Paul McCartney

I would be negligent in my duties as an Elite Unilocaler if I would fail to mention that Paul McCartney is my absolute favorite musical artist of all times. However, I will stand by my 5 star review of his October 11^th concert, as in my opinion, it was the best concert I have ever had the pleasure of attending. For those fans who were unable to attend, I am sorry to say that you missed a truly historic venue. And speaking of history, for song number 5 (Paperback Writer), McCartney played on the actual guitar he recorded Paperback Writer back in 1966. How’s that for cool?
I consider myself lucky to have seen Paul McCartney in concert in the Superdome back in the early 1993, but his October 11^th show at the New Orleans Smoothie King Center was the one to see. When McCartney took the stage, he did not look, move or sing like a 72 year old man. He played for three straight hours and sang 39 songs without ever taking a break or even getting a drink of water. This guy is a phenom; better yet, a living musical legend.
Everyone knows that Paul McCartney is a talented bass guitarist. But I never knew the skills he had as a lead guitarist. And he treated the fans to something really special as he played lead guitar for several songs. I’m not talking simple chords here. I’m talking about amp howling riffs that would rival the greats. To hear him playing Jimmy Hendrix’s «Foxy Lady» was a real treat, and it sounded bad a$$.
He was very interactive with the crowd and shared stories between songs. He showed his humorous side by announcing as he took off his jacket that this was gonna be his one and only wardrobe change.
It was funny to hear him spouting New Orleans phrases like your mom & dem, Who dat and where y’at. And kudos to him acknowledging Allen Toussaint’s Sea Saint studio her in New Orleans, which is where he recorded «Listen to What the Man Says» when he was with Wings. I grew up only a few blocks from this studio and was lucky enough to have toured the studio as a guest when I was a kid; but unfortunately not when McCartney was there.
He payed homage to John Lennon and sang «Here Today» which was written 2 years after Lennon was killed and described McCartney’s relationship with Lennon in the form of an imaginary conversation But it was his tribute to George Harrison and the accompanying video slide show on the big screens that captured the crowd and showed just how «human» he really is.
The concert was a perfect mix of McCartney’s newer material, his solo material and Beatles hit to appeal to everyone. The crowd’s participation in «Hey Jude» was truly chilling and was something I’ll never forget.
Just looking at the below 39 song setlist has me reminiscing back to October 11^th when all was right in my world.
Set list
1. Eight Days a Week
2. Save Us
3. All My Loving
4. Listen to What the Man Said
5. Let Me Roll It
6. Paperback Writer
7. My Valentine
8. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-​Five
9. The Long and Winding Road
10. Maybe I’m Amazed
11. I’ve Just Seen a Face
12. We Can Work It Out
13. Another Day
14. And I Love Her
15. Blackbird
16. Here Today
17. New
18. Queenie Eye
19. Lady Madonna
20. All Together Now
21. Lovely Rita
22. Everybody Out There
23. Eleanor Rigby
24. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
25. Something
26. Ob-​La-​Di, Ob-​La-​Da
27. Band on the Run
28. Back in the U.S.S.R.
29. Let It Be
30. Live and Let Die
31. Hey Jude
First encore:
32. Day Tripper
33. Birthday
34. Get Back
Second encore:
35. Yesterday
36. Helter Skelter
37. Golden Slumbers
38. Carry That Weight
39. The End