The Fireman - Untitled Remix (OPENING
with circus performers before Paul appears onstage)
(Hofner bass)
Hello Goodbye
Jet
All My Loving
(switches to lead guitar)
Getting Better
(switches to Hofner
bass)
Coming Up
(switches to electric
guitar)
Let Me Roll It
(switches to Hofner
bass)
Lonely Road
Driving Rain
(introduces drummer,
Abe Laboriel and moves to grand piano)
Your Loving Flame
(begins acoustic guitar
solo set)
Blackbird
Every Night
We Can Work It Out
(switches psychedelic upright piano)
You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight (Paul unaccompanied)
The
Fool On the Hill (with
Magical Mystery Tour footage on screen)
(switches to acoustic guitar)
Here Today (John Lennon
Tribute)
(switches to ukulele)
Something (George
Harrison tribute)
(switches to acoustic
guitar)
Eleanor Rigby (with
band)
Midnight Special (Houston
Concert only)
Michelle(Wix on Accordion - full band)
Here
There and Everywhere
(Wix on Accordion - full band)
(switches to Hofner bass)
Band On The Run
Back In The USSR
(introduces Rusty Anderson-switches
to grand piano)
Maybe I'm Amazed
Let 'Em In
My Love
(switches to Hofner
bass, band at front harmonizing)
She's Leaving Home
Can't Buy Me Love
(switches to acoustic
guitar)
Freedom (omitted in Mexico and Japan)
(introduces Brian Ray-switches
to grand piano)
Live and Let Die
Let It Be
(psychedelic upright
piano)
Hey Jude
(Encore)
(psychedelic upright
piano)
Long And Winding Road
Lady Madonna
(switches to Hofner
bass)
I Saw Her Standing There
(Encore)
(acoustic guitar)
Yesterday
(switches to Les Paul
guitar)
Sgt. Peppers Reprise/The End
FOR
THOSE IN THE US: "Back
in the World Live 2002" Double CD (Import) Click here Features: "She's
Leaving Home," "Calico Skies," "Michelle,"
"Let 'Em In," and a different "Hey Jude" than
the "Back in the U.S. Live 2002" CD.
Macca Tour
Reporters
Thanks to Macca
Tour Reporters : Sue
Ullenberg, Jim Pietryga, Laura Dever, Robin Eastburn, Dr. Larry
Davis, Sandy Lopez , Debbie Stifter, David Cederstrom, Julie Pierce,
Nancy Kotarski, Justin Steffman, Kathie Calvert, Miguel Carrera,
Cori Matyas, Don Krueger,
Dennis Adkins, Shelley
Caniff, Susan Ponder, Francis Gardler, Pat Deese, Jeff Drake,
George Smith, Janet Hamilton, Brian Johnson, Doug Brown, Cris
Noll, Nancy Scharfe, Vince Barber, Stephanie Woehrmann, Ron Lavallee,
Ed Beebout. Linda Matyja, Mashiro Sendai, Barry Orton Mark Pawloski,
Tom Rector, Fredy Schiraldi, Toni Johnson, Marilyn Penix, Sergio
Flores, David Ochoa, George Tebbens, Michael Whan, Roy Matthews.
THE "O4 SUMMER TOUR" PAGE CLICK HERE back to intinerary
!!!Some links could be outdated!!!
2002 TOURNEWSREVIEWSTOURNEWSREVIEWS
November
29 - London - Royal Abert Hall
At the George
Harrison Tribute concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, Eric Clapton
had the crowd on its feet to a standing ovation with the words,
"Ladies and gentlemen, Ringo Starr!". Harrison's former
fellow Beatle ran on stage to tumultuous applause. He saluted
the crowd and said, "What a night. I loved George and George
loved me." He then sang "Photograph," which he
co-wrote with Harrison, as Clapton, Jeff Lynne and Dhani played
guitar. After a rendition of one of Harrison's favorite songs,
"Honey Don't," many of the crowd were dancing along.
Starr then grabbed the mike and again brought the audience to
its feet with the words, "It gives me great pleasure to introduce
another friend of George's, Paul McCartney!"
Paul sang "For You Blue." The song was followed by "Something"
which Paul started off on ukulele then switched to guitar where
he was joined on guitar by Dhani and Clapton, with Starr on drums.
Eric Clapton sang a verse and the song morphed into the Beatles
version. Paul joined Clapton on vocals. After another standing
ovation Sir Paul then played piano and Clapton sang to "While
My Guitar Gently Weeps," before ending with a two-minute
guitar solo. Paul sang "All Things Must Pass." McCartney,
glanced at Dhani and said "It looks like George stayed younger
and we all got older."
Dhani on guitar started off "My Sweet Lord", sang by
Sam Brown, with fans clapping and dancing along. Paul told the
crowd, "Olivia just said with Dhani on stage it looks like
we all got old and George stayed young." Dhani told the audience,
"I just want from the bottom of my heart to thank all the
musicians, you are my dad's best friends, he loves you. God bless
you all.
The show
The show started with Ravi's
daughter, Anoushka, and her combined eastern and western orchestra.
"Opening Sloka" recently composed by Ravi for the event,
masterfully conducted by Ravi's daughter, Anoushka Shankar
"Ganesh Vandana" Anoushka Shankar and her orchestra
"Anoushka solo with tabla" with orchestra.
"Inner Light " Jeff Lynne and Anoushka Shankar and her
orchestra
"Arpan" (Clapton played guitar while sitting)
After a 30-minute intermission four members
of Monty Python: Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael
Palin, (no John Cleese) plus Neil Innes (Rutles).
"Sit on My Face"
"Lumberjack Song"
By accident Eric Clapton (the MC) referred to Dhani as George's
wife - a running joke throughout the night.
set list:
I Want To Tell You - Jeff Lynne/Clapton
and band
If I Needed Someone - Eric Clapton/Jeff Lynne and band
Old Brown Shoe - Gary Brooker/Eric Clapton and band
Give Me Love - Jeff Lynne and band
Beware of Darkness - Eric Clapton and band
Here Comes The Sun - Joe Brown
That's the Way it Goes - Joe Brown
Horse to the Water - Sam Brown vocals/Jools Holland piano/Tom
Scott featured on horn
Taxman - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
I Need You - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Handle With Care - Tom Petty/Jeff Lynne/Dhani
Isn't It A Pity - Eric Clapton/Billy Preston on gospel piano solo
Photograph - Ringo (Ringo said about the song," Of course,
the meaning's changed now.")
Honey Don't - Ringo
For You Blue - Paul McCartney on acoustic guitar/Ringo on drums/Marc Mann on slide guitar
Something - Paul on ukulele switching to acoustic guitar/ Dhani
on guitar/Ringo on drums/Clapton guitar and vocals
All Things Must Pass - Paul acoustic guitar /Jeff Lynne/Clapton/Dhani
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Clapton, vocals and guitar/Paul
on piano/Ringo on drums
My Sweet Lord - Billy Preston/Sam Brown vocals/Paul on piano
Wah Wah - Jeff Lynne/EricClapton and entire ensemble
I'll See You in My Dreams (1951 song from a Doris Day movie a
fav of Georges) Joe Brown singing & on ukulele, full band
with Paul on piano
Flower petals fell from the ceiling at
the end of the show.
The performers
were: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Gary
Brooker on keyboards, Ron Blair, Sam Brown, Dave Bronze, Mike
Campbell, Jim and Phil Capaldi, Steve Ferrone, Neil R. Gauntlett,
Katie Kaissoon, Tessa Niles, Dave 'Rico' Nilo, Emil Richards,
Henry Spinetti, Chris Stainton, Benmont Tench, Scott Thurston,
Andy Fairweather Low, Billy Preston, Joe Brown, Jim Keltner on
drums, Albert Lee on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass, Ray Cooper
on percussion, Dhani Harrison on acoustic and Marc Mann replicating
Harrison slide solo's and Tom Scott, and Jim Horn, Billy Connolly.
Celebs in the audience: Lulu, Annie Lennox, Elvis Costello, Bill
Wyman, Sir George Martin, Barbara Bach, Zak Starkey, Mike McCartney,
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Stevie Winwood, Paul 'Wix' Wickens,
Tim Burton, May Pang, Jackie Stewart
Paul and Ringo kissed and hugged before they left the stage.
Sign in the audience, "My Sweet George."
The concert was videotaped.
After the show there was a party for celebrities. Ringo and Barbara
Bach were there as well as Dhani and Olivia. Paul turned up toward
the end of the party with Heather. Clapton did not attend the
party.
Paul left the
hotel on his way to the Osaka Dome but kept his window closed
as he passed the waiting fans. One fan (Tomoaki Shiraki) ran after
the car chasing it for three blocks. The limo finally stopped,
Paul rolled down the window and signed for the fan.
Heard at the sound check: Jam, "Coming Up," "Matchbox,"
"Honey Don't," "Celebration," "C Moon,"
"Cabaret Song," unidentified song ("Welcome to
the Secret?") mostly instrumental on piano with Paul singing
the intro and the bridge of the song, "Midnight Special,"
and another jam.
Backstage the one-millionth ticket buyer of this tour, won a contest
to meet Paul . The 26-year-old woman not only met Paul but she
received a framed "Back in the US Live" CD, an autograph
and a brand new Mitsubishi Colt!!!!
Since this was the last night of the 2002 world tour Paul sang
his heart out. He wore a white jacket, a red long-sleeved T-shirt
and blue jeans. The audience was warm and enthusiastic and the
show was much like the previous Osaka show.
People held up signs and large photos of John and George. Signs
in the audience: "Your Songs Must Be Magic," "Thanks
Paul. Brian, Rusty, Abe, Wix."
Paul faked the intro to "Hey Jude" by singing a good
portion of "Baby Face," before he stopped himself.
For the first encore, band members were presented with "Happi"
coats just like last night in Tokyo. Heather brought out Paul's
"Happi" coat and they kissed onstage for several seconds.
Then Paul called up four Japanese fans to join him for "I
Saw Her Standing There." The fans all wearing Sgt. Pepper
jackets, danced behind Paul.
For the final
encore, the band put on black wigs that made them look like Sumo
wrestlers. Paul introduced them as the "Sumo Band."
Paul and Heather left the following day for London.
Set List for
both Osaka shows
Hello Goodbye
Jet
All My Loving
Getting Better
Coming Up
Let Me Roll It
Lonely Road
Driving Rain
Your Loving Flame
Blackbird
Every Night
We Can Work It Out
You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight
The Fool On the Hill
Here Today
Something
Eleanor Rigby
Here There and Everywhere
Calico Skies
Michelle
Band On The Run
Back In The USSR
Maybe I'm Amazed
Let 'Em In
My Love
She's leaving Home
Can't Buy Me Love
Live and Let Die
Let It Be
Hey Jude
Long And Winding Road
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Yesterday
Sgt. Peppers Reprise/The End
Paul and the band were
staying at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Osaka. In the early afternoon
the band signed for fans at the back entrance of the hotel. Everyone
thought Paul would also come out and sign, but Paul instead went
out the front entrance and frantic fans tried to run through the
hotel lobby to the front but were stopped. Paul 's limo left the
hotel at 2:30pm for the Osaka Dome. Two fans ran after the limo
and got autographs.
When Paul got to the Osaka Dome about 40 fans were waiting for
the limo. The car slowed down and Paul waved to the fans.
Songs heard at the sound check: "Honey Hush," "Lend
Me Your Comb," "Let It Be," "Let's Love,"
Lonely Road," "Freedom," "Calico Skies,"
"Midnight Special," "Fool On The Hill," "Lady
Madonna."
The first concert
at the Osaka Dome was completely sold out with 50,000 in attendance.
Paul wore the purple-blue Nehru jacket, a red long-sleeved T-shirt
and blue jeans. Instead of welcoming the crowd with "Konichiwa!"
(hello) he welcomed the Osaka audience with "Maido!"
( which is the proper word for 'hello' in the Osaka dialect).
The show was basically the same as the Tokyo shows with the translations
projected on the video screens.
Paul spoke the proper Osaka dialect saying, "Moukarimakka?"
(a proper greeting in Osaka because of it's earning ability- it
means "can you earn much?").
For "You Never Give Me Your Money," Paul did not sing
his usual " I don't remember the words..." he sang new
words instead but not the original words.
During "Here Today" fans held up signs and at the end
of the song, Paul read them out loud: "John Is Alive,"
"John Is Here."
The highlight of the show was "Calico Skies" previous
only performed at sound checks. It was played after "Here
There and Everywhere" and before "Michelle." Paul
played the acoustic and the whole band joined him onstage. Same
set-up as on "Michelle" with the band adding harmonies.
Paul said Osaka felt like his hometown. Wix told the audience
that they were like family.
Instead
of his usual "Domo" (thank you) during the bridge of
"Sgt. Peppers Reprise," he said "Ookini" (Osaka
dialect for 'thank you').
After the show, flowers were presented onstage. Paul took them,
and noticed a banana inside! Paul took the banana and pretended
to be a gorrilla, dragging his knuckles and hopping around.
There was a private party after the show at the hotel that lasted
until 2am!
All three Tokyo shows were close to sellouts with nearly 50,000
people per night.
A "Blackbird Singing"
poetry reading was going to be scheduled at Rikyo University on
November 14, but Paul was not available.
When Paul left the Four
Season's hotel on his way to the Tokyo Dome a fan ran up to the
car when it stopped for a light. Paul rolled down the window and
signed for two fans. A cameraman inside the limo with a video
camera was taping the encounter. Paul arrived at the Tokyo Dome
around 3:40pm where there were about 100 fans waiting. He rolled
down the window to wave and a woman ran after the car and gave
him a present. He started the sound check soon after he arrived.
Songs heard at the sound check: An extended jam, "Honey Hush,"
"C Moon," "San Francisco Bay Blues," "Here,
There And Everywhere," and "The New York Song"
(from Parkinson).
The show started at 7:17pm to another sold out crowd. Paul wore
a white jacket over a red long-sleeved T-shirt and black pants.
He asked the audience,
"Mina genki kai?" (Everyone OK?)
Paul was in good voice but he managed to mess up the beginning
of "Getting Better" starting off with his guitar turned
off. (he did that in Chicago too!) He stopped the band and started
over saying, "Hang on, hang on! It is essential to turn up
the volume knob!"
Paul again was teasing the translators saying, "My dog does
not eat bananas!" After a few songs he said, "My dog
DOES eat bananas!" He used many Japanese phrases including;
"Minna subarashii!" (You're a great audience), "Kore
ha sutekina heza no uta desu," (This is the song for my beautiful
Heather), "furansu ni ikouka?" (Are we going to France
together?), "Moriagatte irukai?" (Are you enjoying the
show?)
Paul said, "Oh Yeah!" (audience repeated) "OK!"
(audience repeated) "Alright!" (audience repeated) "Marasamana-hera-wacherawerera!"
Only one fan (Masahiro) got it right and Paul said to him, "Excellent!"
Macca made the heart sign above his head with his arms after "Your
Loving Flame" and "My Love." He said, "This
is for you babe," (off microphone) to Heather when he introduced
"Your Loving Flame."
For "Hey Jude" he said, "Issho ni utaimashou"(Let's
sing together). Then instead of saying "just the men"
and "just the woman," in English, he said it in Japanese.
"Otokodake!"(just the men) and "Onna dake!"(just
the women)
A couple of highlights: Heather joined Paul onstage to present
him with a "Happi" coat (robe) which is a traditional
Japanese coat worn at festivals. Paul and Heather kissed after
the presentation (the audience went crazy) and then Heather bowed
and left the stage. Band members were given their own "Happi"
coats by family members or crew.
Paul called up four audience members to dance onstage during "I
Saw Her Standing There." One was a guy who had a large carboard
cut-out of a Hofner and his female friend. Two others were brought
up from a group of 13 in the front row wearing red shirts with
one letter each that spelled out "P-A-U-L M-C-C-A-R-T-N-E-Y."
During the guitar solo Paul pointed to the guy with the carboard
bass gesturing to him to play it! At the song's end the guy came
over to shake Paul's hand but the song hadn't finished so Paul
had to pull his hand away to play the bass! Then the guy mistakenly
walked offstage with Paul and Paul had to tell him to exit at
the opposite end of the stage, not where he was going!
Macca waved his farewells after the "Sgt. Pepper Reprise"
and said before he left the stage, "Jyaa, matane!" ("See
ya next time!")
Paul and Heather returned to the hotel after the show, stopped
in front of some fans but did not roll the window down. He and Heather will be staying in the town of Kyoto
for the next two days and then they will stay in Osaka.
On November 12 Wix and his wife were seen shopping at Akihabara.
Akihabara is famous for it's electronic equipment: video cameras,
etc. A press conference was to be held at the hotel but Paul wanted
to rest up for the concert instead. Heather was in the hotel lobby
by herself signing autographs. Later Paul and Heather went sightseeing
to Takao Mountain.
Paul jogged around the
area of the hotel this morning with jogging body guards.
Paul left the hotel
around 3:34pm to go to the Tokyo Dome. He kept the windows closed
when he left the hotel but rolled them down and waved when he
saw fans at the Tokyo Dome. The pre-show started at 7:10 pm. Paul
wore a long sleeved T-shirt that was red in the front and white
in the back, a dark navy button-down Nehru shirt and blue jeans.
His voice was showing signs of strain, missing some high notes
and sounding off-key in spots, but as he loosened up his voice
got better.
The fans were so enthusiastic they generated heat in the Tokyo
Dome. Air-conditioners were turned on even though it was cold
outdoors.
The Japanese translation that was projected like subtitles on
the main screen was able to keep up with Paul's stage--banter
unlike the first show. Paul still joked around saying silly things
that made no sense to annoy the translators. He said that he wanted
to prove to the audience that what he was saying was spur of the
moment ("live"), and that the translators didn' t know
what he was going to say. "I could say anything! The rabbit
runs up the hill! The dog has eaten the banana! And MY HEAD IS
COMING OFF!" He also said later in the show, "the dog
slipped on the banana!" The audience applauded Paul's silliness!
At one point he talked real fast to see if the translators could
keep up. He said, "Thank you very much. You're a great audience!
Tonight it's fabulous and lovely to be here and see how the translators
can handle THAT!"
At the beginning of the solo acoustic set he said, "This
is the part where they leave me all alone with you. I hope you're
happy about that because I am." The audience applauded appropriately
because the subtitles in Japanese were able to keep up. At the
first show they didn't so the audience did not respond.
For the intro to "Michelle," he said "Furansu ni,
ikouka?" (Shall we go to France?) He repeated that a few
times during the show.
He screwed up the lyrics to "Blackbird" singing "You
all life. You were only waiting for..." Instead of "All
your life. You were only waiting for..."
There were quite a few people holding signs. Paul said Tokyo Dome
is too big to see people holding signs. Signs in the audience:
"We're WINGSFAN," "My B.D. IS JUNE 18," "PAUL
LOVE."
Rusty said that during American tour, they played small arenas
and this was the first time they played such a big stadium.
Rusty took a "SHASHIN"(photo) of the audience.
Paul talked in Japanese as much as he could manage and referred
to his 'cheat sheet' when he needed help with Japanese words.
For the intro to "Here Today" he said, "Jon to
boku no taiwa, " (conversation between John and I).
He introduced "Something," as a "Jouji no tsuitou,
" (tribute to George).
During "Sgt. Pepper's Reprise", Paul sang "Thank
you" in the bridge of the song at the first show. At this
show he said thank you in Japanese! "ARIGATO!"
At the end of the show, red and white confetti (the colors of
the Japanese flag) was blown from machines on the staduim floor.
At the previous show red, white and blue confetti was used.
Paul and Heather arrived
in Japan on Saturday, November 9 at 5:31pm (local time). They
flew directly from Los Angeles to Narita Airport and were greeted
by 2,000 screaming fans some who held posters in English that
read, "I Love You Paul," "Welcome to Japan Paul,"
and "Happy Wedding." There was a scuffle with security
when the fans tried to reach Paul with fights breaking out. A
fan lost a hat and Paul bent down to pick it up and gave it back
to the fan. Macca and the band drove to their hotel (Four Seasons)
in Mejiro where they will be staying while in Tokyo.
The band signed autographs at the hotel and Paul came into the
lobby once but didn't stay. A couple with a 3-year-old child came
up to Paul and Heather and with the parents coaxing, said, "I
love you Paul!" (in English) That made Paul and Heather smile.
On November 10 the band rehearsed a local studio and then Paul
and Heather checked out a Kabuki performance.
Paul left the hotel at
3:45 but didn't stop or open the car window for the fans waiting
there. Songs heard at the sound check: "Coming Up,"
"C Moon, "Calico Skies," "Midnight Special"
and "Celebration."
The preshow started at 7:32pm and was basically the same with
the addition of large flower shaped balloons and "chouchin"
(Japanese paper lanterns) with Chinese characters printed on them:
"AIJOU"(Love), "JIYUU"(Freedom), "HEIWA"(Peace),
"KANKI"(Delight) and "KOUUN"(Lucky). There
were also some new Japanese dancers.
Paul wore the purple-blue Nehru jacket, red (red is the symbol
color for 60 years old in Japan!) long-sleeved T-shirt and blue
jeans. He was in great voice and his hair was a little longer.
Paul's English was translated into
Japanese and projected on the video screens in real time, but
it lagged too far behind. Paul asked the audience, "Do you
understand what I mean? There are eight translators backstage."
Paul said he was going to say something the translators didn't
expect him to say and said, "A dog slipped on a banana! "
The translators wrote, "the dog SLEPT on the banana!"
The massage stories were omitted. Paul played the massage 'mood
music' as an intro to "The Fool On The Hill" and hummed
during the piano introduction. He sang his usual forgetful lyrics
to "You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight"
but the audience didn't understood his joke. He hummed at the
end of the song.
Paul told the Japanese audience that they were, "Subarashii"
(Great!)
When Paul introduced "My
Love" he said, "Korewa Linda no tameni tukutta kyoku
desu." (I wrote this song for Linda). Paul had a piece of
paper that he referred to when he spoke Japanese.
Fans waved "lumica lights" (glow sticks) during "Let
It Be."
Paul told his usual stories in English and the translations didn't
evoke a crowd response. For Michelle he said, "John was one
and a half years older than me, and he remained that way."
The audience didn't get the joke. Paul said, " that was a
joke, but I don't care, ...if you don't get it, 'cos the translators
will never get this sh*t!" That got the band laughing along
with Paul. He added, "The dog slipped on the banana!"
"Freedom" was not performed.
When "Band On the Run" began, the audience cheered for
so long, Paul who was not in front of his microphone, came in
late and had to sing quickly to catch-up!
He and other band members sometimes spoke in Japanese. Paul said,
"Minna genki kai?"(Are you OK?) Abe said, "Rokku
suruzo!"(Let's rock!) Brian said, "Te wo agero."(Clap
your hands)
Paul came out wearing the "no more land mines" red T-shirt
for the encores. He did not sign any autographs a because there
was a huge barricaded gap in front of the stage which placed the
front row too far to throw items on the stage.
The programs were the same as in the US but they were translated
into Japanese and the tour name, "Driving Japan" was
on them.
back to intinerary Paul talks
in a recent interview about the concerts in Mexico City.
Q: Did the
reception in Mexico surprise you?
Paul: Oh yeah.
Just the volume of those crowds was surprising. We've talked about
the energy of the audience and its intensity, but added to that
was their sheer volume - so much so that the road crew were having
to hold their ears. And these are guys who are used to standing
in front of a fully wound-up guitar amp, it surprised them. The
passion of an audience like that is always great to see, every
performer loves a passionate audience. But what was uncanny was
what they did with their cigarette lighters when I was singing
Every Night and they were clicking the flames of their lighters
on and off in time with the song. That was so amazing that I just
had to stop singing the song.
Q: Why did
you stop?
Paul: It seemed
to me that they were so rhythmical that even if I stopped, which
is a bit dangerous because they might all get out of time, I just
had no doubt that they would not only be able to continue spot-on
in time, but they would also be very much up for it. So I thought
they'd enjoy it and I certainly wanted to see it, and I just felt
intuitively 'this will work'. So I was in the middle of singing
Every night I just want to get out of my head and then stopped
and just clicked my thumbs as they carried on with this light,
spot-on in time. It was one of those little magic moments; you
think 'I'll remember that'. It was their idea to do the lighters
and they were so good at it I thought 'OK, let's just solo your
idea'. Let's just forget about me and the band and the whole evening,
let's just have the spotlight on you. It was like isolating one
of the faders in a mix, let's just have you for a bit. It wasn't
even you and me, it was just you. Which is after all, at the very
end of the show, at the very end of the tour, after you've done
all the thank yous, you think most of all we wanted to thank you,
the audience. That's the truth of a great tour; it's that something's
happened with the band, with the music, with the crew - and most
of all, with the audience, they've responded. And that feedback
is.........everything. On Paul's day off, November
4, he and Heather did some sightseeing in picturesque Tepoztlan,
Morelos, Mexico 50 miles from Mexico City. Paul drove his own
car followed by an entourage of cars to the city which has an
Aztec pyramid on top of a mountain. Later that evening Paul, Heather,
Abe, Wix and Brian attended Peter Gabriel's second concert in
Mexico City. The band sat in the tenth row while Paul and Heather
sat in the wings on the left side of the stage. Before the encore,
McCartney and crew left.
November
5 - Mexico City - Palacio de los Deportes
All three shows in Mexico City were
sellouts. The day of the last Mexico City show, they announced
on the PA system "NO HAY MAS BOLETOS" (No More Tickets)
The band arrived before Paul and at 5:05pm did their own sound
check until 5:25pm. Paul showed up around 5:30pm and waved to
the 150 fans. At 5:45pm he and the band did a sound check together.
There were about 150 fans waiting.
Songs heard at the sound
check: "Talking About Tomorrow" (new song, possible
outtake from "Driving Rain"), Coming Up," (Paul
introduces the song as the "Mexican version," slower
than usual with Paul shouting "Tequila!" over and over,
a jam followed the song), "Freedom" (with Paul playing
the Les Paul guitar instead of the acoustic with the video screens
showing faces of American presidents and a video screen that flashed
"VIVA LA LIBERTAD!" [Freedom Lives!] at the song's end),
"Honey Don't," "Honey Hush," "Celebration"
(instrumental with full band, Paul on grand piano), "C Moon,"
unidentified rock-a-billy song, an acoustic improvisation with
full band,"Besame Mucho," "Calico Skies" (with
the band singing back-up vocals, the tour crew applauded this
version at it's end), "Midnight Special," "Here,
There and Everywhere," Spanish guitar riffs, jam with Paul
on piano, another jam that lasted 10 minutes starting with the
lyrics to "Hey Jude," continuing with "Lady Madonna,"
Tres Conejos (Three Rabbits - poem), and "You Never Give
Me Your Money" with Paul singing "you only give me one
peso..."
The show started around 8:45pm and Paul got onstage at 9pm wearing
the purple-blue Nehru jacket, a red long-sleeved T-shirt and blue
jeans. Rusty called Paul "Pablo" and Paul called Rusty
"Rustico!"
Before "Blackbird" the crowd cheered, "PAUL- PAUL-
PAUL!" and Paul answered with, "MEXICO- MEXICO-MEXICO!!!"
Macca messed up the words to "Hello Goodbye," "Eleanor
Rigby" (Brian was singing the right words and Paul wasn't),
"Driving Rain and "Michelle." On "Getting
Better" he didn't get to the microphone quick enough so he
skipped a verse, and the band replayed the verse so he could sing
it. He also forgot to turn up his volume up on the guitar when
he started the song.
Paul stopped, "Every Night" again in the middle of the
song so people could turn their lighters on and off. He made the
noise (shick, shick, shick) of a lighter going on and off in time
with the audience. At the very end he pulled out his own lighter
and with flame blazing, held it up in a salute to the audience.
For the massage story Paul said, "a little Japanese lady
came to my room." The crowd yelled "Woooo!" and
Paul said, "Not THAT kind of massage!"
Paul pulled out his lighter after "Let It Be" and thanked
everyone for the lights; "Gracias la luz especial y la luz
Mexicana" (thanks for the special light and the Mexican light).
He said a few times to the audience, "Ustedes son un gran
publico!" (you are a great audience).
Paul recited his "Three Rabbits" poem in Spanish again.
Before "She's Leaving
Home" Wix said, "No hablo español, pero quiero
decirles que ustedes son los mejores cantantes. (I don't speak
Spanish but I want to tell you, you are the best singers) The
best singers in the world!"
After "Can't Buy Me Love" Paul said, "OH YEAH!!
"( the crowd repeated), "ALL RIGHT!!"(crowd repeats),
"OK!"(crowd responds again), "RRRRRRRRAAAAA!"(people
cheer), and then Paul said, "Excellent."
When Paul did "Something" the audience clapped along
to the rhythm of the song and sang along.
After "Back in the USSR," Paul said, "Un gran publico,
con corazones grandes!" ( a great audience, with great hearts)
Rusty took decided to a photo of the audience and asked everyone
to get closer together for the photo.
Just before "I Saw
Her Standing There" Paul said that he wanted people to experience
what it was like to be onstage. He pointed to people in the audience
saying "Cuatro amigos Mexicanos" (four Mexican friends)
and brought up three female and one male fan (teenagers) from
the audience to dance onstage during the song. The young man had
wore a T-shirt with a Union Jack (British) flag on it. Two woman
had on Sgt. Pepper suit and the third wore a mini skirt. The woman
kissed Paul when they got onstage. The fans met the band and then
Paul launched into the song. Paul said, "And now cuatro Mexicanos...bailando!"
(four Mexicans dance) The fans danced and one female and one male
shared Paul's microphone to sing with him. One brave fan played
Paul's psychedelic piano! During the middle eight Paul said, "Bailando,
bailando!" (dance, dance!) and the male fan danced and jumped
up and dow. And at the end he had the crowd cheer them, "Amigos...cuatro
Mexicanos!" (four Mexican friends).
When Paul sang "Yesterday," "All My Loving,"
"Blackbird," "We Can Work it Out," "Eleanor
Rigby," Here, There and Everywhere," "Michelle,"
"Band On the Run," "Back In the USSR," "My
Love," "Let 'Em In," "Let It Be," and
'Hey Jude" the whole audience sang along with him.
Before he left the stage he signed a few albums and said, "Adios
México! Nos vemos en la proxima! (Goodbye Mexico! See you
next time!). He flew back to Los Angeles right after the concert.
back to intinerary November 3 - Mexico City - Palacio de los Deportes
(photo by
Sergio Flores Gomez)
A local newspaper's headline for
November 4 read, "PASA PAUL DE CABALLERO A REY DESPUES DE
SU SEGUNDO CONCIERTO" (Paul from a knight to a King after
his second show). Geoff Baker was heard backstage saying that
the first show in Mexico City "was the best concert of the
whole tour."
Macca's limo showed up
around 4:30pm at the venue and this time there were about 50 fans
waiting. He rolled down the window and waved to the fans.
The sound check lasted one hour and this is the set list: "Welcome
to the Secret," "Coming Up," "Honey Don't,"
"Honey Hush," another jam, "Celebration,"
(instrumental from "Standing Stone" with full band),
"The Long and Winding Road," "Ain't She Sweet,
" "Ain't She Sweet" (reprise), "San Francisco
Bay Blues," "Here, There and Everywhere," "Till
There Was You," "You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry
That Weight" (short version), piano improvisation, "Hey
Jude" (mock version), and "Lady Madonna."
The show began at 8:00pm and Paul wore a white suit jacket, a
red long sleeved T-shirt and dark dress pants.
After "Jet" he said, "HOLA...HOLA mi querido Mexico!"
(Hello, hello my dear Mexico).
For the intro to "Getting
Better" he said, "Esta cancion nunca ha sido tocada
en vivo, hasta este año." (this song has never been
performed live until this year). After the song the crowd chanted,
"PAUL!, PAUL!, PAUL!" (with Abe hitting the hi-hat symbols
in time with the chant ) Then Paul said, "It's great for
us to be here in Mexico. WE LOVE YOU!," and he launched into
"Coming up."
When he finished "Let Me" Roll it he said, "Son
un gran publico!" (you are a great crowd). Then he took off
his jacket, and the band played "The Stripper" song.
In English and Spanish (Spanglish) he said, " So far, canciones
vieja (old songs), and now, cancion nueva (new songs) and then
he started "Lonely Road."
Abe said, "Hola mi querido Mexico, como estas, te tengo una
pregunat: estan listos para el ROCK? Mi espanol es muy malo, pero
it is good to be here and here is Paul McCartney!" (Hello
my dear Mexico. How are you? I have a quesion for you. Are you
ready to ROCK? My Spanish is bad, but it is good to be here...)
For the intro to "Your Loving Flame" Paul said, "Esta
cancion es para alguien muy especial, para mi esposa hermosa,
Heather." (This song is for somebody special, my beautiful
wife, Heather).
Before the solo acoustic
set Paul said, "Solamente, (single) just you and me",
and then he told the story about civil unrest in American during
the '60s and said in Spanish, "Derechos Humanos," (human
rights) adding, "A las mujeres las llamamos pájaros
." (we called the women birds) Then he finished the story
in English and began "Blackbird."
One of the highlights was
Paul stopping "Every Night" in the middle of the song
so people could clap and flip their lighters on off as Paul kept
the rhythm of the song with his arms like a conductor mimicking
the sound of the lighters going on and off. Then he finished the
song and the audience of 18,000 pounded the floor with their feet
creating a thunderous noise. Paul was very moved and said again,
"Un gran publico!" (a great crowd)
He recited the Spanish
poem again about the " Tres conejos en un arbol......"(three
rabbits in a tree). The audience laughed.
After "We can Work It Out" he said, Great audience MEXICO!
You're the BEST! Los numero UNO!!!!! (you're number one).
He told the usual massage
stories in both English and Spanish starting off with, "He
tenido muchos masajes," (I had many massages).
For "Here Today" he spoke in half English and Spanish
(Spanglish) "Para mi amigo John!" (for my friend John)
... una conversacion entre John y yo" ( a conversation between
John and I). At the end of the intro his voice broke with emotion.
"Something" was
introduced by Paul as "Un tributo a George! (a tribute to
George) And because yesterday was 'Dia de los Muertos' (Day of
the Dead), We say, 'vivan los muertos!'" (the dead live on)
For "Michelle"
he did the intro in Spanglish saying, "Before the Beatles,
en Inglaterra...si,. (in England...yes) Me and George wanted to
be more sofisticados y maduros (sophisticated and mature) so I
wore una camisa negra y pretendia ser Frances." (I wore a
black shirt and pretended to be French).
"Band on the Run"
"Back in the USSR" and "Every Night" got the
biggest audience reaction.
Rusty said, "El publico esta padrisimo, un gran saludo a
mexico." (You are a cool audience, a great greeting to Mexico)
Then Paul said, "Muy bien Rusty!" (very good, Rusty!)
and began "Maybe I'm Amazed."
Paul introduced "My Love" in Spanish and English, "Escribi
esta cancion para Linda, y esta noche es para todos los amantes
en la casa. (I wrote this song for Linda and tonight it's for
all the lovers in the house) All the lovers in the house, you
know who you are...!"
Wix said, "Muchas gracias, hola Mexico! (thank you very much,
hello Mexico) So I was here in 1993. It was a fantastic audience
and then and it is now. I don't think that anybody sings better
than you...and you know all the words!!!"
Brian said, "Buenas
noches Mexico." (good evening Mexico) Then he asked the people
on the left side to scream for him and then the people on the
right and then those in the middle, which they did.
After "Can't Buy Me Love," Paul said, "OH YEAH!"
and the audience repeated. Then Paul said "OH YEAH!"
and the audience responded louder. "AMIGOS!," yelled
Paul and the audience yelled back "AMIGOS!" Then Paul
yelled "MEXICO!" The audience responded with "OUUUU!!!!!!"
in a cheer.
"PAUL- PAUL- PAUL!" was the audience chant after "Live
and Let Die" and "Let It Be."
"Hey Jude" was a longer version with an extended singalong.
Paul led the crowd, "EVERYBODY IN MEXICO!...Solo los Hombres
( the men only)...Solamente las Mujeres! (only the women)...OK,
ALL TOGETHER! Yeah, yeah, I love to hear you singing, CANTEN CON
NOSOTROS!" (SING WITH US). At the end of the song he said
he pointed to people and said, "You were great, fantastico!"
(fantastic)
When he came back for the first encore he was waving the Mexican
flag.
For the "Lady Madonna" intro he said, "Siento que
quieren seguir bailando. ( I think you want to keep dancing? Yes?
OK friends)
A sign in the audience said, "PLEASE CANTA (SING) BESAME
MUCHO." Paul saw it and during "I Saw Her Standing There,"
he mimed the words "Besame Mucho" to the sign holder.
At the end he asked the audience to toss up and albums and tour
programs. He signed two "Ram" albums and several other
items before he left the stage.
Set List
Hello Goodbye
Jet
All My Loving
Getting Better
Coming Up
Let Me Roll It
Lonely Road
Driving Rain
Your Loving Flame
Blackbird
Every Night
We Can Work It Out
You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight
The Fool On the Hill
Here Today
Something
Eleanor Rigby
Here There and Everywhere
Michelle
Band On The Run
Back In The USSR
Maybe I'm Amazed
Let 'Em In
My Love
She's leaving Home
Can't Buy Me Love
Live and Let Die
Let It Be
Hey Jude
Long And Winding Road
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Yesterday
Sgt. Peppers Reprise/The End
Paul arrived at the Toluca
City airport in Mexico on November 1. He was driven 12 miles to
Mexico City in a special amoured white stretch Lincoln Towncar
limo with police escort.
Security was very tight at the Palacio de los Deportes. Paul and
Heather arrived at the venue at 4:28pm in the white limo with
a police escort of three men on motorcyles and one police car.
Paul rolled down the window and waved to the 20 fans. The soundcheck
started at 4:40 and ended at 5:32pm with an earlier sound check
by the band without Paul at 3:00pm. Songs heard at the sound check
were: "Coming Up," "Bring It To Jerome," "Honey
Hush," "Let It Be," "C Moon," "Calico
Skies," "Here, There and Everywhere," "Midnight
Special," "Good Rocking Tonight," "Twenty
Flight Rock," and two unidentified long jams with Paul tinkering
on the psychedelic piano. He talked in Spanish to VIPs backstage
before the show saying jokingly, "VIVA LA REVOLUCION!"
(Long live the revolution!)
Before the concert Paul did a 20-minute
interview with "EL CLUB DE LOS BEATLES" Mexico's answer
to "Breakfast With the Beatles." The Mexican radio show
has been on the air for 30 years. He talked in Spanish and English.
"Freedom" was not performed in Mexico but it was performed
at the November 5th sound check (see report of concert above).
The show started at 8:17pm and Paul wore the purple-blue Nehru
jacket, a long-sleeved red T-shirt with a white backside and blue
jeans. He greeted the sold out audience with, "HOLA!!, HOLA
MI QUERIDO MEXICO!!!!!!" (Hello, hello my dear Mexico!) He
was in great voice. He asked the audience if they understood English
and they screamed, "Yes!"
For the intro to "Lonely
Road" he spoke in English and Spanish: "So far, we've
been playing canciones viejas (old songs), and this is a cancion
nueva." (new song)
The audience chanted "porras" (cheers) throughout the
show. Some of them were: "PAUL, PAUL, PAUL!! ME-XI-CO, ME-XI-CO"
with Paul adding to the middle of the chant "Si, Si, Si"
(Yes, yes, yes!).
Paul said, "Oh Yeah!"
and the audience repeated it. He said it again and the audience
repeated and then did a "Wooo!"
For the intro to "Here Today" he said, "Para mi
amigo John." (for my friend John). The crowd started chanting
"LENNON, LENNON, LENNON!" In Mexico November 2 is a
remembrance day for the dead and Paul said, "Today is 'Dia
de los Muertos' (Day of the Dead). So I say with John in mind,
vivan los muertos!" (the dead live on).
"Something" was acknowledged by the crowd, not with
applause but by the custom of flicking lighters on and off. The
audience did that frequently during the show and Paul said many
times, "Thanks for the lights!"
Paul told the audience in Spanish, "Corazones Grandes, Mexico!"
(great hearts, Mexico). "Muchas gracias por su cariño,
Mexico!" (Thank you very much for your affection, Mexico).
And "Gracias! Son un gran publico!" (Thanks! You are
a great crowd). Paul spoke in Spanish as much as he could and
if he didn't know the right words in Spanish he asked the audience
for help.
After "Every Night," Paul said to the enthusiastic audience,
"PACHANGA, PACHANGA!!" (PARTY, PARTY!!) During the song
the audience turned pocket lighters on an off in an amazing display
of lights. Paul was so moved he forgot for a moment the lyrics
to the song. He said to the audience, "Gee, It looks like
a lot of you smoke!" He mimicked with his thumb the flicking
on and off of the lighters and the audience flicked their lighters
on an off in time with his simulation. He made the noise (shick,
shick, shick) of a lighter going on and off in time with the audience.
Paul treated the audience with the first poem he learned in Spanish
just before "The Fool On The Hill." He said, "En
inglaterra cuando yo 11 años de viejo me enseñaron
español," (In England when I was 11-years-old, they
taught me Spanish). Then he recited the "Three Rabbits in
a Tree" poem. "Tes Conejos, en un árbol, tocando
el tambor, que si que no que si lo he visto yo." (Three rabbits
in a tree, playing a drum. Why yes? Why no? Why yes? I have seen
it.) The audience laughed and cheered Paul.
He told the massage stories in English and when he talked about
the masseuse in Japan he said, "This young lady came to me..."
the crowd misunderstood and screamed "WOOOOO!!!" Paul
joked, "No this is legal!"
Abe who has family in Mexico City did his introduction in Spanish,
"Mi querido Mexico, como estas? (My dear Mexico, how are
you?) Les tengo una pregunta. Estan Listos Para el ROCK?"
(I have a question for you. Are you ready to ROCK?) "Nosotros
tambien! (We are too!) Paul said, "Excelente, excelente Abraham."
(Excellent, excellent Abraham). Then Paul started his introduction
to "Your Loving Flame." "Esta cancion es para alguien
muy especial, que esta en la casa ahora. Es para mi exposa hermosa,
es para Heather. (This song is for someone very special in the
house. It's for my beautiful wife--it's for Heather)
.
Paul introduced the band in Spanish.
Wix mentioned that 1993
he didn't remember the Mexican audience being quite so loud. He
said maybe the reason why the audience was so loud tonight was
because they had been drinking tequila!
For the "Hey Jude"
singalong Paul said, "solo hombres" (men only) and "solo
mujeres" (women only).
He came out waving the Mexican flag for the first encore. In Mexico
it is customary for ONLY Mexicans citizens to wave the flag. But
Paul was allowed to do it. A fan threw a "sombrero de charro"
(Mexican hat) on the stage and Paul put it on. He said, "Han
sido un publico excelente" (you have been an excellent crowd).
Paul gave the sombrero to Abe who wore it for the first encore.
When Paul left the stage at the end of the show the audience chanted,
"PAUL! PAUL! PAUL!" for more than five minutes. Confetti
fell from the ceiling in the colors of the Mexican flag, red,
green and white.
Paul signed autographs from the stage. A "Revolver"album,
a "Choba B CCCP" (Russian album) and a poster.
The tour program had the
"Driving Mexico" cover with Paul flying in the air and
the Mexican flag behind him. The content was the same as the "Back
in the US" tour program and it was in English. There were
two official T-shirts with the "Driving Mexico" slogan
on it. Programs were $12, T-shirts were $17 and hats were $15
Special thanks to Brenda Spencer for the concert photos-click
to enlarge
Paul's limo came in around 6:15 pm with a police motorcyle escort
and zoomed by the 50 + fans waiting. It appeared he might have
come directly from the airport. Paul was hanging out the passenger
side window and Heather was on the opposite side waving to fans
there. Pat O'Brien from "Access Hollywood" was with
his crew at the show.
Security was tight and posters, banners
and albums were taken from concertgoers either on the way in or
if they were spotted with them at the show. Flags had to had the
stick removed or they wouldn't be allowed in. Fans hid albums
under their clothes and kept them hidden until the end of the
show. There was a table set-up inside the venue where you could
leave flowers and gifts for Paul. Security promised to take it
backstage.
Signs in the audience: "We Love Heather,"
"Macca Rules," "Magical Macca Tour " and "Thanks
for 15 amazing concerts" (which Paul gave the thumbs up).
Paul wore the purple-blue Nehru jacket, a long-sleeved red T-shirt
and blue jeans and got onstage around 8:50pm. The preshow started
late at 8:30pm.
"Whoa, Phoenix, Arizona. We have come to rock you tonight!"
Paul exclaimed with his fist held in the air. And rock they did.
The Phoenix audience was very enthusiastic standing and sitting
at the appropriate times. There was a lot of energy because it
was the last show. Comedian David Spade who was at the Los Angeles
show was seen in the second row.
For the intro to "Getting Better"
Paul talked about the song being written in the '60s but never
performed live. He added, "I was there [in the '60s], but
I don't remember it."
He screwed up the first chord to "Blackbird" and started
over admitting that he was man enough to say he made a mistake.
"This is a miscalculation but I'm man enough to admit my
mistake," he said. Then he practiced the chords strumming
each time and saying, "No that's not it. That's not it. That's
IT!"
He also came in too soon on "Maybe I'm Amazed" singing
over Rusty's guitar solo but stopped when he realized it. Paul
immitated Wix acting out the words to the songs .
On "Lonely Road",
he messed up the lyric in the first verse that goes, "But
all I could ever do was fill my time with thoughts of you",
by saying "But all I could ever do was fill my THOUGHTS with
thoughts of you." He giggled when he screwed up.
Then on the second verse of "Fool on the Hill," instead
of saying "But nobody seams to hear him or the sound he appears
to make", he sang, "But nobody seems to hear him, they
can tell what he wants to do."
He mentioned seeing a number of cell phones being held up in the
audience so people could call their friends. He pointed to a man
with a cell phone in the front row and said, "YOU'RE BUSTED!"
He also talked about seeing signs in the audience that he had
to read and once again mentioned, "My mother saw you in Chicagoin
1964!"
Both "Freedom" and "Hey Jude" had extended
endings. Paul said, "Peace and freedom," at the end
of "Freedom" flashing the double peace sign with his
hands held high in the air. For "Hey Jude" he asked
more sections including; the upper deck, lower deck, and the floor,
to participate in the singalong besides "just the men"
and "just the women."
There were two toy teddy bears on Abe's platform behind Paul instead
of the usual one. It appeared that the two bears were lying on
top of each other!
Heather was seen in the photo pit wearing a black lace top. Her
sister Fiona was with her. Heather showed up several songs into
the show and left a few times and came back.
For the intro to "My Love," McCartney said, "I
wrote this song for Linda. And tonight it's for all the lovers
in the audience."
For the bow at the end of the first encore the band held hands
and stayed down longer than usual. Fans threw bras and panties
up on the stage. Paul picked up a pointed black bra and ran over
to Abe and placed it on his chest to see if it would fit!
A woman handed out about 20 candles to
people on the right side (facing the stage) in the mezzanine before
"Let It Be." Paul noticed and pointed to them and said,
"Oh, nice."
Paul did a successful Hofner toss to John Hammel who nearly dropped
it and had to back up quickly to catch it, colliding into Rusty.
When John exchanged guitars with Paul after "Yesterday,"
Paul still had his guitar strap sitting on his shoulder from the
acoustic guitar which John didn't notice. Consequently, John placed
the Les Paul strap over the accoustic strap entangling Paul with
the two guitars and straps. It took some time to undo.
Just before the "Long and Winding Road" (as at the last
show in Ft. Lauderdale May 18) Paul's crew including the preshow
performers gathered at the front of the stage holding red heart-shaped
balloons. Paul was emotional but not as emotional as he was in
Ft. Lauderdale. He explained it was the last show of the American
tour and everyone had a great time and he wanted to thank all
who were involved especially the fans. When the crew left some
of them gave their balloons to fans.
After the second encore Paul came out shadow boxing. He said,
"YOU ARE LOUD! I didn't know what to do say so they told
me to make something up." More bras were tossed up and Paul
grabbed one to give to Brian who made a face. Then another was
tossed and Paul looked a bit embarrassed and ignored it.
Paul signed a "Sgt. Pepper" album,
an "Abbey Road
" album (congrats Toni Johnson
who had a sign that read "Please Sign My Album" and
had to wrestle her album away from some guy who intercepted Paul's
toss to her friend), a
tour program (congrats to Marilyn Penix),
a "Driving Rain" album (congrats to Sharon, that makes
5!!!) and someone from the first level mezzanine on the side (left
if you face the stage), tossed a "Driving Rain" CD to
the stage. Paul signed it and threw it back!
A female fan threw onstage a rare VeeJay "Introducing the
Beatles" album with the original sticker on it. Paul didn't
sign it and a security guard threw it back to her but it was intercepted
by a jerk who ripped it in half before he handed it back to her.
Security came to her aid but it was too late for the album.
Before he left the stage Paul thanked the audience again and said,
"This is the Last show of the American tour and November
2nd, I'll be in Mexico City!"
Paul' s roadies handed a used and slightly damaged drumhead to
a fan in the front row (congrats Robin E.) and some drumsticks
to a 7-year-old boy who was also in the front row. Picks were
tossed out to fans. Brian Ray also threw some picks out to fans
before he left the stage.
Lucky fan Todd Harrison, his wife Candy and their two young daughters
left the concert before the last two songs, stopping to buy tour
merchandise and headed for the airport to catch Paul leaving.
When they got there Paul's tour bus was stopped at the gate and
Macca himself was standing beside it signing autographs for all
the fans waiting there! Paul had stopped the bus on the way in
when he saw the fans. Todd, his wife and the girls got in line
for autographs and Paul signed Todd's "Driving Rain"
album. He also shook the girls hands (8 and 4-years-old) and touched
the youngest on the chin. He shook Todd's hand and signed his
wife's tour program and then hugged her! When Paul was finished
signing, he got on the tour bus and it drove over to the waiting
jet. It was just after midnight and the plane was bond for Los
Angeles.
Paul's limo arrived early
at 4:25pm and he rolled down the window and waved to the 15 fans
waiting but did not stop.
Heard at the soundcheck: "Getting Better," "Let
'Em In," "C Moon," "Midnight Special,"
"Calico Skies," "Celebration," "Lady
Madonna," and "You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That
Weight."
There was a star-studded
backstage party held before the concert. Celebrities mingled in
a room with Paul that was in a private area. There were so many
celebrities in the room, other celebrities had to wait their turn
to get an audience with Paul. One of Paul's people would come
out and usher celebrities in as others left.
Celebrities at the show were: Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne, Cloris
Leachman, Ray Ramono, David Spade, Mick Jagger, Nicolas Cage and
Lisa Marie Presley, James Taylor, Eddie Murphy, Christopher Cross,
Demi Moore, Sylvester and Jennifer Stallone, Tom Green, Keith
Urban, George Thorogood, Carole King, Bill Clinton, Winona Ryder,
Brian Wilson and Kevin Spacey.
"Here we are in the
state of CALA-FORN-I-A, said Paul as he welcomed the audience.
The show started around 8:45pm. Paul wore the purple-blue Nehru
jacket, long-sleeved red T-shirt and dark charcoal pants. His
voice did show signs of strain since the beginning of the tour
and it cracked on "The Fool On The Hill." But for the
most part he nailed the high notes and his voice held up well.
The audience was typical
of a Los Angeles celebrity-studded crowd. Many VIP passes were
seen. Less standing, screaming and dancing in the crowd. Signs
were confiscated at the door so very few made it in.
When Paul talked about signs in the audience (there weren't many).
He pointed out one and said, "My mother LOVES you!"
Paul congratulated the Angels baseball team and said, "The
angels won the world series! How about that?" The audience
let out a big cheer.
Heather who was making the TV interview rounds in New York with
a booksigning, made it back in time to see the concert. She and
her sister Fiona danced and clapped in the photo pit on the left
side (facing the stage). Heather was still wearing the long black
skirt and black-and-white blouse.
Paul came out shadow-boxing for the second encore. After the concert,
he signed a full-scale paper guitar, with pen attached, that someone
made. The guitar was thrown on the stage at the Las Vegas show
but Paul did not see it.
About an hour after the concert, at the VIP entrance, former President
Bill Clinton exited under moderate secret service escort. Clinton
stayed outside and shook hands with an estimated 50 people and
signed some autographs before leaving. Clinton had a caravan of
eight cars and many secret service agents when he left.
Paul arrived around 5:20pm
and there were only six fans waiting. The car had to stop at a
stop sign to turn into the venue. Heather was on the driver's
side where the fans were and didn't roll down window right away.
Paul told her to roll down the window and leaned over her to wave
to the fans. Heather did not wave or acknowleged the fans.
Fifty people with green wristbands were let into the sound check.
Heard at the sound check: long unidentified instrumental, "Coming
Up," another unidentifed song with the lyrics, "Las
Vegas is the town to loose all your money...Las Vegas will take
it on through, " "Blackbird," "Lady Madonna,"
and unidentified rock-a-billy songs.
Paul wore the purple-blue Nehru jacket, red long-sleeved T-shirt
and pinstriped gray pants.
Signs in the audience: "This is the best night of my life,"
"Paul this is the best year of my life," which made
Paul chuckle.
Ozzy Osbourne opted to see Paul in concert at the MGM while his
wife Sharon was seen backstage at intermission at Luciano Pavarotti's
"Farewell Las Vegas" concert Saturday at Mandalay Bay.
At the end of "Freedom" when Paul held up his acoustic
guitar he put his guitar pick in mouth and made a big smile with
the pick between his teeth.
Rusty took photos of the audience after "Back in the USSR."
Paul mentioned during the
encore that it was getting near the end of the show and said,
"You've got to go home. Oh, We can't say that in Vegas."
After "I Saw Her Standing There," Paul tripped on something
and almost fell. He reached down and picked up something small
that he showed to Rusty.
He signed two albums and a "Blackbird Singing" poetry
book.
Paul's limo arrived at the venue around
5:30pm. Paul rolled down the window and he and Heather waved to
the 20 fans standing in the "driving rain."The sound
check started around 5:45 and afterwards Paul recorded a Rockline
interview from backstage.
Twenty-two lucky fans were picked to go
to the sound check through a radio station (Arrow 93.1 FM) contest.
Songs heard at the sound check: "Coming Up," "India,"
"Matchbox," "Honey Don't," "Celebration"
(Standing Stone) "C Moon," (with Jamaican rap), "Calico
Skies," "Blackbird," "Midnight Special,"
"Do You Want To Know A Secret," "You Never Give
Me Your Money/Carry That Weight," and "Lady Madonna."
Concertgoers could not be let in until the soundcheck was over
at 7pm.
Traffic was horrendous getting to Anaheim and lines of cars were
misdirected causing traffic jams as they tried to get out of parking
lots that were already filled. Many people didn't make it into
the venue until after Paul's set started.
The show started late and Paul took the
stage a 8:45pm wearing the purple-blue nehru jacket, red long-sleeved
T-shirt and pinstriped gray pants. His hair was noticably cut
very short.
The audience was enthusiastic but there were a lot of empty seats.
The show was not sold out and not as filled up as the show on
May 5. Many people got up and left after the first encore. Fans
at the first show said the crowd was much more enthusiastic than
this time around.
Paul referred to the audience as "Anaheimies."
Paul's Internet letter to his fans (above) was distributed to
people on the way to their seats. Note that Paul says in the letter
for fans in Japan to break the rules and "party and bop as much as you want to. Let your hair
down, guys; and if they give you any problem with their rules
tell them Paul said it was OK to holler and leap about. Don't
worry about 'convention', pass the word and let's keep it among
ourselves - give the stewards a Mac Attack. " Ironically
the fans that chose to stand in Anaheim got told to sit down by
other concertgoers. The nosebleed sections managed to get the
'wave' going several times.
The show was basically the same as with
the same scripted stories except when Paul was reading the audience
signs. He said, he saw some kids holding signs that read, "
I AM JOHN," "I AM PAUL." He joked and said, "where
is the sign that says ' I AM LUIGI'?"
It did manage to make a flub ironically after his rewritten lyric
on "You Never Give Me Money" forgetting the words that
he usually remembers and singing, "I never give me your money."
He also came in too soon on "Michelle" singing a verse
when Rusty was playing the guitar solo. After he realized his
mistake he made a funny face.
More signs at the Pond: "Paul, your
message board loves you," and "PAUL! THROW ME A KISS"
which he did.
Paul autographed three Beatles albums cover
before he left the stage.
Paul's limo arrived with
police motorcyle escort at the Compaq Arena around 5:45pm. There
were about 50 fans waitiing and Paul leaned out the window to
wave to them as he talked on the cell phone to Greg Kihn at KFOX
radio. The band and entourage arrived in two tour motor coaches.
Paul wore the purple-blue Nehru jacket, a red long-sleeved T-shirt
and blue jeans. His voice was showing some signs of strain but
for the most part he was in great voice.
He talked about signs in
the audience and how he'll sometimes lose his focus in the middle
of a song by trying to read one of them and mentioned the "My
Mother Saw You In Chicago" sign again.
Signs in the audience:
"YOU EFFING ROCK!," "Definitely Not Dodgy!,"
and "Luv from Merseyside."
Paul took off his jacket before "Lonely Road" and sometime
later his red T-shirt was untucked because his pants are getting
so loose!
Paul addressed the crowd as "San Jose-ee-ans."
He commented, "The
last time I was here and said 'see you next time' I had no idea
it would be this soon!"
Right before "Blackbird," Paul walked from the grand
piano over to the microphone, and said, "Looks like we have
a technical glitch here." It appeared that big screen had
not come down behind him. Paul went into his usual ab-lib about
"this is the part where the band leaves me alone with you."
He had to drag it out and seemed lost for words other than keeping
to the script so he started singing an Irish pub song! About 30
seconds later, John Hammel came out with his guitar and the big
screen started to come down. Paul stepped away from the microphone,
turned his back to the audience, and started picking the opening
lines to "Blackbird." Satisfied that he got it right,
he said, "Yeah, that's how it goes," and began to talk
about the origins of the song.
After he did "You Loving Flame" which he dedicated to
Heather he make the heart sign with his arms over his head and
patted his heart which is what he used to do for Linda on "My Love."
Paul was visibly emotional during the song "My Love"
in both Sacramento and San Jose.
When Paul introduced Rusty, Rusty said, "I know you can't
bring cameras in here, but I wanted to take a picture for my scrapbook."
So he focused on his side of the audience, told everyone to "squeeze
together", and snapped a picture!
For "Something" when he mentioned that George Harrison
gave him the ukelele, the crowd cheered. And he once again joked
saying, "Little did he [George] know that later, in San Jose,
it would get a round of applause!"
For "Hey Jude" Paul added "just the people in the
upper deck" to "just the men" and "just the
women" audience singalongs. The reason was because a group
of six very enthusiastic women with glowsticks, glow-hooped earrings,
and red-blinking arrows were in the upper deck near the stage.
After "I Saw Her Standing There" Paul gently handed
the Hofner to John because of his bad catch the night before.
At the end of the show only three vinyl albums were tossed up
to the stage. Brian Ray gathered up the albums and handed them
to Paul. After Paul started to sign the albums people started
tossing more things up to him but he only signed the three albums.Paul
signed a "Hard Day's Night" and "Wings At the Speed
of Sound," albums for Sharon (again congrats--now she has
four!) and a "Press to Play" album. They had to struggle
with some drunks who intercepted their albums and wouldn't give
them back but they got tough and got them back! Don't mess with
Macca fans!!!
Congrats to Robin Eastburn
for the "Press to Play" autograph!
Paul's plane flew in from Los Angeles to
a private airfield in Sacramento at about 5:15pm. There were three
fans waiting at the fence next to where his jet parked. They held
up a large sign that read: "WELCOME TO SACRAMENTO PAUL!!"
and asked him to come over and sign autographs. After a brief
discussion with his security, he got off the plane and walked
over to the fence and signed autographs for everyone.
Paul's white limo arrived
around 5:35pm at the venue with police escort. He and Heather
waved to the fans. Paul had to lean over Heather to wave because
he was on the opposite side of the car (passenger). The car did
not stop. There were only about 11 fans waiting (east entrance)
because security had told people Paul was already inside and they
kept people away from the ramp by screaming at them and saying
they were trespassing. Barricades were set-up more than 15 yards
from the driveway which proved very disappointing for waiting
fans.
The preshow started at 8:05pm and Paul
took the stage around 8:25pm wearing the purple-blue nehru jacket,
a red long-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans. His voice was in top
form and the audience was very enthusiastic, dancing and screaming.
Paul mentioned several times that Sacramento was a great audience.
"Sacramento, we've come to Rock you tonight," he said
as the crowd went crazy.
For the intro to "Something"
Paul said, "...in fact, George gave me this one [holds up
the ukelele], a Gibson. "[crowd cheers] "Little did
he know that later, in Sacramento, it would get a round of applause!"
People on the main floor were holding up signs and Paul mentioned
trying to concentrate on his performance and being distracted
by signs that he has to read. He spotted a sign which he read,
"My mom saw you in Chicago in 1964!" He made a reference
about age which erupted in laughter from the audience.
He also sang a quick rendition of "Happy Birthday" to
Mike (Lavallee who was 22) and dedicated it to everyone who had
a birthday that day.
He made a "flub" when did the intro to "Michelle."
He said that John being 1 1/2 years older, seemed a lot older
when he was seventeen. Then he repeated it forgetting that he
just said it. He laughed at himself about it.
For the west coast concerts Paul has resurrected his Marie Callendar
story for the intro to "Driving Rain" that he used on
the last leg. He talked
about drivng in his black covertte with Heather along Pacific
Coast Highway and stopping at a restaurant called Marie Callender's.
Rusty did his usual fall onto his back during "Live and Let
Die."
Paul came over to Rusty during a guitar solo, and he sang, "Watch
out, watch out..." while away from the microphone.
Signs in the audience: "We Love Heather!" (there were
several), "Sharon Loves Paul" which was shown on the
screens during "Hey Jude" and acknowledged by Paul with
a thumbs up during "My Love." Sharon by the way got
one of the two albums Paul signed. Her husband got the other one!
A White album and a Sgt. Pepper's album. "LOVE THAT HOFNER!"
to which Paul said, when Hammel dropped the bass, "did you
just see what almost happened?"
Heather was in the photo pit on Rusty's side for most of the show.
She showed up right before "Your Loving Flame," left
around "Maybe I'm Amazed," and came back in time for
"Live and Let Die."
During "Freedom" Paul noticed Heather and her sister
Fiona dancing in the pit on Rusty's side. So he came over to share
the microphone with Rusty to sing to them. He also came out waving
the American flag over her head and saying in a high pitched voice,
"We Love Heather" mocking the audience signs.
During the encore a woman up in front was flashing the cameraman.
He came over and got her on video.
When Paul tossed his famous Hofner to personal
assistant John Hammel after, "I Saw Her Standing" it
appeared that John almost missed the catch because he caught it
by the strap and the bottom of the bass actually hit the floor.
Paul put his hand over his mouth and said "Oops!" and
laughed but seemed visibly pale and stunned. The audience gasped
when the Hofner hit the floor. John looked like he was gonna fall
over and die. Paul shook his finger at John as if to say, "You
better not do that again!" Hammel was so shook up, that he
forgot to turn Paul's bass amp off and guitar amp on for "Yesterday"
and had to run back on stage just before Paul began the song!
To avoid any more disasters, after "Sgt. Pepper/The End,"
Paul gingerly handed his Gibson Les Paul to John Hammel, instead
of standing it up and making John rush to catch it.
Paul was seen about 12:30pm
exiting the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle on his way to lunch.
He stopped his limo for a group of fans waiting outside the hotel
and signed autographs for everyone.
Heather did an INC fashion show presentation at Bon Marche department
store in downtown Seattle at 1pm where she received a $10,000
check for her "Adopt-A-Minefield" charity. Paul was not in attendance.
The band checked out of the Four Seasons Hotel in the late afternoon
and stopped to sign autographs for fans in the lobby. Thirty minutes
after the band left in vans for the Tacoma Dome, (around 4:00pm),
Paul was ushered through an underground passageway that connected
the hotel to it's garage. Fans waited outside the exit of the
garage and saw Paul get into the limo with Heather. Paul rolled
down the window and waved but did not stop as he passed the fans.
With a police motorcycle escort his limo still had to stop at
a light and he rolled down his window to talk to fans waiting
there. He pointed to Rick Glover's (Beatlefan) "Fans on the Run" sign
and said, "Good show mate! Thanks for the sign," and
gave him the thumbs up! At the venue ramp he rolled down the window
waving along with Heather to the fans but did not stop.
Paul's limo arrived at the venue at 5:25pm and he rolled down
the window and waved to fans there but did not stop.
Songs heard at the sound
check: "Coming Up," "Let It Be," "Blackbird,"
"Calico Skies," "You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry
That Weight," and "Lady Madonna."
Paul wore a black jacket with satin lapels, a long sleeved red
T-shirt and well-fitting dark slacks. He played for a capacity
crowd of over 17,000 and vocally was in good shape with little
signs of strain from performing the night before in Portland.
"Oh, Tacoma, See-AT-tle, we have come to rock you tonight,"
he said to the standing, cheering crowd who kept their enthusiasm
throughout the show.
After "All My Loving" he said, "Oh yeah, oh yeah!
I get the feeling we're gonna have a good time here tonight."
He also did a lot of "Yee HA's" during the show.
When Paul introduced, "Here Today," the song he wrote
about an imaginary conversation with the late John Lennon, he
said, "I think sometimes you don't always say what you
mean to say to people in life." And when he finished the
intro he said, "Let's hear it for John." The crowd went
crazy and cheered for what seemed to be a very long time.
There was polite applause when he dedicated "Your Loving
Flame" to his lovely Lady Heather, contrasted by cheers when
he mentioned writing "My Love" for Linda.
For his introduction to "Something" he said, "I
don't know how many of you know George was a really serious ukulele
player." Then he mentioned about George belonging to the
George Formby fan club. A fan yelled out in recognition of Formby.
Paul said sarcastically, "There's always ONE person who knows
George Formby."
Paul did his usual massage story but when he talked about the
masseuse from New Orleans he adopted a southern "N'orleans"
accent. Something he started doing in New Orleans.
For "Freedom" there was a smattering of American and
Canadian flags.
Rusty did his fall at the end of
"Live and Let Die" and during "Freedom" Paul
walked over to Rusty's microphone to sing vocals with him.
Signs at the show: "PAUL SHOW US YOUR TOES! " Paul replied,
"No! THESE toes are staying in THESE shoes tonight!"
He also read, "Paul today is my Mom's 50th birthday, Please
say "happy birthday Gloria," Paul sang a speeded up
version of "Happy Birthday" to Gloria. "Burbank
3 ROCK!" acknowledged by the band.
Paul signed a few items before he left the stage. He and the band
flew back to Los Angeles after the show. Some of Paul's road crew
were wearing T-shirts that said on the back, "Today is Barrie's
Birthday!" (Barrie Marshall from Marshall Arts) To find out
why click
here.
Macca arrived around 6:15pm
waving to about 30 fans. There was no police escort. He and the
band were staying at the Four Seasons in Seattle and flew there
after the show.
Paul wore the purple-blue nehru jacket, the red long-sleeved T-shirt
and dark charcoal slacks. The crowd was very enthusiastic throughout
the show. Paul was in great voice. The show started at 8:35pm
due to Paul arriving late and the show ended at 11:35pm.
The venue was very strict about bring in posters and banners and
made people check them before they entered the venue. Because
of that , there were few posters that made it in. Paul's video
crew had a hard time finding any banners or posters to show on
the video screen during "Hey Jude." Consequently, Paul
didn't say his usual story about reading signs in the audience.
Instead he mentioned seeing a lot of cells phones and joked that
people used to scream at concerts and now they talk on their cell
phones and hold them up for others to hear the show. He scolded
some cell phone users by saying, "Here I am struggling to
remember all the lyrics, and you are out there phoning up your
Mum--think I didn't notice?"
For the intro to "Blackbird" Paul said, "In England
we call girls, birds. Sometimes we call them other things too!"
When Paul took off his jacket, he did it so quickly that Rusty
that couldn't finish the few bars of the "Stripper"
song. So he stopped abruptly and Paul looked at Rusty and said,
"Can't take him anywhere."
He called the crowd, "Ore-gonians."
Paul talked about massages and being on tour in Japan, pausing
to say, "No, not on THAT occasion" (in reference to
his drug bust in 1980). The crowd cheered in support of recreational
drugs.
"I get the feeling you're still ready to rock, am I right,
Portland?" Paul said before he launched into "Lady Madonna."
Linda edged out Heather with the louder and longer applause when
Paul did their dedications.
There were not that many American flags visible during "Freedom"
possibly because of the venue's no banners policy. Paul called
Rusty over to share his microphone to sing harmonies during the
song.
Heather and her sister were seen dancing together in the photo
pit. Heather left just before Paul sang "My Love" and
came back. They showed her on the the screen singing along to
"Hey Jude."
A poster that made it in: "Portland [heart symbol] Paul!"
Paul acknowledged the sign by pointing to it.
Paul autographed a rolled up poster from someone in the 5th row
and had to throw it quite hard so it would reach the owner.
Paul left in the tour bus right after the concert for the airport
with an escort of five police on motocycles. He flew to Seattle.
Paul's limo arrived with
police escort at the Ford Center around 5:20pm. The car passed
one ramp and entered the area behind the Ford Center where about
30-50 fans were waiting. Paul waved but the limo did not stop.
He was talking on the cell phone to radio station KRXO. The band
signed autographs at the hotel and Paul was seen there but did
not stop to sign for people.
Macca did not perform "Press"
as fans were hoping. His set list was the same.
Paul wore the purple-blue nehru jacket, long-sleeved red T-shirt
and blue jeans.
Abe did his introduction by singing a bit of "Oklahoma"
from the musical of the same name "O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A."
Paul referred to the audience
as "Oklahomans."
For the intro to "Your Loving Flame" Paul said, "This
for someone very special who is in the house tonight. It's the
first song I wrote for her. My lovely Lady Heather."
Signs in the audience: "13 Shows-Bankrupt (but blessed),"
"Oklahoma Was Never Like This." "No McDonalds"
with the golden arches and a slash through it. Paul looked at
it and laughed.
In general the OK audience rocked, while the majority of the audience
sat and enjoyed the show. For the intro to "Hey Jude"
Paul mentioned that there might be a bit at the end of the next
song that the OK audience might want to singalong to. "You've
all been so quiet so far," he added.
Paul did a "kick" during "I Saw Her Standing There"
for the benefit of someone in the front row and made an amusing
expression when he did it.
Instead of tossing the Les Paul guitar to John Hammel (who failed
to catch it in New Orleans), Paul gently laid it flat in John's
hands and bowed to him as he handed it over.
When he left the stage someone threw him a bouquet of McCartney
roses which he smelled and seem very pleased about. He tossed
the bouquet to Heather in the photo pit. He signed several vinyl
album covers.
A group of twelve fans gathered at the hotel and a Paul's limo
came out of the underground garage between 5:30pm and 5:45. He
stopped the car and signed for two of the fans holding signs that
read, "Famous Groupies" and "Texas Girls Want To
Scream and Shout!" One of the things he signed was a "Linda
in Yellow" lithograph of his painting.
The Houston audience rocked. Paul wore a red sport jacket, red
T-shirt and black jeans.
A surprise addition to the set list was "Midnight Special"
performed without announcement before "Michelle." It
was added just for Texas because of the mention of "Houston"
in the lyrics.
An Atlanta fan who got tickets from Heather held up a sign to
thank her that read, " Heather is all! {heart symbol)"
which showed up on the video screen. Paul saw it and motioned
to Heather to look at it and then gave the fan a thumbs-up. Heather
was present for the first couple of songs, left and came back
at the end of the concert.
Sign in the audience : "WENT VEGGIE AFTER NEW WORLD TOUR"
to which Paul gave the thumbs up.
Heather was in the pit with her sister Fiona bopping to "I
Saw Her Standing There" and mouthing the words to "Yesterday."
When Paul passed her to leave the stage for the encore he answered
something she said to him in joking anger and did a little dance.
Paul arrived at the venue around 5pm and
waved to the 25+ fans waiting. The limo did not stop. He had flown
to New Orleans right after the Columbus show and mentioned being
at a bar the night before his New Orleans show and seeing former
Wings saxophonist, Thaddeus Richard playing in the bar band. Thaddeus
Richard made a guest appearance during "Lady Madonna"
and Paul played an extended version of ths song so Richard could
do a sax solo.
He wore the purple-blue nehru jacket, red T-shirt and dark grey
pin-striped pants.
During "Blackbird" a woman held up a sign and Paul mentioned
about having to read the signs he sees in the audience. He read
it out loud, "My mom saw you in Chicago, blah, blah, blah....ha,
ha."
Paul messed up the lyrics to "Here Today" but corrected
himself by repeating the verse with the right lyrics. He started
off wrong for "Maybe I'm Amazed," stopped the song and
started over again. In spite of the mistakes he was in good voice.
He told an extended version of the "massage
story" which highlights one "dodgy" massage he
got while on tour in New Orleans (1993).
John Hammel failed to catch Paul's Les
Paul guitar after "The End" and dropped to the stage
floor horrified. The other band members and audience seemed to
be in shock. The only one who was not upset was Paul who hugged
John and laughed. He said this was the first time ever that his
faithful assistant dropped the guitar.
n spite of Paul's voice being so good, he did have a couple of
mistakes. He messed up a line in Here Today but recovered by repeating
the line with the correct lyrics. Later he started Maybe I'm Amazed
and stopped the song after the first line and said he would start
again.
back to intinerary October 10 - Columbus, OH- Value City
Arena/Jerome Schottenstein
Paul waved to the 50 fans
waiting when he limo arrived at the venue around 6:05pm. He came
directly from the airport and didn't stop when he came into the
venue but he did drive by the fans slowly with the window down.
Two women standing together held signs: one read "FREE"
and the other said "MASSAGE." Paul got a kick out of
reading those signs.
Heard at the soundcheck: "Lady Madonna," "C Moon,"
"My Love," and "Driving Rain" (a slowed down,
alternative version!)
Heather made it to the show late, after flying in from her INC
fashion event in Atlanta.
Because of Paul's late arrival, souncheck ran late and fans were
not let into the seating areas until 7:15p.m.
The preshow began at 8:15pm.
One of the large balloons that is carried out from the back of
the arena got loose and floated up into the rafters.
Paul wore his purple-blue
Nehru jacket, with white lining, a red long-sleeved t-shirt and
Levi's 501 blue jeans, with black shoes. The rest of the band
was dressed all in black.
Paul greeted the audience
by saying "Hey, Columbus! OOOOO-HIIIIIOOOO!! We have come
to rock you!" He later referred to the audience as "Columbians."
Paul said "I have never been here before..maybe I should
come back!!"
When Paul took his jacket off, Rusty and Abe played strip-tease
music and Paul reprimanded them for it!
Paul's voice was exceptionally
good throughout the show. He didn't hit a bad note all night.
The crowd was enthusiastic in the beginning of the show, which
Paul and Rusty both commented on. However they sat for the acoustic
set and didnt seem to wake up till after "Freedom."
He was talked about reading signs in the audience and mentioned,
"here's one that says, 'Say Happy Birthday' and another that
says 'Say hello to my Aunt Mary.'"
During a break in the acoustic set, someone shouted "We Love
You Paul" and he shouted back "I Love YOU!!!"
The women with the "Free Massage," signs moved up the
aisle to the front where Paul acknowledged them and said "Well,
c'mon then!" and teasingly motioned with his hand for them
to come over. When Paul told his "dodgy massage" story,
he said he hoped the guy from New Orleans heard it, because that
was where they were playing next!
Before "Here Today"
someone threw a rose on stage and Paul picked it up, sniffed it,
and then raised it over his head. He had to wait to begin the
song, because the audience response to "Let's hear it for
John!" was so enthusiastic.
After "Something"
Paul told the audience that George had given him the ukukele and
he held it up over his head. The crowd cheered and Paul said,
"That's the first time a ukulele received a round of applause!
I'm sure George would've liked that."
Your Loving Flame" was introduced as "the first song
I wrote for my new lady, Heather." He stumbled a bit on the
introduction dragging it out. Heather had not yet arrived from
Atlanta.
He got very emotional during "My Love" and had tears
in his eyes which were plainly seen on the video screen. He remained
quite emotional after the song ended.
During "Freedom"
the banner that drops from the ceiling failed to unfold completely,
and the last six feet or so stayed rolled up through the song.
During "Hey Jude" Paul and the band got mixed up and
at one point Paul sang "let her into your heart," while
the band was singing "let her under your skin." Heather
was seen standing up front, and was on the big screens waving
her hands, holding glowsticks and swaying during the part where
the audience joins in. While the crowd was singing the "nah-nah-nah"
chorus, Paul was singing "OHIO-HIO-HIO!!" along to the
beat of the song. "Hey Jude" was shortened, ending as
if Paul was rushing to get offstage. He did his normal "You
were great!" and "You were fantastic" at the song's
end. Someone in the front held two roses up to him and took them
and handed them right to Heather in the pit.
For the encore, Paul came
out carrying the American flag and Wix had an Ohio flag. They
dragged the flags over people in the audience
When Paul came back after for the
last set he struck a boxer pose, shadow boxing, with coach Wix
encouraging him.
At the end of the show
people were throwing albums onstage to be signed but Paul did
not have a pen and made a writing movement with his hand to show
that he had nothing to write with. Someone noticed and threw a
pen. Paul got very confused as to whose album he was signing.
He wanted to make sure the album got to the rightful owner. He
asked people who owned what album taking his time to toss it back
and even shrugging at one point when he threw one back. He signed
three albums ("Wingspan," "Ram" and "Wings
At The Speed Of Sound") walking back and forth across the
stage looking for something more interesting to sign until he
noticed a yellow tour shirt which he signed and threw it back
to the owner.
Paul's entourage left the arena at 11:20p.m. It consisted of a
black limo, a black Lincoln town car, a tour bus, 3 cargo vans
and 4 police motorcycles. They took Paul 20 miles away, on I-270
East, to a back "air cargo" entrance at the Port Columbus
International Airport. At a small, out of the way terminal called
"Million Air," there was a private plane waiting for
Paul and his entourage. There were about 10 fans waiting at the
terminal and 3 cars that followed the motorcade to the airport.
Paul was driven through the gate, past the fans and did not stop
or roll down the window. The motorcade passed through the locked
gate, leaving the fans outside yelling for Paul. The assumption
was that Paul flew into that terminal earlier in the day, then
flew directly to New Orleans that night, and did not stay at any
hotel while in Columbus.
Congrats to Don Krueger
on the "Wingspan" autograph!!!!
Paul's limo arrived
5:20pm at the venue coming down a one-way street the wrong way.
Police had closed off the street and the limo was escorted by
two police on motorcyles. Macca greeted the 50+ fans with a wave
and a thumbs up, but didn't stop. He had flown in that afternoon.
The band arrived the day before and signed autographs at the Ritz
Carlton Hotel around 4pm.
Paul's security relocated some lucky people in the nosebleed seats
to the front row.
Paul played to a packed house of 15,000 at the Savvis Center wearing
a red sport jacket, a red and green collage T-shirt with an Italian
theme with the the Tower of Pisa printed on it and blue jeans. The preshow started late at 8:20pm.
After "All My Loving"
he said, "Today is John's birthday so we're going to party!"
After "Coming Up," Paul announced, "We have an
Elvis sighting in the audience tonight!" Chicago Elvis impersonator
Mark Hussman in an "American Eagle" jumpsuit was shown
on the big video screen behind Paul. Mark was also sighted at
Paul's show in Milwaukee.
"All right, St. Louie! We've come to rock you!" And
the St. Louis crowd was definitely rocking all night.
He mentioned that today
was John Lennon's birthday before the song "Here Today."
Someone held up a sign that read, "Paul, It's my birthday,
too." Paul noiticed that sign and several others. Paul said
'Do you wanna do something really mad? Let's sing Happy birthday
to John." He encouraged the audience to sing "Happy
Birthday" with him for John and anyone else with a birthday.
He sang "Happy Birthday" misty-eyed to John and the
whole crowd joined in.
Another concertgoer in the eighth row had a sign that read, "Paul,
Can you please WAVE to me?" which he did after squinting
to read what it said.
Paul noticed a sign that read, "Free Massage Here" after
"You Never Give Me Your Money." He asked the sign holders,
"Now?" They yelled "Yeah!" and Paul laughed.
Another interesting moment
came when he introduced "Yesterday" during the encore.
He explained that the guitar he used was the same guitar he used
on the "Ed Sullivan Show." This drew a huge
cheer. The cheer turned into a few boos when the video screen
camera zoomed in on the guitar to reveal a Detroit Redwings (hockey
team) logo on it, a rival of the St. Louis Blues. A surprised
Paul said "I'm not quite sure I get that?"
Heather was rocking in the photo pit all night and handed her
"Let It Be" glowstick to a fan before she left.
At the end of the show he signed a "Yesterday and Today"
album, a "White Album" a banner and the jacket that
belonged to Mark Hussman the Elvis impersonator!!!
Paul, Heather and the band went back to the Ritz Carlton and had
a private party after the show in a room off the hotel lobby that
was guarded by his security. At 1:20am the party broke up and
Paul and Heather were quickly escorted to the service elevators
before fans could reach them.
Congrats to Janet Hamilton
on the "Yesterday and Today" autograph and to Mark "Elvis"
Hussman on his Elvis jacket autograph!!
back to intinerary October 7 - Raleigh, NC - Entertainment
& Sports Arena
Paul arrived at the Entertainment
& Sports Arena early at 4:15pm and waved to fans. Heather
was in Miami at Burdines Department store in Dadeland Mall promoting
INC fashions until 7:30pm. She flew back just in time to catch
the last 20 minutes of the concert and bopped in front of the
stage. Paul was heard performing "Honey Hush" at the
soundcheck.
Paul was in great voice and the audience was very enthusiastic
and energetic throughout the show. He wore the purple-blue nehru
jacket, red T-shirt and blue jeans. His stage banter was much
the same mentioning that he has to read the signs fans hold up,
when he should be concentrating on what he's doing and he mentioned
seeing all the cell phones being held up so people on the other
end could listen.
"You know, I'm playing these new songs and trying to remember
the words, and trying to remember the bass part and people hold
up signs and you HAVE to read them and there's one: TODAY IS JENNIFER'S
BIRTHDAY!" He sang "Happy Birthday" to Jennifer
who was celebrating her 25th birthday at the concert with her
mom who held up the birthday sign.
The biggest ovation came when he introduced "Here Today"
and said, "Let's hear it for John." The audience cheered
wildly.
For the introduction to
"Blackbird" Paul did not refer to the unrest in the
south as he had done at other shows. Instead he generalized the
situation and talked about the problem in, " a state like
Alabama..."
During one of the songs
Rusty laid down on the floor after "Live and Let Die."
Paul mentioned in his introduction to "Yesterday" that
the guitar he was using was the one he played on the Ed Sullivan
show. That got loud cheers. Paul joked that he didn't think a
guitar could get that type of applause.
He signed five albums before he left the stage: British "Help!"
"McCartney II" "White Album, " "Beatles
Second Album", and "Yesterday and Today."
After Paul left the stage a roadie came out and threw guitar picks
out into the audience.
Paul and the band flew from Cleveland to
Indianapolis the day of the show and arrived at the Conseco Fieldhouse
at 5:05pm with a police motorcyle escort . About 50 fans were
waiting and security moved them away from the ramp to an alley.
One of Paul's security people noticed the orderly crowd and told
venue security to allow the fans to stand by the barricades at
the ramp's entrance. Paul rolled down the window and waved from
the driver's side of the car realizing all the fans were on the
passenger's side. He quickly moved over to the passenger side
to wave. The car did not stop.
The sound check started at 5:35 pm and people who were in the
public lobby area of the Conseco could hear it. No one was allowed
into the venue while the sound check was going on. Songs Paul
performed were: "Coming Up," "Matchbox," "I
Got A Feeling" (performed twice and lasted about 10 minutes), "Celebration"
(Paul on piano playing just the instrumental piece from "Standing
Stone" with wix on organ), "Let It Be," "C
Moon," "Midnight Special," "Here, There and
Everywhere," "You Never Give Me Your Money" (with
Paul singing all the words correctly), "India" (short
version), "Hey Jude" (abbreviated version), "Lady
Madonna," and "Live and Let Die." The sound check
lasted an hour.
Ambient music played before the preshow which started at 8:10pm
including; "The Family Way," "Singalong Junk,"
and Nat King Cole's "The Very Thought Of You" (Paul
and Heather's song). Paul wore a black, shiny suit jacket, a red
long-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans. The band wore black shirts
and black pants.
Fans were enthusiastic but did not stand the whole time. The front
section of the main floor stood throughout the concert.
There were many signs held up at the show.
Paul noticed one and said to the crowd, "I'm trying to remember
all the words to the songs and play the bass parts and people
hold up signs and you HAVE to read them. Here's one, 'Hello From
My Mum in Chicago!'" (But the sign actually said, "Chicago
Came Back For More") Another sign "Mulligan Tires"
(Mull of Kintrye) got Paul to nod and then shake his head with
a polite "No." Other signs were "You Sound So Sweet
Tonight" which he acknowledged during "Hey Jude"
and a large "WIX" sign which Wix acknowleged.
He referred to the audience as Indian-apple-lee-ans.
On "Coming Up" Paul was crouching
in various positions around the microphone to be silly as he looked
up at the microphone while singing the words "coming up!"
He also strutted across the stage holding his guitar high over
head waving to the crowd after several songs.
Paul did some outstanding lead guitar on "Let Me Roll It"
and gave a mysterious "OK " sign to someone in the audience
after the song.
"Thank you Indianapolis," he
said as the took off his jacket adding "It's getting HOT
in here!"
For his introduction to "Blackbird" he said, "
In England we call girls, birds. One person yelled out "Yeah!"
Paul said pointing at the person, "At least one of you knows!"
Paul was geographically challenged when he explained the meaning
behind the song. "We would hear stories that would filter
over to England from America about racial troubles in places like
Little Rock in Alabama. So I wrote a song about the plight of
a young black girl in the 60's." He laughed when the audience
started to scream and whistle during the pause of the song.
At the end of "We Can Work It' Out" he grabbed is right
shoulder and rubbed it grimacing in pain and then smiled as he
held the
guitar up with the opposite arm. He also did the fake intro to
the song singing, "As I was walking down the road..."
Fans egged him on to do more and he had fun interacting with two
fans in the third row begging him to continue as he kept a stern
face, shook his head and mouthed "no" several times.
During "You Never Give Me Your Money"
a fan in the front held up a sign with the words to the song so
Paul would sing them instead of saying he doesn't know the words
and won't learn them by the end of the tour. He laughed when he
saw the sign but still did not sing the words and kept with the
routine.
On "The Fool on the Hill" he sang, "The man of
a thousand voices is "peeping" perfectly loud,"
instead of "The man of a thousand voices Is talking
perfectly loud."
Paul saw a sign that read" NERKS" and told the audience
that "years ago, long before the Beatles," he and John
worked behind a bar and on the weekend they decided to perform
there as the "Nerk Twins. Then talked about "Here Today."
When he talked about "Something" and mentioned that
George Harrison was in the George Formbly fan club, someone screamed
out. Not missing a beat Paul said, "There's always ONE who
knows George Formby." Then Paul continued the introduction
and mentioned the Beatles. A man yelled out, " LONG LIVE
THE BEATLES!" Paul commented, " Not a bad band."
He did some cute winking with his left eye at the audience when
he imitated how George played "Something" on the ukelele.
Paul screwed up the words to "Eleanor Rigby" saying
"Father McKenzie was wiping his hands as he walked away from
the grave." Instead of "Father McKenzie wiping the dirt
from his hands as he walks from the grave." As soon as he
sang the verse he got an embarrased look on his face like "Oops!
I screwed up!" At the song's end he said, " Prizes for
anyone who can spot the deliberate mistake in the song."
When Paul introduced "Michelle" he talked about a tudor
at John's art college who invited John to parties and John intern
invited George and Paul, both teens at the time, to the parties.
Someone held up a LIPA sign and Paul acknowledged it saying "Yeah
LIPA," then he explained, that is where he and George went
to school and now it's LIPA. He said that he wanted to 'fit in'
at these parties where he pretended be French which he thought
would make him appear to be "sophisticated and mature."
So he sat in a corner, wearing a black turtleneck, singing in
French. He said it never worked out. People would say, "Who's
that nutter in the corner? Haw, haw, haw..." (speaks French
jibberish).
On "Band on the Run" Paul did the familiar leg kick.
His newly improvised piano fills on "Maybe I'm Amazed"
were outstanding.
Paul whistled along to the keyboard flute on "Let 'Em In"
for the first part of the song.
Abe broke a lot of drumsticks which he flung into the air. One
stick broke with part of it flying across the stage past Rusty
and into the pit.
Macca was blown away by the display of American flags during "Freedom."
A local radio station handed out large paper American flags with
instructions to wave them during "Freedom." Thousands
of flags appeared and Paul said afterwards, " We didn't know that was going
to happen. Where did you get all the flags?"
For the encore after "Hey Jude"
Paul came out with the America flag waving it all around the stage
until the top part became unhooked causing the flag to droop to
the floor. Paul thinking quickly grabbed the sinking flag and
held the top of it over the pole while waving it. Then he walked
to the back of the stage to give it to a roadie, and pulled it
over his back like cape.
Paul placed his Les Paul guitar precariously on end and balanced
it with one finger, then flicked it as John Hammel ran over in
time to catch it before it fell on the floor.
Heather held a flashlight in the pit duriing "Let It Be"
and swayed with it. She also sang and bopped on "I Saw Her
Standing There" and "Hey Jude."
The funniest part of the evening came when
Paul was at the psychedelic piano playing "Lady Madonna."
Someone threw a bra onto the stage that fell in front of Brian.
At the end of the song Brian picked it up and gave it to Paul
who handled it like it was a hot potato and flung it back to Brian.
Heather was in the pit laughing.
As Paul was leaving the stage he signed a "Driving Rain"
LP, "A Hard Day's Night" LP and a "London Town"
LP. He picked up several bouquets of flowers and goofed around
with the band pretending to be an ape, bouncing gorrilla style,
dragging his knuckles and trying to scratch his armpits to the
amusement of Heather who was in the photo pit. He and the band
took final bows and Paul stayed down pretending he couldn't get
up. The band came over to help him up. Then he waved goodbye and
said, "See you next time."
Paul and the band flew out of Indianapolis right after the show.
Paul arrived in the limo
at 5:30pm and waved from the passenger side, and gave the peace
sign to the 100 waiting fans at the Gund Arena. He was wearing
a blue shirt. Excitied fans jumped the barricade and ran into
the street after the car. He flew in the day of the show and his
band flew in the day before and stayed at the Ritz and signed
autographs for fans who approached them there. Brian and Wix were
seen at the Tower City Centre Mall the day of the show. A DVD
crew was on hand to record the fans waiting for the limo and requested
that they sing: "We love you Paul, oh yes we do..."
for the camera.
Songs heard at the sound check: "San Francisco Bay Blues,"
"Coming Up," "Lady Madonna," "Bring It
To Jerome" and "Calico Skies."
At 8:10 the preshow started.
The audience energy level at the show was not as high and people
for the most part sat except for the main floor which stood for
most of the show and was enthusiastic. Paul put on a wonderful
performance but didn't really loosen up until the acoustic part
of the set. His band was a bit sluggish for the beginning of the
show. They had been partying heavily the night before. Paul wore
the purple-blue nehru jacket, a red long-sleeved T-shirt and black
pins-triped pants.
He greeted the audience by saying "Hello Cleve-landers!!"
And mentioned that Linda's mother came from the Shaker Heights
part of Cleveland.
He sang "Happy Birthday" to someone in the audience
who held up a sign that read "It's My Birthday!" He
read that sign out loud and people thought he was saying it was
HIS birthday so they were wishing HIM a happy birthday.
The DVD crew was videotaping fans at the show to be used for another
project and not for the "Back in the US" DVD which is
complete.
Members of Paul McCartney's
message board held up pink signs to identify themselves.
For "Your Loving Flame" Heather was introduced as his
"Bride Heather" instead of " Lady Heather."
During "My Love" a couple danced very close to each
ohter in the aisle and Paul played to them and watched them until
the song was over and they sat down.
Paul explained that when he is trying to concentrate on playing
his guitar and remembering the words, people hold up signs which
he has to read. One fan screamed very loud and Paul put both fingers
in his ears and made a silly face mocking the fan. Paul read a
sign out loud that said, "Paul it is 5 years since I saw
you in Chicago!"
During the acoustic he noticed people with cell phones and told
them to hold them up so the people on the other end could listen.
He then pointed to someone in the crowd talking on a cell phone
and said, "Don't think I don't see YOU!!"
When Paul brought the American flag out for the first encore he
waved it and dipped it down so the fans in the front row could
touch it.
Paul came out for the second encore in mock fighting pose, shadow
boxing with band members and being patted on the back by his "coach"
Wix.
Heather was dancing in the pit , singing along with the songs
and even signed an autograph for a fan: "Lots of love, Heather
Mills McCartney" and accepted a Beatles button which she
put on. She was with her sister Fiona who was also dancing and
singing. During "I Saw Her Standing There" the two were
making such a scene dancing, Paul came over, shimmied and winked
at them.
Signs in the audience:
"WE LOVE HEATHER" (which got a "thank you"
from Paul), "Michelle, Paul's Belle" (Paul acknowledged
during "Michelle"). A black woman held up a sign that
read: "This Blackbird Loves You" (Paul acknowledged
her with a raised fist and was quite pleased).
Paul signed a few autographs
at the end of the show. Someone tossed up a "Tug of War "album,
then an album came flying across the stage which nearly hit Paul
in the face. Paul had to duck to dodge the album and after that
hurrily waved as he rushed offstage.
He and Heather and left for the hotel immediately on the tour
bus and when Paul got off the bus he signed autographs for all
the waiting fans who were lined up in the hotel's parking lot.
When he was finished he and Heather walked casually through the
hotel lobby on the way to the elevators with security. At 1:00am
they were given a private tour of the "Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame."
Fans who showed up at the
Four Seasons hotel early in the afternoon got autographs from
Paul who arrived after 2:30pm in his limo, from a morning out
and around town. Heather had left earlier in her own limo. As
he entered the side door of the hotel he stopped to sign autographs
for five fans which turned into more as others realized Paul had
stopped. Macca had his trusty ballpoint pen ready.
When he left the hotel to go to the Fleet Center he drove out
quickly and did not stop for the 50+ fans waiting. He just rolled
down the window and waved. Some lucky fans did get to shake his
hand as the car drove by.
Paul showed up at the Fleet Center around 5:30 and waved to fans
but did not stop. He started his soundcheck soon after. People
with VIP tickets were let in early at 6pm and could hear part
of his soundcheck. Songs performered were, "Midnight Special,"
"Hear, There and Everywhere," "C Moon," "Calico
Skies," " You Never Give Me Your Money," a guitar
jam with Paul singing "Boston" throughout and an abbreviated
"Hey Jude," with Paul goofing off at the end.
The 18,000 strong audience (not sold out) bopped, danced and sang
along sitting at the appropriate times.
Steven Tyler of Aerosmith was seen wandering around near the front
of the stage. Linda's sister Louise and her nephew,were also at
the show and Abe's brother. Boston is Abe's hometown.
Paul came in late for the beginning of "Let Me Roll It "
and threw the song out of rhythm but caught up.
Paul sang the fake intro
of "Baby Face" (without finishing it) before "Hey
Jude. When Paul conducted the singalong and said "now just
the ladies" he saw some men singing and repeated, "Just
the LADIES!"
Heather was in and out of the photo pit all night, staying for
a few songs at a time and leaving for longer periods of time.
Unlike previous shows where she stayed for most of the show.
Good sign at the show: "We're Really Rockin' in Boston"
(which Paul acknowledged by saying the same and mentions on the
upcoming "Rockline" November 20).
Paul signed a Beatles "White Album" (congrats to Betty Wraya) at the end of the show. He told her, "Okay,
toss it up," caught it - held it on his thighs and signed
it. He even tossed her pen back.
After the concert Paul and his entourage headed for the airport
and left Boston.
Paul's limo arrived at
the Fleet Center around 4:45pm. He rolled down his window to wave
to the fans as his car drove into the "Elephant Ramp"
on the causeway side of the venue.
His voice was a bit rough
early on in the show, he hit some rough stops on "Lonely
Road" and "Your Loving Flame," but he loosened
up and sang brilliantly from then on.
Paul wore his purple-blue new nehru jacket, a red long-sleeved
T-shirt and blue jeans. The audience for the most part stood on
the main floor but sat elsewhere. Some lucky people in the balcony
seats were "upgraded" for free to better seats on the
floor and mezzanine because the show was not sold out. Venue staff
was offering the upgrades to people in the $50 nosebleed sections
per Paul's request. The tickets said "V_RELOC" on them
with no price.
"Something" was better received by the audience than
"Here Today" mainly because of the photographs of George
and the Beatles on screen as pointed out in the Boston
Globe review.
He told the Boston audience as at previous shows that he wrote
"My Love " for Linda and was dedicating the song to
"all the lovers in the audience. And you know who you are,"
he added. However his introduction of "Your Loving Flame"
for his wife, Lady Heather, did not go over very well with a small
faction of the Boston crowd. Boos were heard at the mention of
Heather's name with some concertgoers standing up pointing their
thumbs down so Paul could see. More boos were heard after the
song was finished though there was some polite applause for Heather
mixed in.
Paul and Abe started laughing at some "in joke" during
"Let It Be" and Paul could be heard giggling.
Memorable sign in the audience, "Paul, I've Loved you since
I was 9."
At the end of the show
one of the screens accidently flashed "Lovely Rita."
It was first mentioned exclusively on the Macca Report
that Paul was planning to perform that song somewhere on this
leg.
Paul left in the silver
tour bus for the Four Seasons Hotel where he signed autographs
for about 20 waiting fans. His security prevented fans from trying
to take photos of Paul.
Paul arrived around 4:50pm
waving to fans as the silver limo entered the venue with a police
motorcyle escort. There was a crowd of about 40 fans waiting,
but the limo did not stop. A group of eight lucky fans were let
in by Paul's DVD video crew to watch the soundcheck. Songs performed
at the soundcheck included, "Calico Skies," "Do
You Want To Know A Secret, " and a new song called "Ode
To New York."
The sold out crowd of 14,000 was treated to Macca's near perfect
voice. Paul had not performed at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City
since he was a Beatle back in 1964. He told the audience, "I'm
back! Took me a while, but I'm back!"
He wore a new purple-blue shiny Shea (nehru) jacket, a long-sleeved
red T-shirt, black pants and Nike shoes.
The average middle-aged
and older crowd were enthusiastic but sat down after the first
four songs. Security was making people sit down and threatening
to toss people out if they didn't. "Back In The USSR"
brought the house down though people preferred to sit. Fans said
that the seats on the main floor and in the VIP areas were reserved
for the high-rollers who seemed out of place dressed in business
suits and dresses. The audience was compared to a "lame"
Tony Bennett audience. People managed to get out of their seats
for the encores.
He messed up the words to "Hello Goodbye" repeating
"You say..." twice instead of " You say yes and
I say..." And a sour note was heard on the piano during "Fool
on the Hill."
Paul did the "Baby Face" fake-out before "Hey Jude."
Heather was in the photo
pit for the second half of the show not dancing or clapping, just
sitting and smiling. She was pointing out people in the audience
to security who were 'sneaking' photos. One security guard said
he was interrupted from watching the concert because Heather kept
telling him to go after the people with cameras.
Interesting sign held up
at the show that Paul acknowledged "1964~The Beatles - 2002
~Sir Paul."
Before he left the stage
Paul signed a "Beatles VI" vinyl album.
back to intinerary September 27 - Hartford, CT - Civic
Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Paul's chartered
jet flew in the day of the Hartford show to a private airport.
The plane landed around 5:30pm. A group of fans were at the airport
and Paul waved to them and got into his limo. The fans held up
albums to autograph and Paul lowered the window but just waved
and smiled at them. Paul's limo showed up at the venue around
5:40pm. He was sitting on the driver's side of the limo and leaned
over Heather to wave to the fans. Paul's entire band was lunching
across the street at a local pub two hours earlier and talked
with fans there and signed autographs. Macca started his soundcheck
around 6pm.
Paul's voice
was right on at the sold out Hartford show. Paul broke a box office
record for the highest grossing one-night stand at at rock show
in Hartford taking in $2 million dollars. This the first time
he's played in Connecticut. At the Civic Center there was a bottleneck
of concertgoers trying to get into the venue because there weren't
enough staff to handle the sold out crowd. Consequently a lot
of fans didn't get to their seats on time. The show started late
at 8:24 pm.
He wore a shiny dark gray pin-striped suit jacket with a hot pink
lining (which he showed off when he took off the jacket), a red
buttoned down shirt and dark gray pinstriped pants with black
Nikes. Heather was very active in the photo pit, bopping and singing
along to the songs. Paul and Heather made a lot of eye contact
during the show, smiling at each other. Heather was introduced
before "Your Loving Flame," as "someone special,
my Lady Heather. She is a Lady you know," he added which
got a smattering of polite applause. She sang along and cheered
at the end of "My Love" dedicated to Linda and "all
the lovers in the audience." Paul put his hand over his heart
after the song and then formed a heart over his head with his
arms.
He referred to the Connecticut audience as "Connecticutians"
which even he had trouble pronouncing.
The loudest audience ovation came for "Here Today" when
Paul said he wrote it about John Lennon.
He messed up, "Blackbird", by forgetting the words "take
these sunken eyes and learn to see" and instead saying "take
these broken wings and learn to fly."
Macca also
managed to screw up the words to "You Never Give Me Your
Money" by saying MY money instead of YOUR money when he was
distracted looking at Heather in the photo pit. He made a face
like..."oh, man, I messed up, shaking his head and smiling.
After finishing the song he joked, "Just because I wrote
the song, doesn't mean I remember it!"
For Brian Ray's introduction to "Live and Let Die" he
said he hoped the audience brought marshmellows for roasting,
referring to the punched up pyrotechnics with flame throwers.
He did the "Baby Face" fake intro to "Hey Jude."
The crowd was
very responsive to the newly added songs, standing up and sitting
down at the appropriate places but the audience on a whole mostly
sat. They even sat through, "I Saw Her Standing There."
Interesting
signs at the show were, from an expectant couple: "We're
naming our daughter Mia McCartney Wright", and another :
"Ram On Paul and Heather."
Paul and Heather left the Civic Center in the silver tour bus
right after the last song. They were seen in the front of the
bus waving to fans and Paul was giving the thumbs up. The entourage
of limos and two tour buses arrived at the private airport at
11:30pm and Paul's plane took off shortly thereafter.
back to intinerary September 24 - Chicago, IL - United
Center PHOTOS by Jorie B. Gracen
Click to enlarge
photos
Paul and Heather flew directly to Chicago
after the St. Paul concert (September 23) and were staying at
the Ritz-Carlton. Paul took advantage of the nice weather by boating
on Lake Michigan. Paul stopped for a dozen lucky fans as he was
leaving the hotel for the concert and signed autographs for everyone.
He arrived late at the United Center, 6:25pm, where he greeted
fans there with a wave. His black stretch limo drove into the
underground area of the United Center which just happened to be
next to the restaurant that was hosting the fan VIP party. Fans
near the picture windows saw Paul get out of his limo and wave.
He performed a late soundcheck while concertgoers were being let
in. No one was allowed in their seat and black curtains sealed
off the entrances to the seating area. Some of the sound check
songs were: "Coming Up," "C Moon, "Midnight
Special," "You Won't See Me," "Lady Madonna,"
"Let Me Roll It," and, "For No One."
Heather arrived at 7:15pm with her entourage in a black Lincoln
Town Car. Seen going backstage were Victor Spinetti, John Junkin
and Martin Lewis, who were in town to promote the rerelease of
"A Hard Day's Night."
The show started at 8:15 pm to a soldout
crowd and Paul was in excellent voice. He wore a white sport jacket,
a red long-sleeved T-shirt and faded blue-jeans. The band coordinated
their stage outfits by wearing white shirts and black pants. Most
of the audience stood the entire show with some sitdowns for slower
songs like "Your Loving Flame," which he dedicated to
Heather and introduced, "For my beautiful Lady Heather."
He managed to mess up the lyrics again to "Getting Better"
in the same place he messed up in Milwaukee. He said "I finally
heard. I finally heard," Instead of "You gave me the
word, I finally heard." When he first started the song, he
strummed the first chord to realize that he hadn't switched his
guitar on!
Before "We Can Work It Out" he did the usual fake-song
intro, "As I was walking down the road..." And stopped
abruptly with the audience asking for more. He mouthed, "I'm
not going to do it!" Then he wiped his forehead and said,
"Hot Flush!" referring to his age and forgetting the
song he was supposed to do.
"During "Let Me Roll It"
he sang "You gave me something..." in a different way
than usual, changing the phrasing and the melody but not the lyrics.
He took off his jacket after the song and Wix played "The
Stripper" while the women screamed. Paul imitated a stripper
complete with a hip-wiggle and a shoulder dip. Paul said candidly,
"Ya take ONE jacket off..." referring to the audience
egging him on to take off more.
He pointed out a birthday sign just before "Lonely Road"
and read out loud, "Today is Karen's birthday," and
did a quick a cappella version of "Happy Birthday."
Then he looked at the sign holder for approval and said, "OK?"
Paul said after "Lonely Road," "That song was from
our latest album "Driving Rain." Then he started the
introduction to "Driving Rain" pointing his finger and
saying "We were..." stopping to notice audience members
who had been to the previous shows. He continued, "Anyone
who was at the last show and heard the story before, YOU'RE going
to hear it AGAIN!" So for those of you who WEREN'T here last
time..." Then he talked about driving up Pacific Coast Highway
in California and writing the song.
After "All My Loving" he said, "I have a feeling
we are going to have a good time. When I was here last time and
said, 'see you next time,' I didn't know I'd be back so quick.
But here we are!"
When he finished "Can't Buy Me Love" he held up the
Hofner and said, "YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!"
Rusty said in his introduction, "Happy first anniversary
of the third show in Chicago of the second leg in 2002!"
Paul said sarcastically, "THANKS, Rusty." Brian said,
"Hi" to "people in Chicago he hasn't "seen
since high school."
The Strongman helped wheel out the psychedelic
piano and Paul said in a tone of disgust, "STEROIDS!!!"
which got a big laugh. Then he said, "The Magic Box has arrived.
Let's see what's in it," and began, "You Never Give
Me Your Money."
Someone held up a very large American flag
with the word FREEDOM on it that Paul pointed to during the song
"Freedom." Everyone cheered. At the song's end he mocked
the way the fans clapped with their hands over their head.
"Live and Let Die" still packed a punch but the flame
throwers that were used after each explosion were just used at
the end of the song shooting over 6 feet in the air.
He did mention several times how warm a reception he gets in Chicago
and how great the Chicago audience always is. "People of
Chicago, it's a nice day today." Then he let out a scream,
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!! BOOGEY WOOGEY!!! He referred to the very
vocal Chicago audience as "Ella-noise-ians!" And "A
great bunch of people." After "Something" he said,
"Chicago is the third show of our tour and you always make
us feel welcome. You're extremely special CHI-CAG-GO!"
The introduction for "Michelle"
was basically the same with Paul joking about John's age saying
that "John was older, which he remained" and "when
you are 17 you really look up to OLDER people." He said that
John referred to "Michelle" as "that daft French
song" he wrote. He added an extra "I love you. I love
you, I love you" to the middle of the song.
Paul pranced around on the stage after
"Back in the USSR" holding the Hofner in the air and
screaming, "OW, OW, OW!!! He also walked from one end the
stage to the other after "Every Night" waving to the
audience.
"Here Today" was very emotional
for Paul who seemed close to being choked up at it's end. He was
the same when he played "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "My
Love" which he said he wrote for Linda and dedicated to "all
the lovers in the audience." He put his hand over his heart
at the song's end. Linda was mentioned again after "Let 'Em
In." "Today's Linda's birthday," said Paul, which
got a big cheer.
When Paul sang "the movement you need
is on your shoulder" during "Hey Jude" he turned
his head to the right to look over his shoulder. His silly gestures
are evolving during the singalong to "Hey
Jude." When he says, "Now just the men," he takes
a macho stance leaning to one side and making a mock spit. For
the women he wiggled his hips, turned his back to the audience
and wrapped his arms around his torso letting just his hands just
show. He rubbed his sides up and down in a sexy
manner, similating what he would do if he was holding a woman.
He ends the song with. "You were great! You were fantastic!
You were great!" as he points out people in the audience.
As the band left the stage and took their bows, Paul and Abe slapped
each others hands. First facing each other, then Paul turned his
back and extended his hands with the palms up behind him so Abe
could slap them again. This went on for a while and then Paul
put his arms around Rusty and Abe and they walked off the stage.
Paul did a silly in place dance after "Lady
Madonna" that included some twisting and hip wiggling. He
was clearly enjoying the enthusiastic Chicago audience. His face
was beaming from the beginning of the concert when he saw how
much Chicago loved him.
He mentioned that the Martin acoustic guitar
he was playing for "Yesterday" was the same one he used
on the Ed Sullivan show. "It lasted well," he said.
He also said this in St. Paul. The guitar one of two Martins (the
other he uses on "Michelle") has a Detroit Red Wings
hockey team sticker on it he received when he played the Detroit
Olympia with Wings, May 7, 8 back in 1976. The photo of the Olympia
marquee is in on the cover of the new Wingspan book and also in "I Saw Him Standing There."
He screwed up an entire verse on "I Saw Her Standing There,"
but recovered nicely after he checked the teleprompter. Someone
held up a sign that read: "Paul if you give me a kiss I'll
give you a lei." The person threw a fresh flower Hawaiian
lei on the stage after "I Saw Her Standing There." Paul
put it on and pranced around with it then tossed it to Heather
in the photo pit.
He signed a "Driving Rain" CD
booklet and a poster before he left the stage saying "See
you next time!" For some unknown reason there was no confetti
at the end of the show.
The DVD crew was taping fans. Some fans
were asked to specifically hold up certain signs they made to
be captured on video.
After the show, the band minus Paul, relaxed in the lounge at
the hotel and signed autographs for fans into the wee hours.
back to intinerary September 23 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel
Energy Center At River Center
Paul's
limo was greeted by a handful of fans who had figured out the
right place to wait. Police kept the fans from getting near the
car which drove in at 5:05pm. The fans were on the wrong side
of the car so Paul opened up the window on that side to wave and
also stuck his hand out to wave over the top of the limo.
Macca's voice was in great
shape. He wore a dark sport jacket, blue jeans and the red long-sleeved
T-shirt. The jacket was removed after the first five songs.
The stage banter was the
same as the Milwaukee show with Paul keeping to his stories about
the songs and his "mass-sage" experiences on tour. The
setlist was the same as Milwaukee.
Paul out did himself on "Maybe I'm Amazed" with the
help of Wix who started to 'act out' the song at the end of the
last tour with exaggerated gestures and animated lip-synching
to Paul's vocals. He did so in Milwaukee and it will probably
continue on this tour. He is very amusing to watch and it's a
wonder that Paul doesn't burst out laughing during the song. The
song is very emotional for Paul who wrote it for Linda but he
doesn't introduce it as such at the shows. Wix helps Paul through
the song by his silly stage antics which are worth watching.
Paul choked up on "Here Today" and was close to tears
by the song's end.
Rusty broke a guitar string
in the middle of "I Saw Her Standing There." Both Paul
and Brian looked at each other trying not laugh as they watched
with amusement to see how Rusty would
handle it. Rusty pulled it off without a hitch.
Someone held up a sign
which read: "Happy Birthday Matt " and Paul sang happy
birthday to Matt. An excellent audience sign read: "St. Paul
Loves Sir Paul".
He recalled
forgetting he was in Pittsburgh on the 1990 tour and welcomed
the fans instead to Detroit by saying "People of Detroit!"
The audience had no reaction causing him to realize his geographic
mistake. He solved the faux pas by saying, "People of Detroit,
you are not. People of Pittsburgh YOU ARE!!!" Then he welcomed
the St. Paul audience as "People of St. Paul, Minneapolis,
WISCONSIN!"
Paul signed five autographs for a mixture of albums and programs
at the end of the show.
back to intinerarySeptember 21 - Milwaukee,
WI - Bradley Center (EXCLUSIVE!!!! OPENING SHOW)
Paul opened his "Back in the US" tour to a sold out
audience at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
"She's Leaving Home"
was the new song, never performed by Paul that was added to the
show after "My Love." Dropped were, "C Moon,"
"Vanilla Sky," and "Mother Nature's Son."
Besides "She's Leaving Home," "Let 'Em In"
and "Michelle" were added.
Paul flew into Milwaukee
on Thursday night, September 19 and stayed at the Pfister Hotel.
He had a full dress-rehearsal at 3pm that day. Security was so
tight that no one was allowed in except his crew. The Pfister
Hotel decided to move Paul and Heather to a private lake house
in the Milwaukee western suburb of Lac Labelle on Friday. He was
seen buying Colgate whitening toothpaste at Fitzgeralds drug store
in Whitefish Bay. The sales clerk said, "I'm surprised you
even brush your own teeth." Paul told her, "I put my
pants on like everyone else." He and Heather went shopping
at the Boston Store which is in a shopping mall on Friday, the
day before the show. They were also at Bruegers Bagels eating
lunch and signed autographs for the starstruck crowd there. Paul
spent some time sailing on Lake Michigan while in Milwaukee.
On Saturday, September
21, he came in at 11am to do a soundcheck and left. He returned
at 4:45pm and greeted the 50 + waiting fans with a thumbs-up and
pointed at the various signs made by fans while a video crew video
taped the arrival. Paul slowly drove by the fans and was holding
his cell phone. The crew was also videotaping fans at the concert,
so expect some footage of the second leg of the tour to turn up
on the DVD though the crew said it will not be on the "Back
in the US" DVD coming out in November. Other sources say
that Milwaukee and Chicago will indeed show up on the "Back
in the US" DVD.
Paul was in good voice
and the band was tight. The show was basically the same except
for the song changes. It began at 8:10pm with the circus pre-show.
Paul did the same stage banter about "mass-sages" and
explanations about "Here Today" and "Something."
Paul appeared to have gained a few needed pounds and wore a red
long-sleeved T-shirt, gray striped pants and a shiny shark-skin
tux jacket. Same stage clothes from the first leg. His hair was
a natural, dark color and was cropped short. He seemed a bit nervous at the beginning of the
show and relied heavily on the teleprompter for the song lyrics,
but he still managed to screw up the words to "Getting Better"
not once but twice in the song. He loosened up half-way into the
show.
Heather was in the photo pit for most of the show and left briefly
just before "Can't Buy Me Love" and returned after "Live
and Let Die." Paul introduced her as his "lady love
Heather" when he dedicated "Your Loving Flame"
to her. He also said that he wrote "My Love" for Linda
and put his hand over his heart when he finished the song.
After "Let Me Roll
It" he said, "It's getting hot in here." The women
screamed as he shoved the bass between his legs and slowly took
off the jacket.
For his intro to "Driving
Rain" he said that when he had a day off from making his
new album in Los Angeles he took a drive up Pacific Coast Highway.
Then he corrected himself and said, "It was a few days off.
I lied about it last time."
His intro to "Blackbird"
was much the same but this time he said, "In England we call
girls, birds. But we'd call them other things too!"
Before "Fool on the Hill" he played "massage mood
music" on piano and told the story of the Japanese masseuse
who serenaded him with "Yesterday." He demonstrated
by massaging his right arm up and down. Then he told the story
about the New Orleans masseuse who told him to imagine he had
a bronze hollow leg and the neck of a giraffe. It brought howls
of laughter as it did on the previous leg.
For "Michelle"
he said, "John was older than me and remained that way for
a long time." He talked about him and George being invited
to party with John when John was an art student. Paul said he
bought a black turtleneck to blend in with the 'sophisticated'
students and sat in a corner playing guitar and singing songs
in French to impress people. Years later John asked to record
that "silly French song" he used to sing. "So it
did work out," he said. Behind him the video screens showed
stills photos from France.
He thanked the Milwaukee
crowd saying, "Thanks for making us feel so welcome."
He also referred to the natives as, "Milwaukee-ans,"
"Wic-sonians" and "Wis-consians."
For the "Let 'Em In"
intro he said, "This is a song about people. You will recognized
the names." Behind him were vintage black-and-white videos
of huge crowds running in and out of buildings and videos of marching
bands from the '50s era. He bounced up and down on piano bench
at the end with a big grin on his face.
The main floor was mostly
on it's feet for the entire show but "Band On the Run"
got everyone up on their feet and rocking.
After "We Can Work
It Out," someone held up a sign that said "Paul Today
is Adam's Birthday." Paul read the sign out loud and sang
an a cappella speeded-up version of "Happy Birthday"
to the sign holder and said with mock-annoyance, "That's
IT! It's Adam's birthday Paul! OK, Adam are you happy now?"
Wix introduced "She's
Leaving Home" as a song that Paul has never played before
and that the Milwaukee audience would be the first to hear it. The band including
Abe joined Paul at the front of the stage to sing harmonies on
the song. Paul held the Hofner almost as a prop because he hardly
played a note on it. Macca nailed the high notes. The audience
stood in awe, almost in shock to hear the song and when it ended
there was a thunderous applause. There was an abstract video montage
with a portrait of a non-descript woman in profile shown behind
him.
Rusty mentioned eating at Usingers, a sausage place on Old World
Street in Milwaukee. He also mentioned Brady Street which is known
for it's clubs and live music.
After "Lady Madonna"
Fans were treated to Paul dancing in place and doing the twist.
He also leaned over the top of the psychedelic piano and struck
a pose.
The pyrotechnics for "Live
and Let Die" were considerably punched-up. The explosions
included flames that shot over five feet in the air from portable
flash pots on the stage. The heat could be felt as high up as
the nose-bleed section.
Paul began "Hey Jude"
with a quick rendition of "Baby Face" as the fake-out.
When he conducted the singalong he made of point of saying, "All
the people from Liverpool sing." Some enterprising American
fans brought British flags and Liverpool scarfs fooling? the very
observant Macca. He even asked them if they were really from Liverpool
and they told him, "YES!" At the song's end a few items
were tossed on the stage and Paul selectively picked up a white
University of Wisconsin (Madison) cap with a red "W"
on it. He pointed to it as he held it up and walked off the stage
with it.
For the encore Paul came
out waving a large American flag and wore the red "no more
land mines" T-shirt. Rusty had the Wisconsin state flag and
Wix had a tiny British flag on a stick. Wix had placed an American
flag on a microphone stand that a fan had thrown onsage. Paul
picked it up and tossed it over his shoulder, wearing it as he
marched across the stage.
When Paul finished the
final song and took bows with the band, he walked from one side
of the stage to the other looking for things to sign but nobody
tossed anything up. Someone had a Hofner that Paul spotted and
asked for but the person with it couldn't get it to the stage.
He then walked to the other end of the stage where someone held
up an album and he looked at it and shook his head as if to say
"No." Then he said, "See ya next time!" and
left the stage waving.
New T-shirts with new photos
and an updated program with new photos from the last leg were
onsale.
Sorry that
I've not written back before but life out here on the "Back
In the US" leg has got hectic; we've been out on the road
for 30 days now and we've already got 16 shows under our belts.
And whilst that's not quite the whistle-stop rate of the early
Beatles tours, we're not exactly hanging about. What is especially
cool out here on this leg is that the show is going down so stormingly
we're breaking house records in all the places we've played -
15 cities we've done and we now hold the house records in every
one of them. Maybe we've got something here. And the crowds are
getting so loud! We played in Oklahoma the other night and you
could hear them all yelling OVER the PA. If that keeps up we're
gong to have to up the power by another million watts just to
hear ourselves on stage.
You've probably
heard by now that we've changed the set around a bit on this leg,
adding "Let 'Em In," "Michelle" and "She's
Leaving Home," and I'm very gratified to see that these "new"
songs are going down well. You can kind of judge that by the sight
of all the couples holding each other and swaying in their own
private smooch during the songs. It's good to see that. Good that
you're reaching somebody to the extent that they're oblivious
to all who are around them; a bunch of waltzing figures in the
crowd, just dancing in their own private love bubble as we soundtrack
their moment. Makes you feel like "The Wedding Singer"
up here onstage. But that's OK; the privilege of touching you
guys is what it's all about.
And I'm chuffed
that "Freedom" is going down so well now. It was a crowd-rouser
on the "Driving USA" leg, but now there's so many flags
out there in the crowd and so much honest fervour for the spirit
of the song that you feel like you're at a Fourth of July rally.
That's humbling, giving America a little song on which it can
vent the passion we all feel over the reasons that made me write
that song. As I've said, we're all in this together.
One of the
great things about the way this tour is panning out is this new
band of mine. They're not only so into it up on the stage, but
all of them are good enough musicians to be able to cope when
the whim strikes me to throw something unscripted into the set
- like we did the other night in Houston when we suddenly launched
into "Midnight Special," seemingly appropriate for the
lyric 'And if you ever get to Houston, you better act right'.
It's a number we'd been doing at the sound check and it fitted
the moment. I like to ring the changes like that; like when we
played some nights back in St. Louis on the night of John's (Lennon's)
birthday. I was introducing "Here Today," the song that
I wrote for John, and the crowd just stood in this unending ovation
at the mention of his name. So I thought, OK, this is a bit crazy
but let's all sing "Happy Birthday" to John. Here. Today.
Now. That was moving for me. We did another change in St. Louis
(New Orleans Paul!) when my old mate from the Wings days, Thaddeus
Richard, came backstage as a one-man brass section. We got him
up to play on "Lady Madonna," which was cool.
Cool too is
the news that on the first day, on-sale for the tickets to our
coming Tokyo and Osaka (shows), they sold 170,000. It's always
good to play Japan because I know the fans are into it all down
there. But I also know that the stewards at the gigs like to keep
everyone in their seats, because that's the accepted way - be
polite, be respectful and stay in your seats and clap. Between
you and me, I've got a feeling that we should give them stewards
a shock this time around. Never mind what the rules say; how about
WE say that we break the rules and you guys in Japan party and
bop as much as you want to. Let your hair down, guys; and if they
give you any problem with their rules tell them Paul said it was
OK to holler and leap about. Don't worry about 'convention', pass
the word and let's keep it among ourselves - give the stewards
a Mac Attack. I'll back you up; nobody ever got busted for dancing
at a rock show.
And anyway,
the more you enjoy yourselves - whether it be in Japan or Oz or
anywhere - the greater your chances of getting in this film that
we're making out here on the road. We've got camera crews out
there in the audience every night filming the wildest of the wildness.
And although we've already filmed a lot of the American crowds
on the first leg for 'Back In The U.S' - the DVD of the tour (both
front of stage and backstage) that we've got coming out with the
live album on November 26th, little is it known that we are STILL
filming for something special besides. I'm very excited by this;
we're filming now for a secret website that's going to be accessible
to everyone who buys the DVD. I'm not sure I'm allowed to tell
you this yet, so don't say I said it. But what happens is this
- you buy your DVD, which is a cool little insider view of life
on this tour, plus the best of the gigs, and then you put the
DVD into your computer and because the DVD will be encrypted,
it'll get you into this secret website that'll be full of stuff
happening now or that which has yet to happen. I'm very into that
- for the cost of the DVD you get this constant memory of the
gig with this built-in ticket to the future. And anything is going
to happen up there on that site; there will be extra songs from
sound check that nobody's seen before; there's a lot of takes
of a lot of you fans interviewed by our cameras, there's going
to be a whole special show that will be shot totally in private
just for you and other stuff that we're working on now. As I say,
we're filming at every gig for this website, so if you want to
try to get featured on it, get yourself noticed. I'm sure you'll
find a way...........
One last thing;
the promoters tell me that by the time we get down to Australia
for the Melbourne gig, we'll have sold just under one million
tickets. That means somebody in Oz is going to buy the Millionth
Ticket. And I hear there's a whole bunch of surprise treats -
like flights to see a show outside of Oz and more - in store for
whomever gets that millionth ticket. Good luck. I hope it's you.
Anyway, I've
got to go and do a show now. Nice talking to you. Let me hear
any feedback you've go on this and any ideas for what you might
like besides. See you soon at the gigs.
Seattle sighting - Music great Paul McCartney, in town for his concert at the Tacoma Dome (Oct.
19), left two Seattleites on Cloud Nine. Mike West of the "Fisher
and West Mountain Morning Show" still can't believe his producer
Lee Calahan was able to arrange for him to meet McCartney before
the concert.
West says, "I assumed
it was a group meeting. But, when I got there, an aide said, 'No,
man, you're it.' I walked into the dressing room and found candles,
a bottle of Merlot and two chairs."
McCartney put West at ease
and they chatted for 15 minutes. West mentioned that his 16-year-old
son, Michael, plays drums and wants to study at McCartney's Liverpool
School of Performing Arts. As West was leaving, McCartney told
an aide, "Make sure we've got Michael's number."
Also telling McCartney
stories is Chai Mann of Fox's Gem Shop. A fellow walked into the
Fifth Avenue store Saturday and told Mann that "someone famous"
wanted to buy a watch. Two problems: Mr. Famous had to have the
watch engraved by 4 p.m. and he needed a private room where he
could wait.
Mann says, "I told
him we could do it. But I couldn't imagine why he had to have
a private room." A car pulled up and, to Mann's surprise,
who should appear but McCartney. The musician waited in Mann's
office while the watch, gift for a band member, was inscribed:
"Happy Birthday, Barrie. Love, Paul and Heather."
Chicago sightings - Lead guitarist extraordinaire,
Rusty Anderson and always fabulous keyboardist,
Paul "Wix"
Wickens hung out in
Chicago an extra day to catch Bruce Springsteen's concert at the
United Center (September 25) where they played the night before
with THEIR "boss." Paul
was in New York for
the UN Awards so he missed Brooooooce!!
On the morning of the Chicago show (Sept. 24), Heather Mills
was visited by a local musician/saxophone teacher at the Ritz
Hotel who was told he would be giving a music lesson to a visiting
celebrity. The song that Heather practiced was "Fly Me To
The Moon."
Paul McCartney is planning a historic gig for 500,000
fans in China's Tiananmen Square. The ex-Beatle will be one of
the first Western stars to play in the Communist country, beating
his old rivals The Rolling Stones by a few months. Sir Paul -
currently touring the US - is finalizing details for the gig,
in the capital Beijing. He also plans to play Red Square in Moscow.
The New Year concerts could get a total audience of one million.
Tiananmen Square achieved notoriety when it was the scene of the
brutal massacre of peaceful protesters in 1989. The few stars
to have played in China include French musician Jean Michel Jarre
in 1982 and Wham! in 1985. Madonna was banned from playing in
1993 because she was deemed too raunchy. A tour insider said,
"They will be two of the most important gigs ever and will
provide a message of peace and love in a world experiencing some
crazy times." The Rolling Stones are planning to play a huge
gig in China next spring. --
The Sun
For the first
time in his solo career,
Paul McCartney is to release a DVD that
candidly reveals the intimate backstage life on the road, alongside
a 2-CD live set of his most triumphant tour since The Beatles.
The three-hour "rock
`n road movie" will take fans right inside Paul McCartney's
acclaimed current tour, giving access to all areas previously
kept private from the public -- going inside the dressing rooms,
seeing scenes from the back seat of his personal limo and even
aboard his chartered jet.
The "Back In The U.S."
DVD will also include performances of Paul and his new band at
sound check that have never been shown before -- plus footage
of more than 30 classic songs filmed at shows all across America
and presented in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound.
"This feels like a
very special tour and because of that we wanted to film not only
the great shows we've been enjoying but also reveal to people
what we're doing when we're not doing the show. There are a lot
of private moments on the DVD -- it'll be like a backstage pass
to the intimate zones where most people never get," said
Paul, who has just started "Back In The U.S.," the second
leg of his 50-date American tour.
The "Back In The U.S." DVD will be released by Capitol Records
on November 26th -- together with a "Back In The U.S." double CD that features a 36-song set list
of new live recordings from the all-hits show that has rocked
America.
The 36 songs on the new
2-CD live album will be: "All My Loving," "Band
On The Run," "Back In The U.S.S.R.," "Blackbird,"
"Coming Up," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Carry
That Weight," "C Moon," "Driving Rain,"
"Every Night," "Eleanor Rigby," "The
End," "Freedom," "Fool On The Hill,"
"Getting Better," "Hello Goodbye," "Here
Today," "Here There And Everywhere," "Hey
Jude," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Jet,"
"Lonely Road," "Let Me Roll It," "Live
And Let Die," "Let It Be," "Lady Madonna,"
"The Long And Winding Road," "Mother Nature's Son,"
"Maybe I'm Amazed," "My Love," "Something,"
"Sergeant Pepper," "Vanilla Sky," "We
Can Work It Out," "Your Loving Flame" and "Yesterday."
"We recorded the album
at various shows on the first leg of the U.S. tour in the spring
and I'm excited by the sound that we've got with this new band
of mine," said Paul McCartney. "I wanted the album to
capture the spirit of some magical nights on the road as a lifelong
reminder for the great crowds who shared them with us."
Alongside Paul in the Back
In The U.S. band are Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray on guitars,
Abe Laboriel, Jr. on drums and Paul "Wix" Wickens on
keyboards.
Paul McCartney's Back In
The U.S. tour opened in Milwaukee on Saturday, September 21st,
and will play through Chicago, Hartford, Atlantic City, Boston,
Cleveland, Indianapolis, Raleigh, St. Louis, Columbus, New Orleans,
Houston, Oklahoma City, Portland, Tacoma, Sacramento, San Jose,
Anaheim, Las Vegas and Los Angeles before ending in Phoenix on
October 29th.
Following the end of his
American tour, Paul McCartney will perform in November in Mexico
City, Tokyo, Osaka and Melbourne, Australia.
More McCartney Milwaukee
sightings - The Pfister Hotel decided to move
Paul and Heather to a private lake house in the
Milwaukee western suburb of Lac Labelle on Friday. The house belongs
to guitarist, Daryl Steurmer, formerly of Genesis.
Paul was seen buying Colgate whitening toothpaste at Fitzgeralds
drug store in Whitefish Bay. An 80-year-old woman shopping in
the store noticed Paul buying the toothpaste and asked another
shopper, "Doesn't that gentlemen over there look like Paul
McCartney?" The women who happed to be Heather Mills said,
"Yes, that's my husband and he will be entertaining in Milwaukee
tomorrow night". When Paul paid for the toothpaste the sales
clerk said, "I'm surprised you even brush your own teeth."
Paul told her, "I put my pants on like everyone else."
Macca enjoyed the warm Wisconsin weather kayaking on Lake Michigan
while Heather shopped.
He and Heather went shopping together at the Boston Store (which
is in a shopping mall) on Friday (Sept. 21), the day before the
show. They were also at Bruegers Bagels eating lunch and signed
autographs for the starstruck crowd there.
Paul's limo stopped on a side street near the Pfister Hotel on
an outing before his show. Observant fans in the area ran over
to the waiting limo where Paul was more than happy to sign autographs.
Star Tribune, Milwaukee
-- Paul McCartney was
singing "Coming Up" like it was a command performance
for the queen. Never mind that there were maybe only 30 people
listening to his sound check Saturday afternoon at Milwaukee's
cavernous Bradley Center. He was animated, enthusiastic and clearly
into it.
Accompanied by his four-man
band, McCartney did Wings tunes, a Beatles song, even an old blues
number and a Tex-Mex treatment of "Midnight Special"
for a handful of security guards, stage crew and hangers-on. It
was obvious that he was having much fun making music with or without
an audience.
Meet the Happy Beatle.
Saturday was opening night
of the Back in the U.S. Tour, the second leg of McCartney's U.S.
tour this year. It brings him to Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul
tonight.
During the sound check,
he was checking the sound of his bass, guitar and other instruments.
"This piano sounds
a bit loud to me," McCartney announced after doing "Let
'Em In." But then he decided the sound would be fine when
the arena was filled with 18,000 people. "All these people
steal piano noise; it's a well-known thing in Milwaukee."
After the sound check McCartney
talked in an interview about the tour. "Just 'cause it's
opening night, you get a little nerves but not badly," he
said. "I'm very happy with the band. So it's more excitement
than nerves. It's exciting, man. Back on the road!"
He was glib and charming,
as expected. He was earnest and garrulous, which wasn't expected.
He discussed the next Beatles project for 2003 as well as an unearthed
Beatles piece that might be coming sooner than that. He talked
about John, George, Ringo and Linda. Most enthusiastically, he
talked about his current tour.
Originally, he was going
to do only a spring tour and then perhaps make another album.
But he changed his mind: "I just enjoyed playing with the
band so much. So I said, 'We'll take a few months off -- more
than most people get -- go get married and then get back.' We
got back. Back in the U.S."
Lesser hits
Those big brown eyes are
unmistakable, especially when he arches his eyebrows in tandem
to make a point. With his trim build and his tousled dark-brown
hair sheared shorter, he almost looks younger and less tired than
he has in recent years. Despite lower jowls and crow's feet around
the eyes, the Cute Beatle still has strikingly good looks.
For the interview in a
small, cramped VIP room backstage, McCartney's personal photographer
was there, snapping shots of an occasional animated expression
on one of the most-photographed faces of the past 40 years. McCartney's
longtime personal publicist, Geoff Baker, was there, too, jotting
notes and running his tape recorder for posterity.
McCartney explained why
he cut three songs from the set list -- "Mother Nature's
Son," "C Moon" and last year's "Vanilla Sky"
-- and replaced them with "Michelle" and two other popular
Beatles pieces.
"There were a couple
lesser hits that I'd put in on purpose, actually, to give people
a chance to go get a beer and take a pee. So now there's no chance,"
he joked.
Since McCartney is having
so much fun performing, will he wait another nine years (he last
toured in 1993) before going on the road again? Or would he consider
traveling as the bassist in Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band,
which tours every two or three years with a new cast?
"Yeah, I'd consider
anything," he said of the Starr tour. "It's a matter
of what I fancy. We got into music to try to get out of the routine
of having a regular job. In actual fact, it can get like a regular
job; it can get worse than a regular job sometimes. At least,
we fooled ourselves into thinking we were free, that we'd escaped
all the irons of bondage of normal life. I still feel like that.
If I fancy touring, I will."
Along the way his investments
in song publishing and other ventures made him into "a businessman,
the very thing I was trying to avoid. But it's great. I love it.
I'm very happy with how I do things. It's very made up, it's a
bit of an ad lib. I'm not a great analyst or theorist."
2 weddings and...
This has been a busy year
for McCartney: He performed at the Super Bowl and at the Academy
Awards; he had an art exhibit in his hometown of Liverpool; he
is doing two U.S. concert tours; he turned 60; he had two weddings
(his own to Heather Mills, and one of his daughters married [sic]);
he has made a live CD, TV special and DVD (all coming out in November),
and he became a paperback writer of "Wingspan," a photo-heavy
look back at his 1970s band Wings and his early solo career (which
arrived in stores last week).
What motivates him at this
point of his life?
"I really should be
very jaded and very blase and fed up with the whole thing by now.
But I'm not," he said. "I'm really excited to go on
tonight. It's really surprising because life is supposed to knock
it out of you. It doesn't seem to have gone that way with me.
I don't know why.
"I am Gemini, and
they're supposed to be here, there and everywhere. I have lot
of interests. Sometimes I think it would be more seemly to just
have one -- but that's not me."
In the autumn of 2002,
McCartney, the Rolling Stones and the Who -- three of England's
biggest rock names in the '60s -- are on tour in States. Who would
have thunk it?
"Not me," he
said.
He pointed out that all
three acts were raised onstage and all participated in the Concert
for New York last fall to raise money for victims' families and
to raise everyone's spirits after the Sept. 11 attacks. For McCartney,
that show was the test to see if he wanted to tour, although he
had originally planned a gig in Russia before that fateful day.
The next Beatles project
will be a 2003 reissue of the "Let It Be" album without
the orchestration conceived by berproducer Phil Spector. "That
was how I originally wanted to hear it," McCartney said.
Meanwhile, "Carnival
of Light," an outtake circa "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band," will be used on a soundtrack to a movie of Beatles
photos taken by McCartney's late wife, Linda.
"It's the only avant-garde
recording the Beatles ever did," he said, explaining that
a friend had asked him to write it for a "hippie happening."
"It's 15, 16 minutes. I did a lot of music like that privately.
Some people would call it a lot of plinking and plunking and banging
and shouting."
Is there other Beatles'
stuff in the vault?
"There's lots,"
he said. "We used to joke after 'Anthology' that the next
album would be called 'Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel.' There's
all sorts of things but I'm not sure whether they'd make records."
Like the Beatles, Linda
McCartney is still very much in Paul's life. What is it like for
him to perform songs by Wings -- which was the band he started
with her -- for the first time without her?
"That's sad, and that's
difficult," he said, his voice sounding somber for the only
time. One thing that makes it easier, he said, is that he has
new musicians, except for holdover keyboardist Wix Wickens, who
has a lava lamp onstage in memory of Linda.
"It's five years since
she passed away. Time is a healer. I just remember the good stuff,"
McCartney continued. "It's the same as with John. I do a
song I wrote for John. Some nights it's impossible to get through;
some nights it's just lovely and emotional. It's life at my age.
Paul McCartney says he started out planning to keep the concerts
on his "Back in the USA" tour short - just about 90
minutes - but the set list kept growing. -- Journal Sentinel
When McCartney opens the second leg of
his American tour tonight at the Bradley Center, fans can expect
a show running at least 2 1/2 hours, with as many as 36 songs,
spanning the various phases of his career.
"There was a play in London called
'Art,' " McCartney said in a backstage interview at the Bradley
Center on Friday. "Have you heard of that? It's a funny little
play. The great thing that everyone said about it was it's short.
Wow. A short play. That really is like a bonus, you know. You
don't sit in the theater that long. It's not like a three-hour
epic.
"With that in mind, I thought if people
are really sort of pleased that show is so short, maybe I don't
have to do as much as I was intending to. . . . So I came with
an intention of doing an hour and a half. That'll be it.
"At the same time, my problem, which
is actually a great problem, is a lot of people love the Beatles,
and then a whole new generation loves Wings. I have a lot of people
say, particularly people in their thirties, say, 'I like Wings
better than the Beatles.' That always surprised me."
The rock legend says his current tour has
had the feel of a giant class reunion, but it also spans three
generations.
Sept. 11, McCartney said, also had something
to do with it. People were ready to come together for a shared
positive experience.
McCartney's theme song for the movie "Vanilla
Sky" has been dropped from this leg of the tour, but his
Sept. 11 anthem "Freedom" is still in the mix. He's
not sure it'll stay in the set list when he takes the tour overseas.
McCartney admitted he hasn't had much chance
to hear what other musicians have done in response to the terrorist
attacks.
"To tell you the truth, I haven't
heard a lot of it. I've heard about it," he said. "I've
heard Bruce (Springsteen) has done something really good. I would
expect him to do something really good. I know Neil (Young) did
something, but I'm not really that familiar with it. You're a
writer to respond to stimulus."
Parts of the current tour have been recorded
for a DVD/double-disc CD and TV special to be released
the week of Nov. 26.
back to intinerary
f you think
Wings deserves to be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
Should WINGS
be nominated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? There's a debate
amongst Beatles/Paul McCartney fans whether Wings is covered by
Paul's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a "solo
artist." Does Wings qualify as a band and are they worthy
with a string of number one hits during the '70s? Should its band
members be recognized for their contributions?
FOR THOSE IN THE UK: "Back
in the World Live 2002" Double CD Click here
oncert at London's Royal Albert Hall, Eric Clapton
had the crowd on its feet to a standing ovation with the words,
"Ladies and gentlemen, Ringo Starr!". Harrison's former
fellow Beatle ran on stage to tumultuous applause. He saluted
the crowd and said, "What a night. I loved George and George
loved me." He then sang "Photograph," which he
co-wrote with Harrison, as Clapton, Jeff Lynne and Dhani played
guitar. After a rendition of one of Harrison's favorite songs,
"Honey Don't," many of the crowd were dancing along.
Starr then grabbed the mike and again brought the audience to
its feet with the words, "It gives me great pleasure to introduce
another friend of George's, Paul McCartney!" 
After a 30-minute intermission four members
of Monty Python: Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael
Palin, (no John Cleese) plus Neil Innes (Rutles).
Flower petals fell from the ceiling at
the end of the show.
Paul and the band were
staying at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Osaka. In the early afternoon
the band signed for fans at the back entrance of the hotel. Everyone
thought Paul would also come out and sign, but Paul instead went
out the front entrance and frantic fans tried to run through the
hotel lobby to the front but were stopped. Paul 's limo left the
hotel at 2:30pm for the Osaka Dome. Two fans ran after the limo
and got autographs.
Paul's English was translated into
Japanese and projected on the video screens in real time, but
it lagged too far behind. Paul asked the audience, "Do you
understand what I mean? There are eight translators backstage."
Paul said he was going to say something the translators didn't
expect him to say and said, "A dog slipped on a banana! "
The translators wrote, "the dog SLEPT on the banana!"
All three shows in Mexico City were
sellouts. The day of the last Mexico City show, they announced
on the PA system "NO HAY MAS BOLETOS" (No More Tickets)
A local newspaper's headline for
November 4 read, "PASA PAUL DE CABALLERO A REY DESPUES DE
SU SEGUNDO CONCIERTO" (Paul from a knight to a King after
his second show). Geoff Baker was heard backstage saying that
the first show in Mexico City "was the best concert of the
whole tour."
Before the concert Paul did a 20-minute
interview with "EL CLUB DE LOS BEATLES" Mexico's answer
to "Breakfast With the Beatles." The Mexican radio show
has been on the air for 30 years. He talked in Spanish and English.
",
he messed up the lyric in the first verse that goes, "But
all I could ever do was fill my time with thoughts of you",
by saying "But all I could ever do was fill my THOUGHTS with
thoughts of you." He giggled when he screwed up.
"My Love."
Rusty did his fall at the end of
"Live and Let Die" and during "Freedom" Paul
walked over to Rusty's microphone to sing vocals with him.
When Paul came back after for the
last set he struck a boxer pose, shadow boxing, with coach Wix
encouraging him.
The preshow started late at 8:20pm.
ge
cheer. The cheer turned into a few boos when the video screen
camera zoomed in on the guitar to reveal a Detroit Redwings (hockey
team) logo on it, a rival of the St. Louis Blues. A surprised
Paul said "I'm not quite sure I get that?" 
minutes), "Celebration"
(Paul on piano playing just the instrumental piece from "Standing
Stone" with wix on organ), "Let It Be," "C
Moon," "Midnight Special," "Here, There and
Everywhere," "You Never Give Me Your Money" (with
Paul singing all the words correctly), "India" (short
version), "Hey Jude" (abbreviated version), "Lady
Madonna," and "Live and Let Die." The sound check
lasted an hour.
the
guitar up with the opposite arm. He also did the fake intro to
the song singing, "As I was walking down the road..."
Fans egged him on to do more and he had fun interacting with two
fans in the third row begging him to continue as he kept a stern
face, shook his head and mouthed "no" several times.
We didn't know that was going
to happen. Where did you get all the flags?"
intro
of "Baby Face" (without finishing it) before "Hey
Jude. When Paul conducted the singalong and said "now just
the ladies" he saw some men singing and repeated, "Just
the LADIES!" 
ey
Jude." When he says, "Now just the men," he takes
a macho stance leaning to one side and making a mock spit. For
the women he wiggled his hips, turned his back to the audience
and wrapped his arms around his torso letting just his hands just
show. He rubbed his sides up and down in a 
sexy
manner, similating what he would do if he was holding a woman.
He ends the song with. "You were great! You were fantastic!
You were great!" as he points out people in the audience.
Paul's
limo was greeted by a handful of fans who had figured out the
right place to wait. Police kept the fans from getting near the
car which drove in at 5:05pm. The fans were on the wrong side
of the car so Paul opened up the window on that side to wave and
also stuck his hand out to wave over the top of the limo.
amusement to see how Rusty would
handle it. Rusty pulled it off without a hitch.
t. He seemed a bit nervous at the beginning of the
show and relied heavily on the teleprompter for the song lyrics,
but he still managed to screw up the words to "Getting Better"
not once but twice in the song. He loosened up half-way into the
show. 
t to hear it. The band including
Abe joined Paul at the front of the stage to sing harmonies on
the song. Paul held the Hofner almost as a prop because he hardly
played a note on it. Macca nailed the high notes. The audience
stood in awe, almost in shock to hear the song and when it ended
there was a thunderous applause. There was an abstract video montage
with a portrait of a non-descript woman in profile shown behind
him.
Jorie Gracen