There are very few people from the early Rock and Roll era that still have the stature and drawing capability of Paul McCartney. Heck, few contemporaries have his stature. And at 70 years old, he still has a lot of the charm and attitude that he had 50 years ago. "
These days he mostly plays small runs of five to seven dates and mostly baseball stadiums in America. But along with Minute Maid Park in Houston and a few dates in Canada, he placed St. Louis at Scottrade Center on his "On the Run" tour, with it being the first date and first in St. Louis since 2002. And his drawing power was strong, "selling out" within minutes. Though I went a week later on Ticketmaster and got seats. Expensive, but worth it to see Macca.
And naturally it was raining steadily Sunday night. Paul must bring something when he comes to St. Louis as when the Beatles played the original Busch Stadium in 1966, it was a down pour that helped spur the Beatles away from live gigs on the road. And to make matters even better, I-64 was out and traffic on Market street was backed up horrendously. I eventually got out of the car, so I wouldn't miss anything.
I marched through the rain, made it in, got a piss in a still had ten minutes to spare til 8 PM. I knew I was going to be "behind" the stage, but thought more parallel. Oh, well, still fairly close and a video screen right up top for us. And my dad was able to verve off and find a parking spot and made it in, before McCartney hit the stage, a little before 8:30 and the place looked very much sold out, even in the upper levels all around.
He came out, energetically and opened with Magical Mystery Tour, a pretty good choice for an opening song for him and his four piece band. Macca spent most of the night playing his Hofner bass, but also played electric guitar, acoustic, piano for several numbers throughout the night switching back and forth and he played the ukulele on Something, which I was expecting in his tribute to George Harrison.
And he still had the humor from his Beatle days to match his energy. In greeting the audience, he was saying St. Louie instead of St. Louis, till he asked the proper way to say it. The crowed roared, "Yes," when he said, "St. Louis." To which he replied, "Okay, now I know." Which I told my dad later, he probably got, from listening to Chuck Berry. Listen to Sweet Little Sixteen and Back in the USA...
And my favorite moment was during a guitar switch, he took a good natured swipe at the practice of constantly switching guitars out. "...It's just to show off. We have them...And this guitar was used on the recordings..um for this next song, before kicking into Paperback Writer..."
He took his jacket off after about six songs, saying, " This is the only wardrobe change of the evening." And later when his drummer was dancing, he said, "The only choreography of the evening," and later added, "Wardrobe changes and choreography what more do you need?
A real shock was the only pyrotechnics, which blasted away during Live and Let Die, which really made sure everyone was paying attention. Afterwards, running down the stairs, he tripped to the ground.
One other cool feature was during Band on the Run, they set the lights up to make it look like a bunch of bars around the stage. Then, during the tempo change after, "...If we ever get out of here," they busted down.
Set List
Magical Mystery Tour
Junior's Farm
All My Loving
Jet
Drive My Car
Sing The Changes
The Night Before
Let Me Roll It> Foxy Lady(instrumental)
Paperback Writer
The Long & Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Maybe I'm Amazed
I've Just Seen A Face
And I Love Her
My Valentine
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vandebilt
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back in the USSR
I've Got A Feeling
A Day In The Life>Give Peace a Chance
Let It Be
Live & Let Die
Hey Jude
- - - - - - - - - - -
Lady Madonna
Birthday
Day Tripper
Get Back
- - - - - - - - - -
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
The biggest highlights for me, was that he played one of my very favorite Beatles songs, I've Got A Feeling, and my favorite solo song of his, Jet and the biggest surprise song, was Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, which I wasn't expecting. And he still kept the lyric flub as in the original recording, "...And Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face..."
Naturally after we were on our way home, Dad did his usual figuring out which songs, McCartney didn't play. With "his" Beatles songs, Wings and solo songs, there was going to be no way he hit all of them. Even at nearly three hours and 37 songs. The only real surprising omission was he didn't play I Saw Her Standing There.
He played the majors, Yesterday and Hey Jude, which everybody was rightfully singing along to. There would be something seriously wrong with you if you weren't. And he left on the very appropriate Abbey Road medley of Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End, another highlight for me. "There's a point which the show has to end." To which some crowd members were shouting, "No," to which Paul cheerfully replied, "Yes," several times.
It was a good time, even with shoddy weather and not super great seats. Again, I don't know what sane person, could hate these songs. And in the end, I've seen a Beatle.
Post Dispatch review and Riverfront Times review.
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