Yep. He is something else live. i missed this tour - I heard he did "Too Many People" from Ram, and "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window." Catch me. Jeff - as a musician - what would it be like to have written that catalog of songs? I mean, most people or bands are luck to get one good song that people know. But Paul Freaking McCartney has MOST of the good rock and roll songs that people know. It is just so skewed. When you watch him, its almost like wrote them ALL. To be carrying around "Hey Jude" "Let It Be" "Sgt. Pepper" etc. in your backpoakcet, as your setlist, and as throwaways to fill out a show, stuff like "Helter Skelter" or "I've Got A Feeling" or "Live and Let Die." His D-list material is still 50 standard deviations better than most everyone else's A-list stuff. He could play a 7 hour show of songs most people really feel strongly about. And by the way, watching him simultaneously sing those melodies while playing totally baffling basslines is something to see live. I would love to see him play Obladi, Oblada live, i wish he would mix that in some year. I would love for your speechlessness to end and get a full review and description!
glad you had a good time but man i'm so jealous. i wanted to go but i wasn't willing to pay the ridiculous prices tickets were going for after scalpers got their hands on them. i just hope he does another tour so i can see my favorite musician at least once.
Jeff, Glad to hear it. Catching his concert in Dallas tonite - lots of pub, interviews in the paper ahead of time. Can't wait. He's high on a list of music icons I want to see perform live before I leave this planet ...although I not planning on leaving anytime soon D R
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/front/3473018 McCartney soars to higher level Show ranges from latest album to pre-Beatles days By MICHAEL D. CLARK Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle The Beatles 101 class is over. On his current tour, Paul McCartney has taken his two-hour-plus stage show to a much more advanced level, and he brought a sold-out Houston crowd along for the ride. Three years ago, McCartney came to the U.S. with a career-spanning, greatest-hits set built for even the most casual fan. Saturday at the Toyota Center he returned in support of his new album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, and a broad-based set list of songs culled from his days in Wings, the Beatles and even his pre-Beatles band, the Quarrymen. For the die-hard crowd of fifty- and sixty-somethings that made up the majority of the audience, McCartney served up some lesser-known Beatles favorites such as I'll Follow the Sun and Good Day Sunshine for the first time in a long time and possibly for the last time ever. The influential pull that the Beatles and McCartney had on rock 'n' roll could be seen in the faces of the fans. Tucked between all the adults were listeners of all ages, including two shirtless kids with McCartney's initials painted on their torsos, rocking out as though they were watching Nickelback or Staind. McCartney gave them plenty of memorable moments and even whipped up a few daring song choices. Magical Mystery Tour wasn't as effective an opening song as Hello, Goodbye was three years ago, but it did offer an enormity to the occasion heightened by the deafening audience screams in between verses. McCartney's risks provided some of the best and worst moments of the show. The decision to feature forgotten solo song Flaming Pie as the second song briefly broke the early rush of momentum. But the skiffle-influenced guitar and harmonica harmonies of I'll Get You (the flip side of She Loves You in 1963) was the audio equivalent of finding a forgotten $100 bill in a pants pocket. You didn't realize it was lost until you found it. Among the most enjoyable early songs were two that McCartney called "smoochy songs": Til There Was You and In Spite of All the Danger, both of which date to his days in the pre-Beatles band the Quarrymen. In those moments, the joy on McCartney's face as he relived his past reminded listeners of a younger artist, an enthusiastic musician who once was seen with John, George and Ringo working a hard day's night in British and German clubs more than 40 years ago. "I'm speechless. It was the greatest concert I've ever been to", said McCartney fan, Jeff Balke. "I'm not ashamed to say I cried like a little school girl from the moment he came on the stage and all the way to my car after the concert. I'm going straight to the tattoo palor and have his name tattooed on my ass."
ROTFLMAO!!! Nice. CBF: I know what you mean about his catalog. A couple of friends of mine and I were joking the other day saying, "I wonder if he ever sits around and says to himself, 'Dude, I'm freaking Paul McCartney!!!'"
My aunt that lives in League City went to this concert although she has seen him in concert a time or two before at least. My mother was supposed to go down there and go with her but I do not know what happened to that plan. She also has seen him in concert before.
Paul is probably the greatest in his genre as far songwriting goes. It truly is amazing. I was thinking about this a while back when he and Elvis Costello were writing. Because who can write with Paul, and say, "you know what, I don't like that part I think we should change it to something else." Obviously if Lennon was alive he was able, but who else? Costello is probably the only person on the planet I can think of. I like the songs they wrote with each other. But for anyone to collaborate with Paul seems pretty difficult.
no words. . no words. . .they shuold have sent a poet - jodie foster in Contact Did you make CONTACT Rocket River
Hofner bass, baby. He made it so famous other bass players are scared to use them! I understand your reaction Jeff. It's great when you see a live show that inspires you. I will probably feel the same way after seeing the Stones for the 3rd time (but first time in a basketball arena) on 12/1. Another thing....don't the acoustics in the Toyota Center just blow away the acoustics in the Summit/Compaq Center? I've seen two shows at Toyota Center (Simon and Garfunkel, Van Halen) and the acoustics in the Toyota Center are just phenominal.
There's a reason why only Paul used those Hofners. Toyota Center sounds incredible. It just kills the Summit sound-wise. By the way, what a crazy list of songs. I mean, the guy pulled out some weird one's like I Will, Cry For No One, Good Day Sunshine? Awesome. When they did Band on the Run, I knew the acoustic guitar thing was coming. I even saw the guy with the acoustic guitar, but I was just not prepared for hearing it like that in a live setting. The feeling I got watching the show was similar to when I went to the Smithsonian exhibit that came through Houston. It was hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that I was looking at the ACTUAL PLANE the Wright brothers made their first flight in and the ACTUAL HAT that Abraham Lincoln wore. It took my brain a while to realize that this was actually Paul McCartney live in person playing Blackbird on the acoustic guitar he played on the Ed Sullivan Show. Crazy.
