Yet another Oakland review (long)
maclen
I wrote this last night... well, early this morning actually:
THE ARRIVAL
I took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to the Arena. It was the A's
season opener as well, so a lot of people went that route. There were
some delays due to the amounts of people using the BART stations. I
got in line to get in at around 7:45 and made it in at around 8:00. I
didn't really have time to get any souvenirs (I'll get them tomorrow
at the San Jose show!), but I noticed that a basic t-shirt cost $35.00
and programs cost $30.00. Long gone are the days of $15.00 t-shirts!
Security was tight. Being a guy, I don't really know how it is with
purses, but I had to take everything out of my pockets, including
loose change, and show it to the security person. She was extremely
nice though. My recommendation: Get there early! If you want to get
souvenirs, and a hot dog, then definitely get there early.
THE SEATS
I was in lower level section 105. Not terribly awesome seats, but
really good ones with a good view of the whole stage.
THE PRE-SHOW
This was unlike anything I've seen for a rock concert. While everyone
was getting in, a Miles Davis-like music was playing. It may have
been the Arena's default, but the "festivities" kicked in with a tape
of a song found in the Oobu-Joobu series. Unfortunately, I didn't
have time to look for it, but I will today when I get back home from
work and post it, if no one else has already. When that ended, a cast
of characters dressed like….. Do you remember the "masquerade" part
from Phantom Of The Opera? Well, that's what it reminded me of. I
counted 7 characters initially, and they came through the crowd. It
included a lady dressed Victorian-style, and a guy with a suit and an
umbrella. They came in to the first couple of tunes from "Rushes"
(The Fireman). The video screen had images of a forest, blue sky and
clouds, a couple of old-time structures, and an Indian motif (this
happened throughout the opening set). Eventually more characters came
in, including a carnival strong man, a flamenco dancer, and some
Chinese dancers (I think it was Chinese), and they did a sword dance.
A person on stilts did a pretty amazing routine, and some statues came
to life and left through the crowd. 6 people holding a giant balloon
each also came in throught he crowd. The balloons had blue sky and
clouds designs on them. There was an acrobat doing "somersets on
solid ground"!! Very Cirque-Du-Soleil-like, as people holding colored
flags also came through the crowd and jumped onstage.. An image of
Paul's bass came on screen as the cast of characters left the stage,
and a silhouette of Paul. I think it was actually him coming onstage.
The place was going nuts!! The opening set took about 20-30 minutes.
THE SONGS
Paul took the stage wearing a dark grey, long-sleeve shirt and black
slacks. He started the show with "Hello, Goodbye". I never would
have guessed it! The rendition was flawless and Paul's voice was in
top shape.
The band quickly segued into "Jet", one of my all-time favorite songs.
Having never seen Paul in concert, I was really hoping he'd play it.
I wasn't disappointed thank goodness!
They quickly cranked up "All My Loving", which got a great reaction
from the crowd. The big screen was showing Beatlemania footage during
the song.
Paul switched from the bass to his beautiful lefty Gibson Les Paul, as
he told us how he had written the next song in the sixties, but had
never performed it live, and that this was the first time it was to be
performed in public. The band then started playing "Getting Better".
I almost soiled my trousers (sorry for the graphic comment! : )
NEVER actually expecting to hear this song.
Paul switched back to bass and they did "Coming Up". One good thing
is that at the end of the "horn" solo, (played by Wix), he didn't do
that ultra-cheesy "ray-gun" keyboard effect! I missed Linda here for
the first time. Remember he would say "Yeah!" when Paul said "you
want peace and understanding".
Paul switched back to his Les Paul and played "Let Me Roll It",
another big surprise for me, I don't know why. I didn't expect him to
play that song actually (and where was Denny!?).
Paul switched back to bass as he rolled up his sleeves and commented
on how warm it was getting. He announced that they would be playing
some new songs from Driving Rain next, and they played "Lonely Road".
This is a great song that comes across even better live.
Paul then talked about how when they were recording the album in
Southern California, they went for a drive in an older convertible on
the Pacific Coast Highway, and that event inspired the song "Driving
Rain", which again, sounds great live. The video screen even showed
part of the lyrics! (12345 and 678910)!! : )
Paul made the first band introduction. He introduced the drummer, Abe
Laboriel, Jr. He actually spoke as Paul went over to the piano (stage
right, audience's view). Abe looks like WWF wrestler Tazz, for those
of you who know that type of stuff. The band then played "Your Loving
Flame".
ACOUSTIC SET
Paul strapped on his acoustic steel-string, as he was introducing the
next song. He talked about how in the 60's, back in England, he would
read about all the civil rights stuff going on in the US. How in
England they call girls "birds", so the next song was about a black
(or colored as they called them back then) girl. He went ahead and
played "Blackbird". Makes sense, you know?
Next, he played "Every Night" inviting everyone to join him for the
"ooo" part of the song. Nice crowd reaction. This lady behind me and
I were trying to sing in harmony with Paul!!
Next, he played "We Can Work It Out". He struggled for a while there
to hit the higher notes, but did an excellent job.
Wix joined Paul onstage with an accordion, and they played "Mother
Natures' Son". Flawless performance again.
Paul then switched to a nylon-string acoustic. Rusty joined him with
a steel-string, and Wix went to keyboards. Paul explained how Cameron
Crowe approached him to write a song for a movie (he asked Cameron
Crowe "who are you?! : ) Then they played "Vanilla Sky" complete
with footage from the movie. I thought the movie kind of sucked.
Two of the carnival people (the strong man and a guy dressed
Victorian-style), brought a brightly colored "music box" (turns out to
be an electric piano), and he played a "You Never Give me Your
Money/Carry That Weight" medley. Paul forgot the words during the
middle bit of YNGMYM, and changed the lyrics stating so! Pretty
funny. The piano had a "Rhodes piano" sort of effect.
He then played "The Fool On The Hill" with Wix playing the other
keyboard (the flute part). The screen showed footage from the Magical
Mystery Tour part, while the giant screen showed Paul playing. It was
interesting to see Paul then and now. At the end of the song, Paul
played a few seconds of ambient stuff while saying softly into the
mike "welcome to your massage…" Pretty funny. Everyone got a chuckle
out of that.
Paul switched back to acoustic guitar and played his John tribute
"Here Today". He said that sometimes, in life we don't know quite
what to say, and that he wrote the song after John died. Very
heartfelt and touching.
Paul switched to ukulele!!! He talked about George and how he was a
really good ukulele player; how every time after a get together, he'd
bring out the ukulele and start playing. One time Paul told George
something like "hey, look what I can play" and played "Something" in
the ukulele. As weird as it sounds, this was just perfect. A perfect
tribute without being cheesy. Very moving. After he was done
playing, Paul said that George told him "no, that's not how it is!"
and George took the ukulele and played him a sped-up version, more
Hawaiian-like version! Very classy.
Paul swiched back to acoustic, and along with Wix on keyboards and
Rusty and Brian (?) on backing vocals, they did "Eleanor Rigby". I
will talk more abut this later, but Wix really held the whole thing
together, in my opinion.
The whole band came onstage again, albeit with an "unplugged" feel
(Wix on keyboards, Rusty on guitar, Brian on bass and Abe on drum…
yes, one drum), and they did "Here, There and Everywhere". Really
beautiful rendition.
Paul switched back to bass, and the whole band went "electric" again,
and they played "Band On The Run". The video screen showed footage of
Wings on the road, a lot coming from "Wingspan". Rusty apparently
broke a string during this song.
The band then played "Back In The USSR". The crowd sang along to the
Beach Boys-like harmony. Really cool, rocking version.
Paul introduced Rusty Anderson as he walked over to the piano. Rusty
got some words out, and they played "Maybe I'm Amazed". Much to my
delight, Paul didn't really attempt to do the high-pitched part,
opting to sing it straight instead. Don't get me wrong; his voice was
in top shape, but that's a pretty difficult vocal to do, the way it is
in the original studio version.
Paul stayed on the piano and played "C-Moon". After they played the
song, he told the story of the meaning of "C-Moon". He told how that
50's song by Sam the Sham, "Wooly Bully" (sp?) had the lyrics "L 7',
meaning a square, so Paul thought, "What's the opposite?" hence
C-Moon.
While still on the piano, the band played "My Love", "for all the
lovers out there". One of my favs.
Paul introduced Wix as he switched back to bass. Wix was strapping on
a guitar saying how Rusty taught him 5 chords, and that he was going
to use them all of them on the next song. The band did "Can't Buy Me
Love" to a great crowd reaction.
Paul switched back to acoustic and the band played "Freedom" with
Statue of Liberty animation on the video screen. Some people were
waiving their American flags during the song. I must say that I' was
never a fan of the song… until last night! The crowd response and
great sing-along gave me a great memory, of which I'll think every
time I hear the song! Great one!
Paul then introduced the second guitarist/bass player Brian Ray (?).
I didn't quite catch the name, so I thought that was it. He said that
his dad is from the area….. OK…
With Paul back on the piano, the band played "Live And Let Die"
complete with explosions and pyro. I think I'm the only person ever
to cheer Paul with a "Dio" hand sign, and to headbang to one of his
tunes. (Yes, I am a Heavy Metal fan).
As a contrast to the previous song, with Paul still on the piano, the
band played "Let it Be". Some people broke out their lighters, as the
video screens showed little flames too. Rusty played the solo with
the guitar effect George used on the single version of "Let It Be".
The same two carnival characters brought back the "music box"; Paul
commented that he was going to talk to the strongman regarding his
steroid use (he was wearing a muscle body suit), but the muscleman
just kept doing his job. Paul chuckled and said "he doesn't care!".
The he played a second of more of the ambient music from before and
again said "time for your massage…", and then the band started playing
"Hey Jude". This was the obligatory highlight with the obligatory
sing-along (this side, that side, just the men, just the ladies,
everybody). I thought I was dreaming!
At this point, the band left the stage, but returned a few minutes
later for their first encore with Paul waving an American flag and
Tazz… er, Abe waving a California flag. With Paul on the electric
piano, the band played "The Long And Winding Road". The video screen
showed footage of… long, winding roads.
Next came "Lady Madonna", with pictures of several famous women
including Tina Turner, Janis Joplin and Lady Diana.
Paul switched back to bass and they rocked the house with "I Saw Her
Standing There". Everybody was on their feet dancing (or
headbanging!). They were pretty loud at this point. The band waved
goodbye…
…Only to come back a minute later for the second encore. Paul gave
kudos to the band. Paul and Wix played "Yesterday". I was wondering
when the heck he was going to play this! A dream come true, to see
the man performing one of his greatest tunes. I was in such freakin'
awe! Wix rules!
Paul went back to his Les Paul and they played "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band (reprise)". It was a rocking version. They segued
into…
…"The End". Everybody was pumped and they brought the house down.
Abe kicked butt during the drum solo. Paul took his solo parts
obviously, Rusty took George's solos and Brian (?) took John's solos.
Rusty was playing an SG, and Brian anther Les Paul. It was great!
At this point, Paul brought the entire "cast of characters" onstage,
and basically said goodbye. Glitter fell from the rafters and covered
everyone on the floor level. THIS WAS AN AWESOME SHOW. DON'T MISS
IT!!!
THE BAND
There has been talk on the merits of having a horn section and all,
but Wix more than makes up for it. In my opinion, Wix is the glue
that held the whole thing together. Rusty is a Gibson man. He's
really good and played everything to perfection from my point of view.
This is probably better than the band from his previous 2 tours, and
that band was top-notch too! Going back to Wix, though, it's no
surprise he's a veteran of 3 McCartney tours now, and probably the one
that has played with Paul the longest, other than Denny and Linda of
course. Wix was the sleeper hit of the show.
Paul is an awesome performer. He looked really fit and healthy (and
wealthy!). His voice was in top shape! I am amazed when I think of
how old he is, and how his voice holds up. I pretty much sang all the
songs along, and consider myself to be a pretty decent singer with
good habits, but I have no voice now!
MY OWN WORDS
Even though I was a bit disappointed that he didn't do anything from
"Flaming Pie, this was a dream come true. I've been a fan since 1980
when I was 10 years old. I remember when "Coming Up" came out, and
was amazed at how Paul could play all of the instruments. I'm going
to the show in San Jose tomorrow night (7th row!!!!), and the Vegas
show on Saturday. Doing this (multiple shows) is very
uncharacteristic of me, but I had to do it for Paul. I got a lot out
of last night's show, as you can see, and for that I'm very grateful.
It's money well spent. It's not everyday you can see a genius and a
legend play his songs to perfection with a top-notch band. This is
indeed a historic tour.
Comments? E-mail me at mac...@hotmail.com
Johnny Savage
Please post on the other shows you see, if you are able.
Thanks!
Johnny
U-S-A!
Ian Jones
You said it all... Fantastic show. (And I agree that he should have done
something from Flaming Pie -- but you know what they say about leaving 'em
wanting more... :) )
</unlurk>
Ian
Ian
+----
"Money can't buy poverty." -- Marty Feldman
Please check out my homepage at http://members.aol.com/IanDJones
(Remove ".org" from my email address to reply.)
Charles
comments to yours below...
"maclen" <mac...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:82bf693d.02040...@posting.google.com...
> Paul switched back to his Les Paul and played "Let Me Roll It",
> another big surprise for me, I don't know why. I didn't expect him to
> play that song actually (and where was Denny!?).
At one point during the song (I believe it was at the end of one of the
verses leading into the chorus), Paul played a great lead guitar riff that I
haven't heard on other live versions. This really got the crowd going!
> Wix joined Paul onstage with an accordion, and they played "Mother
> Natures' Son". Flawless performance again.
This sounded great with the accordian accompaniment! Paul pointed out that
Wix had purchased the accordion he was playing from a shop in Italy for a
"very reasonable price".
> be an electric piano), and he played a "You Never Give me Your
> Money/Carry That Weight" medley. Paul forgot the words during the
> middle bit of YNGMYM, and changed the lyrics stating so!
This was kind of amusing, but I wondered if he had really forgotten the
words or if it was rehearsed. He substituted the forgotten words so
seamlessly and without stumbling that it almost seemed planned. I guess
we'll know if he does the same thing throughout the rest of the tour. :)
> Paul switched to ukulele!!! He talked about George and how he was a
> really good ukulele player; how every time after a get together, he'd
> bring out the ukulele and start playing. One time Paul told George
> something like "hey, look what I can play" and played "Something" in
> the ukulele. As weird as it sounds, this was just perfect. A perfect
> tribute without being cheesy. Very moving.
This was a really touching tribute. During the song, the video screens
showed pictures of George, and as the song ended, the screen zoomed in on an
image of George's "director's chair" with "George Harrison" printed on the b
ack of it. (I forget where this footage is from; maybe from one of the
Beatles press conferences during their touring days?) I was in tears by the
time it ended.
> Paul swiched back to acoustic, and along with Wix on keyboards and
> Rusty and Brian (?) on backing vocals, they did "Eleanor Rigby".
Actually, I remember the backing vocals being sung by Rusty and Abe (with
Abe standing up front at Brian's microphone).
> The whole band came onstage again, albeit with an "unplugged" feel
> (Wix on keyboards, Rusty on guitar, Brian on bass and Abe on drum…
> yes, one drum), and they did "Here, There and Everywhere". Really
> beautiful rendition.
Was Wix on keyboards or accordion? I'm already starting to forget, but I'm
pretty sure Wix played accordion on two songs, and I think this was the
second one.
> Paul switched back to bass, and the whole band went "electric" again,
> and they played "Band On The Run". The video screen showed footage of
> Wings on the road, a lot coming from "Wingspan". Rusty apparently
> broke a string during this song.
I wasn't close enough to notice the broken string (I was in the nosebleeds,
Section 105, Row 27), but the band's arrangement of this song requires an
instrument change after the "if we ever get out of here" part.
> Paul introduced Wix as he switched back to bass. Wix was strapping on
> a guitar saying how Rusty taught him 5 chords, and that he was going
> to use them all of them on the next song. The band did "Can't Buy Me
> Love" to a great crowd reaction.
That was pretty funny, although this was not the first time Wix has played
acoustic guitar on-stage with Paul. (He played acoustic guitar on "Another
Day" on the '93 tour, if I remember correctly.)
> Paul then introduced the second guitarist/bass player Brian Ray (?).
> I didn't quite catch the name, so I thought that was it. He said that
> his dad is from the area….. OK…
Yup, Brian Ray is his name. He was a recent addition to the band and didn't
play on the "Driving Rain" album. According to the tour program, Paul had
not had an opportunity to play with Brian until rehearsals for the tour
began.
> …Only to come back a minute later for the second encore. Paul gave
> kudos to the band. Paul and Wix played "Yesterday". I was wondering
> when the heck he was going to play this! A dream come true, to see
> the man performing one of his greatest tunes. I was in such freakin'
> awe! Wix rules!
Just an observation... Paul used his Epiphone acoustic for this one
(right-handed, but strung and played left-handed, so that the pickguard is
on top). He used a Martin for all the other acoustic numbers. Apparently,
he always uses a different guitar for "Yesterday", because it's tuned down
one whole step.
> …"The End". Everybody was pumped and they brought the house down.
> Abe kicked butt during the drum solo. Paul took his solo parts
> obviously, Rusty took George's solos and Brian (?) took John's solos.
> Rusty was playing an SG, and Brian anther Les Paul. It was great!
With Rusty, Paul, and Brian playing the guitar parts, the bass part was
apparently being played by Wix on keyboards, as was done on the 89-90 tour.
Overall, the performances were excellent. Paul's vocals were in top form.
I thought he sounded a lot better than at the NYC concert. Also, I thought
Rusty Anderson was pretty good. At times I prefer Robbie McIntosh's guitar
playing for its expressiveness, but Rusty's playing kind of has a harder
edge to it that reminds me of Jimmy McCulloch, which I like.
The only (slight) disappointment was that I wish Paul had played more solo
stuff. Here is my breakdown of the setlist:
20 songs from the '60s
10 songs from the '70s
2 songs from the '80s
5 songs from the '00s
Except for "Here Today" and "Coming Up", he completely ignored 2 entire
decades, the '80s and '90s.
That being said, it was still an incredible experience to see Paul for the
second time (first time being 1990 in Berkeley). Last night I was in the
presence of greatness, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity.
Thanks to everyone posting reviews. I really appreciate them because I'm
worried that someday I will forget all these little details about the
concert that made it a great experience. Also, if I've gotten anything
wrong in this article, please correct me. Thanks!
Charles
"See you next time!"