Saw
Paul McCartney probably the greatest songwriter of the rock era. It’s
one of the bucket lists of artists I wanted to see in my lifetime and
with the artist at his age, you’ll never know if there will be another
opportunity to see him play live.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/paul-mccartney/2023/allianz-stadium-sydney-australia-63a01a5b.html
Various thoughts of the gig
-
Setlist is a fair mixture of The Beatles's career and his solo career
(around 50:50) and gives a good cross-section of his career including
his underrated 2000/2010 era.
- There was an extremely deep cut
Beatles-related song that was played throughout the tour “In Spite of
All the Danger” which was The Quarrymen demo only found in The Beatles
Anthology Volume 1. It was quite ballsy of him taking the backing vocals
and setting up a singalong moment with the audience (ala Hey Jude)
considering most people in the audience wouldn’t have recognised the
song.
- It was fun hearing him perform songs where the other Beatles
take the lead vocals in the studio version. I knew that Paul McCartney
liked to sing George Harrison’s Something Live due to its presence in
his earlier live albums (It was present in both Back In The US and Good
Evening New York City). It was a huge surprise hearing him sing “Being
For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!” which was a track where Lennon took lead
vocals in the studio album.
- Looking at setlist.fm, he pretty
much played the same setlist for the entirety of the Australian tour but
surprisingly there was some change in the setlist likely due to him
doing two concerts in Sydney to create some variation for people who
attended both concerts. The presence of Queenie Eye, Coming Up and A
Hard Day’s Night was a welcome surprise.
- “Here Today” was probably
the best performance by Paul McCartney that night as there is added
value of it being performed live at this age compared to just listening
to a studio performance. This is because, for the majority of the gig,
it was elderly men playing young people’s music. However, this tribute
to John Lennon’s death is far more touching coming from an 82 yo man
with an aged voice. It created an atmosphere of a person towards the end
of his life reflecting on people who have passed away. His introductory
speech talking about the male stoic culture that prevented him from
ever expressing his true feelings when John was alive and he was able to
express the emotions that come from the wisdom of age.
- My
favourite moment is “Dance Tonight” from Memory Almost Full (Probably my
favourite solo album) I suspect I was the most excited person in the
stadium regarding him playing it
It- Great to see Lennon/McCartney
duet with Lennon on the big screen during “I Got A Feeling”. It is noted
that Peter Jackson who directed the Get Back documentary was present in
the audience and was credited with this idea.
- There was a
recognition from McCartney that the audience was predominantly there for
The Beatles material. He stated that when The Beatle's songs were being
played he saw phone lights and people recording and when his late
career solo songs there was darkness producing a laugh from the
audience. He then stated that he would still play his more recent song
regardless leading to the performance of “Queenie Eye”
- The loud
pyrotechnics in “Live And Let Die” with loud explosion/bang was well
done and McCartney produced a feign heart attack
- I’m reminded of
Lennon’s lyrics of “I seen religion from Jesus to Paul” during the
performance of Hey Jude where it’s essentially become Paul McCartney’s
hymn. Having the entire crowd singing the “na na na” section became
almost a spiritual experience being there in person that can’t be
reflected in any bootleg or live recordings.
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