McCartney's experience counts for a lot in meaty gig
Fenway Park, Boston, August 6, 2009
Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz
Paul McCartney may be a member of The Beatles, and he may be 67. So what? Because when it came to dishing out an engaging, well thought out and exciting show, maybe experience counted for something but not all.
In the second of two nights at the home of the Red Sox, McCartney played the same set list he has during a few recent U.S. shows, but there was no doubt from the get go that this was going to be a fresh, entertaining and captivating show that included everything from a slew of Beatles songs to Wings to more recent solo material.
McCartney deserved tremendous credit for sculpting out an excellent set list. The show made a lot of sense from start to finish, never flagging and seamlessly mixing material from different parts of his career. It could have been easy to dismiss the more recent material, including Sing the Changes and Highway from "The Fireman," but that would have been a big mistake. Chances are the material was unfamiliar except to the diehard given the fact that folks like McCartney aren't big on the radio these days, but that did not mean the material is second rate.
If worried that playing Yesterday, Let It Be or I Saw Her Standing There would somehow sound dated, forget it. McCartney and his band ensured that. First of all, McCartney was in tremendous vocal shape the entire night. His voice lost none of its luster. He hit the high notes and was energetic throughout switching mainly between guitar, bass and piano. He put his heart and soul into the material.
His backing band certainly helped, ranging from Rusty Anderson, who was strong on lead guitar, keyboardist Paul Wix Wickens, guitartist/bassist Brian Ray and timekeeper Abe Laboriel Jr. They did not offer a paint-by-the-numbers of the reading on anything. The show really kicked into high gear starting with Band on the Run, kicking right into a rocking Back in the USSR with Beach Boys like harmonies towards the end. McCartney acknowledged the age of the song. "It doesn't even exist any more," he said of the country
McCartney was a genuinely warm performer. He connected with the songs through several stories, including how George Harrison gave him the very ukulele he played tonight on Something. He started playing the song for a while with the uke before switching to acoustic.
McCartney explained that Here Today was his take on a conversation he never had with his friend John Lennon in which he said there are "so many things you can't say to people in your relationship to them. "
McCartney did not need to rely on many concert tricks either to bring the music alive. He offered firepots going off and fireworks on Live and Let Die, which was entirely appropriate and energized the crowd even further. Otherwise, it was pretty much a backing screen with some films and lighting effects without resorting to being over the top.
McCartney ended the second encore with smartly with the reprise of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and The End. The former includes the line "We hope you have enjoyed the show" and the latter "And in the end/The love you take/Is equal to the love you make." Thanks to the love shown by McCartney, the answer to the question from Sgt. Pepper's was a resounding yes.
