The magic of the Beatles and of
music - how do you TOP that? - legend. Paul enjoyed playing to the Hampden
crowd, and paused over the entrance moment while a lead was fixed.
He often
makes eye contact, not only do you feel the love and that he adores doing the
live shows. As with the Beatles songs, it all feels personal even in this
massive crowd. Many songs (and not only Hey Jude) were about the audience
singing along with that communal live gig experience.
He did most
of the classic Beatles I hoped to hear 'Eleanor Rigby', 'Blackbird', 'A day in the Life' that became 'Give Peace A Chance'...'I've Got
a Feeling', 'Paperback Writer', more, more... some with the full band, some with
only Paul and guitar, and some at the grand piano.
Paul likes
to rock it up and I was thrilled to hear 'Day Tripper', 'Back in the USSR'
and 'Get Back' as encore songs. They
also performed 'Yesterday' with only
Paul and guitar, and 'Mull of Kintyre' with a school Pipe band backing the
band. We felt the hot flames of
fireworks for 'Live and Let Die.'
Songs
included 'Rock n Roll it To You' a
tribute to Hendrix. He paid tribute to
his band mates Lennon and George. He talked of George's ukulele and his version
of Harrison’s perfect 'Something' was very moving I thought. . At
one point he said that he never would have thought growing up he would ever
talk with the Russian Defence minister, and he said to Paul, 'We learned
English through the Beatles songs.' Paul's music isn't about sending out any
idealist message - more about the love and peace we might all hope to share,
and having fun with life!
As
McCartney pulled from his vast back catalogue of songs I wondered could there
possibly be more classics to hear and oh yes there are! He took to piano for his moving slower songs
- 'The Long and Winding Road',
'Let It Be', 'And I Love Her' - his tribute to Linda. He made many guitar changes, from an original
Beatles guitar to a Gibson fender. His
comment was - 'well I have them all so I might as well show them off!'
His band
seemed to enjoy playing with Paul and they performed for two and a half hours,
and the set covered the whole range of Paul's music, through early Beatles to
Wings. The music brought back the 60s
and those origins of pop music. Paul
seemed as full of love and life and music as ever, and I can feel that sense of
'magic' that was part of the Beatles there on stage.
I met my
old primary school friend for the gig, and we sat on the grass near Hampden for
a picnic. We used to listen to all the
Beatles albums many moons ago - her older brother had the entire collection,
and I can remember how in awe I was of both their music and album covers! Her
brother sadly died of motor neuron disease several years ago so I am sure the
gig was very poignant for her.
We had tears at 'Let It Be' - for
those remembered. Simply the best sure enough.
It has been a dream hoping to hear Paul live
one day, and to hear those songs I
have loved for so long, to take photos just an incredible experience and my
ultimate dream. I thought I never would.
Thank you Paul for the dreams.
Unforgettable.
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