Tonight's Paul McCartney concert was more than I had hoped for when I got on a plane bound for JFK in San Diego last night. The mix of songs highlighted McCartney's rather brilliant career as a Beatle, a Wingman, a Knight and a Fireman.
The band started the night off with fan favorite "Drive My Car", followed that with "Jet" and kept everyone on their feet for the next two and a half hours. At age 67, McCartney is still a force and brings fireworks (literally) to his performance. "Live and Let Die" was incredible live with pyrotechnics adding to the drama of the composition. "Give Peace a Chance" was a great audience moment with everyone instantly singing along. That message, like so many of the messages in McCartney (and Lennon in this case and Harrison) songs, is still very relevant today. "Hey Jude" was another sing-along opportunity as well!
Songs from the latest Fireman album went over quite well and brought up conversations about this week's other first, McCartney's first ever performance on The Late Show with David Letterman.
A tribute to John Lennon and then an even more moving tribute to George Harrison reminded everyone of the greatness of his bandmates who performed at Shea Statdium so many years ago. Paul introduced "Something in the Way She Moves" by first introducing the ukelele he was going to play--a gift from George.
Personally, I choked up during "Let It Be" and allowed a few tears to flow. It was perfect. A later ovation from the audience brought some emotion to Paul too who was playful and jovial for the most part but also grateful to the audience and graceful.
Billy Joel joined Paul for "I Saw Her Standing There" during the encore bookending Paul's appearance at Joel's "Last Play at Shea" performance this past Fall. That definitely a defining NY moment.
This was a great week for Paul McCartney and turned out to be a great week for me as well. I can't imagine that catching tonight's show didn't take a sad song and make it better for a lot more people at the sold out Citi Field.
The sound was great on the floor and in the stands. Paul's band provided a good vocal backing and a solid musical accompaniment. The drummer was particularly impressive though I can't say that I wasn't hoping to see Ringo pop up on stage at some point. Though I hadn't seen Paul perform live before, his voice was strong and given the duration and energy of the show, age or time haven't affected his ability to lay it all down on the stage. If you have a chance, you must see him in this lifetime.
The Beatles, Wings, Paul McCartney and The Fireman were all on stage tonight for the first time at NYC's Citi Field and it was brilliant. It was an honor to be a New Yorker, even for a day.
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