badfinger members Pete Ham and Tom Evans who have both committed suicide.
And Paul's not going to be the only guest-member on the group's record.
Joe continued: "The record is dedicated to all the friends we've lost to drugs and alcohol over the years and getting people to come in and cover the songs their friends wrote."
Though the band have only one gig at Brazil's Rock in Rio festival in September so far, Joe says a tour is planned and he can't wait to get on-stage with Johnny.
"Johnny's a great guitarist.
"The times I've spent
with him, I've always been impressed. To go out and tour with
him is going to be a lot of fun. Everybody's really charged about
it."
March 6, 2015 -- PM.com
Paul brings 'Out There' tour to Europe
'OUT THERE'
- EUROPE 2015:
Saturday May, 23rd The
O2, London, Great Britain
Wednesday, May 27th Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, Great
Britain
Thursday May 28th Echo Arena, Liverpool, Great Britain
Friday, June 5th - Nouveau Stade Velodrome, Marseille, France
Sunday, June 7th ZiggoDome, Amsterdam, Holland
Thursday, June 11th - Stade De France, Paris, France
Saturday, July 4th Roskilde Festival, Denmark
Tuesday, July 7th Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway
Thursday, July 9th Tele2 Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
In the first 18 months since its launch, Paul's incredible 'Out
There' tour has been seen by almost two million people around
the world. So far, this tour has seen Paul and his band perform
a total of 64 shows in 12 different countries in venues of all
different shapes and sizes.
Today, Paul announces plans to come back to Europe this year for
nine special dates in places he's not yet visited with his current
tour. The shows will include his first concerts in the UK
since 2012's special Teenage Cancer Trust show at the Royal Albert
Hall. His London date marks his 50th ever performance in London
as a solo artist. Paul will return to France for two concerts
for the first time since being awarded France's highest award,
the Legion of Honour, in 2012 for services to music. The last
time that Paul visited the Dutch capital of Amsterdam was when
he toured with Wings in 1972. In July the tour will see Paul and
his band at their first European festival in five years with a
headlining
slot at Denmark's Roskilde.
The show in Norway, Oslo sees him returning after last playing
there as part of 2004's 'O4 Summer Tour' and his show in Stockholm
will be his first there since 2011's 'On The Run' tour.
These new shows will mark the second time the 'Out There' tour
has come to Europe since June 2013 when Paul performed in Poland,
Italy and Austria.
Speaking about the tour dates, Paul told us:
"I'm looking forward
to taking the 'Out There' tour back to Europe this summer. It's
been a little while since I've performed in some of these places
so we know it's going to be a fun tour. I hope the audiences enjoy
this tour as much as we've been enjoying it ourselves all over
the world."
Tickets
for Roskilde are on sale now
HERE!
Fans registered
with PaulMcCartney.com will be eligible to purchase pre-sale tickets
directly through the website on the following dates:
London / Birmingham / Liverpool
- 10am (GMT) on Saturday, March 7th
Oslo - 9am (CET / 8am GMT) on Monday, March 9th
Stockholm - 10am (CET / 9am GMT) on Monday, March 9th
Marseille / Amsterdam / Paris - 10am (CET / 9am GMT) on Tuesday,
March 10th
Fans must be registered with PaulMcCartney.com 2 hours before
the start of each pre-sale.
Register for
pre-sale tickets by clicking
HERE!
The 'Out There' tour features music from one of the best loved
catalogues in popular music. Paul will perform songs that span
his entire career - as a solo artist, member of Wings and of course
as a Beatle. The set list will also include material from
Paul's most recent studio album 'NEW', which was a global hit
upon its release in 2013.
The McCartney live experience is a once in a lifetime moment all
music fans should experience. The three hour concert includes
some of the greatest moments from the last 50 years in music,
many of which have shaped the soundtrack of our lives. Paul and
his band have performed in a staggeringly impressive range of
venues and locations, including outside the Coliseum in Rome,
in Moscow's Red Square, at Buckingham Palace and the White House.
He has played a free show in Mexico's Zocalo to over 400,000 people
and even broadcast live into Space! Having played with his
band (Paul 'Wix' Wickens (keyboards), Brian Ray (bass guitar/guitar),
Rusty Anderson (guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr (drums)) for over
ten years now, the show never disappoints.
The 'Out There' tour uses state of the art technology and production
to ensure the entire audience has the best possible experience.
With massive screens, lasers, fireworks, unique video content
and the best songs in the world, a Paul McCartney show is so much
more than just an ordinary concert.
Before the tour arrives in Europe for these new dates in May,
Paul will first play shows in Japan and South Korea.
2015 got off to a flying start for Paul with the release of new
chart topping collaborations with Kanye West and Rihanna as well
as a performance together at the Grammys. A couple of weeks later
and Paul performed a surprise intimate Valentine's Day gig at
New York's Irving Plaza, which became the city's hottest ticket.
On the same weekend Paul appeared and played on Saturday Night
Live's 40th Anniversary prime time special (not to mention a massive
all-star jam at the show's special after party).
March 5, 2015 -- Paul McCartney Twitter
Throw Back Thursday Photo
Paul writing in Jamaica. Photo by Linda McCartney
If you think Wings deserves
to be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...