McCartney, On the Run Tour Tonight

[WRGKMC]

I'm finally getting a chance to go see Paul in concert tonight in Houston at Minute Maid Park. I suspect the stadium will be open since the temp is expected to be 72 here during the day. it may get crisp at night of course.

I missed chances of seeing the other Beatles and never quite frankly expected to see any of them at all. About the closest I came to hearing thie music live was to see Beatlemania back in my old High School Auditorium once. That was really good considering it wasnt the actual band. To actually see one of them will be a real treat.

Paul is 70 now, but from what I've read still puts on a dam good show.
He sold out all his shows and his set list wasnt bad. Not thay he has any problem
selecting from all his albums. I'll let you know how it goes. Heres what might be some of the songs they play as per in an earlier show at St Louis show. It includes some songs from John and George too, likely a tribute to his brother musicians who didnt make as long a winding road as he has.

1)

[Vito Corleone]

What a set list, eh?

Have fun. I've seen Paul twice -- once at the LA Forum when he was touring "Flowers In The Dirt" ('89?) and then a couple of years later during his tour at an outdoor venue in Vegas.

That first show still stands as the most amazing concert I've ever been too. Not only was Paul and the band great, but just that feeling of knowing he hadn't toured in so long and that he had never played some of the old Beatles' classics live before. After opening with "Jet" and then doing (IIRC) "My Brave Face" he kicked into the opening chords of "Sgt Pepper" and the place was just electric. A truely, truely awesome experience that still gives me chills just to recall it.

[sailorman]

You're in for a treat. I saw Paul for the first time a few years ago; maybe the 'Back in the US' tour? He was coming to Philly and I thought to myself, 'well, I never saw the Beatles and they are responsible for me playing the guitar, so I should go while I have the chance'. He put on an amazing show especially considering his age. There were some magical spots; first, when he holds up his Epi acoustic and says, "this is the same guitar I played on the Ed Sullivan show" and sings Yesterday. Damn, I remember seeing that on TV as an 11 year old.! Then he spots three little 4 year old girls in the audience dressed in Sgt. Pepper outfits. He has them brought up on stage with the band as they launch into "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" You could see the little girls singing along, knew all the words. That's something I'm sure those kids, or at least their parents, will remember for the rest of their lives. A memorable show.

[WRGKMC]

^^ Yea, its a decent list. I say it has a good 50% of my favorites.
I'm not sinto some of them but its the man doing them so I do value them
in an case. He does change up the songs they play at shows. With so many
songs to choose from and a very tight band to back him I wouldnt be surprised what
they pull out.

Just waiting for my ride. I heard they are going to have the stadium open so
I suspect there will be some major pyro technics going on, We'll see.
Maybe I can snap a few cell phone shots and post therm here.
They have a huge screen so I'm guessing they will come out.
Its supposed to get downto 40 tonight. Thats major winter weather here.
I'm from the NE but after 20 years down here I've acclemated to the
climate here. I figured my winter trench coat will suffice. Rides here
so I'm on my way.

[WRGKMC]

Well, it was quite a concert.

The negatives,
It got cold and breezy last night. November is too late in the season even for Houston.

The sound system sucked,and I dont know what the hell the sound guy was doing.
Mccartney sounded like he was singing through a megaphone and the bass was annoyingly boomy.
You kind of expect that in a stadium but beyond that the sound guy would solo parts way above the
rest of the band which sounded bad. The big screen video was tall and narrow on both sides. Most
of the time the cameras were on Paul. I think they could do some more split screening between the two
and capture more band shots to liven up the visual, but it was what it was. Pauls a superstar and he
is going to be the main man to see.

Material wise, he pretty much stuck to that list I posted. He started about a half hour late, and was
still going when I left abut 11:30 after the first round honcore. I'd say he could have cut about 1/2 hour
out of the show and kept things moving a bit more. 3 hours is a long concert especially when you're 70.

The crowd was a bit lackluster at points too. Paul was kind of begging for an applause at times. I suspect
it was due to post election blues allot of people are having, or the fact it was a mid week show where people
had to fight to get over there after work. It was sold out though. 50K plus field seats. Tickets were $100 and up so
the show brought in well over 7 million for a single show. After expences, I suspect Paul takes in a million or two per show.
Must be nice.

The Positives, He's Paul McCartney. Many of the tunes were still played great. He had a few newer tunes in there I really liked.
It was cool when he'd tell little stories between songs. He had one about a semi hollow sunburst with P90's he strapped on.
I'm not sure what brand it was. The top on it was not flat along the edges like an Epi or Es335. Its probibly hand carved model.
He talked about it being the guitar Jimi Hendrix recorded some songs on then gave to Paul. It said it was the guitar used to record
Paperback Writer which they went into right afterwards.

He alse did some unique versions of tunes. He came out with a Uke and talked about George being a great Uke player and how the two of them
them and wrote the song "Something" playing Ukes together. He played the first verse to the song solo on the Uke then the band came in to finish it.
Not what you'd expect but songs often have odd beginnings.

He did a song before that on a mandolin from one of his solo albums. I cant remember the name but it had a quazi Russian feel to it.
Neat tune.I'll have to dig out my old albums and give that one another listen to.

When Paul did Blackbird solo on acoustic its was just plain killer. He had that one wired and sang it exceptionally well. Afterwards he asked for a show
of hands of guitarists in the audiance who learned or attempted to learn that song and there were a buttload of people who raised their hands.

Live and let die was the biggest climax of the night. They had to have an open stadium for that one with all the timed fireworks and pyro techniques.
The stage itself had gas jets too, front and in back of the band that were all timed to the music and with the video backdrop it really gave it that
James Bond action to the music. The song lifted the audiance up too.

From there he did some more lively beatles tunes, We stuck for 4 songs of the first Encore.
We split when he was just beginning the second Encore playing Yesterday. We were all pretty beat
and had to walk abot 5 blocks to the parking garage. You could hear the music bouncing off the buildings which reminded
of when the Beatles recorded Let it Be on the roof of Abbey Road Studios. I could hear them playing the end of the Abbey road
album when we got in the car which was kind of nifty.

All in all, it was a very good show even with the drawbacks I mentioned. i've seen so many bands in my lifetime,
I cant help but notice allot of technical aspects. I think if they had a better vocal sound and it would have made
a huge difference, but stadium arrays hanging from scaffold suck in most big venues. Its the same thing at Reliant
stadium, and the Astrodome when it was operational. I saw Sprinstein at the old Basket Ball stadium here now the
Toyota Center. The sound was pertty good there, so was the Woodlands which is a semi covered outdoor pavillion.
Stevie nicks, the Guess who and others all had great sound there.

Anyway, thats about it. Got to see the man live which is what counts.

[backtoblue]

Sounds like the show hasn't changed since I saw him recently. We got on the floor at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington (and actually managed to sneak up to the 3rd row for 15 minutes before security caught us ). The sound wasn't half bad from our vantage point, I guess we were close enough to avoid much of the stadium reverberation. It's a pretty emotional show if you're truly a Beatles freak, what with the tributes to John and George. Just the privilege of hearing a song like "Blackbird" or "Paperback Writer" straight from the man who wrote it is pretty awe-inspiring.

[beatpoet]

Originally Posted by WRGKMC

He came out with a Uke and talked about George being a great Uke player and how the two of them
them and wrote the song "Something" playing Ukes together.

Really, or was he just trying to take credit for another Beatles song again?

[WRGKMC]

Sounded like he was jamming with George on the Ukes and George already
had the song written from what he said.

[Goobers]

saw Sir Paul too. {censored}in rocked

[flemtone]

So who was in the backing band this tour?

[Goobers]

 

Originally Posted by flemtone

So who was in the backing band this tour?

 

he usually plays with that fat drummer who's really great.

[WRGKMC]

Looks like the same band he's been using for a long time now.

[Extreme Mixing]

Originally Posted by beatpoet

Really, or was he just trying to take credit for another Beatles song again?

Yes. His catalog is a little thin, so he has to pad it a little.

[Extreme Mixing]

Originally Posted by Goobers

he usually plays with that fat drummer who's really great.

That would be Abe Laboriel Jr. I've recorded him a couple of times. He's a great player. He does things to the Beatles stuff that is really cool.

Steve

[Goobers]

Originally Posted by Extreme Mixing

That would be Abe Laboriel Jr. I've recorded him a couple of times. He's a great player. He does things to the Beatles stuff that is really cool.

Steve

he is fat and great and performs like a mofo!

[LiveMusic]

Originally Posted by WRGKMC

...All in all, it was a very good show even with the drawbacks I mentioned. i've seen so many bands in my lifetime,
I cant help but notice allot of technical aspects...

Hmmm, to each his own, but I was at this show and thought it was super. Although, maybe not quite as good sound-wise as the two enclosed arena shows I also saw but still great. I don't know where you were sitting but I was on the floor. And I certainly would not have said he had to beg for applause. Huh? He did that just as a bit of showmanship, he certainly got plenty of applause all evening. Yep, about a 2:45 show, exactly what I told my date it would be. This is my third time to see him, it was as awesome as before. He can still sing great, even at 70. Same band as he has had last ten years. Super musicians. One thing of note... in Dallas '05, he had an intermission. In Nashville 2010 and at this Houston show, no intermission. Non-stop. BTW, my tix were $450/each, so, he probably grossed more than 7 mil. I was still probably 75-100 yards from him! I could almost touch the soundman. And I bought them soon as it was announced to his email list. I wonder what front row seats cost. How the heck does one get those tix?

[sailorman]

" BTW, my tix were $450/each, so, he probably grossed more than 7 mil."

When I saw him a couple tours ago, I decided to go at the last minute, so had to buy tickets from an online ticket vender eg., legalized scalper. I think I paid something like $150 or so per ticket for seats up on the 2nd level (Phila. Wachovia Center). When the tickets arrived in the mail, they had a face value from Ticketron of $55 bucks.!!! I couldn't believe it. So McCartney's tour was only seeing about 1/3 of my money. Legalized highway robbery. Was still worth it to be there.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally Posted by sailorman

" BTW, my tix were $450/each, so, he probably grossed more than 7 mil."

When I saw him a couple tours ago, I decided to go at the last minute, so had to buy tickets from an online ticket vender eg., legalized scalper. I think I paid something like $150 or so per ticket for seats up on the 2nd level (Phila. Wachovia Center). When the tickets arrived in the mail, they had a face value from Ticketron of $55 bucks.!!! I couldn't believe it. So McCartney's tour was only seeing about 1/3 of my money. Legalized highway robbery. Was still worth it to be there.

Scalpers suck - McCartney rocks though. I've seen him twice, and they were two of the best shows I've ever seen.

[beatpoet]

 

Originally Posted by Extreme Mixing

That would be Abe Laboriel Jr. I've recorded him a couple of times. He's a great player. He does things to the Beatles stuff that is really cool.

 

Top quality player, he knows his way around the kit.