Paul McCartney

I was privileged to be able to see the Paul McCartney show in Minneapolis last night.  Probably the last time he tours here.  He was showing his age, much frailer looking than when we last saw him about ten years ago, and the voice has lost its power.  But the band is great, many of the same people from the last tour, with a horn section added.  The previous concert was heavy on Beatles, with a fair amount of McCartney solo.  This one was McCartney letting out his inner rocker on many of the songs. It was much harder than you usually see with McCarney and it gave a great new edge to many of the McCartney songs.  And there were still a fair number of Beatles hits.  Probably wouldn’t have gotten so much criticism for being a pop lightweight if this had been the original versions, but I never was bothered by his approach.

The band was very tight; the sound system left much to be desired, an indoor football stadium is not the ideal place for a concert.  The place was packed, completely sold out, and McCartney will give you your money’s worth.  The songs were an interesting mix.  Live and Let Die was jarringly out-of-place with the rest of the set list, particularly given the wars around the world, the video imagery was pretty inappropriate.  Some really magical moments.  The uplifting yet sad, solo McCartney and guitar Blackbird.  The entire audience spontaneously sang along to Something.  And of course, Let it Be and Hey Jude got the usual audience participation.  I do have to say that I was reminded that the lyrics for many of the songs are very simplistic, certainly. not where a Dylan was.

But, as I said, a privilege to see such an icon of popular music and my youth, one whose music has immense staying power.