Paul McCartney

[Drunk Monk]

Paul McCartney @ AT&T 7/10/2010

Sir Paul lives up to his legend. What a great showman. What a great show. Predictable, yet satisfying. He does all the hits and played a decently long set. Sold out - 43K was it? Floor started at $250, nosebleed was like $50, next tier was already 3 digits.

The intro was rather annoying - a long (like 30+ min) video montage set to a rave mix of McCartney hits. The stage was fairly unimpressive, just two large banner-like TV screens on either side and another central TV screen behind the stage. He was backed by a 5-piece that could replicate the Beatles & Wings well enough. What more do you want from Sir Paul?

I totally called Jet as an opener (even tho it was second). Paperback Writer made me laugh. Helter Skelter was extremely enjoyable. My fav part was my fav Bond song, Live and Let Die. There was massive pyro during the musical charge, and even a red, green and gold strobe effect for that bridge of reggae before the "give the other fella hell" lyric.

[Drunk Monk]

Sir Paul says he might like to play Candlestick to close it before it is demolished. I'm told he rocked OSL. Might have to get tickets. They will probably cost me more than my mortgage...

Mrs. Dm got tix for me, T & she. She won't tell me how much they cost.

[El Dingo]

Wow. Just Wow.

I have never seen Sir Paul live and would love to go (even though all of my memories of Candlestick are cold, windy and smelly).

I cannot justify the ticket prices so I'll just watch "A Hard Day's Night" with a fan blowing over the kitchen garbage and the thermostat turned to 40 degrees.

[Drunk Monk]

45 minutes to get 1/2 mile on 101 to the 'Stick exit?! $40 for parking?!? Are you fucking kidding me?!?! I'm so happy that they are demolishing the 'Stick. That place is a shithole.

The show was great tho. Truly historic. S's & T's first time seeing Sir Paul (my 3rd). He still gotz it. It was totally worth the exorbitant price that was paid...well, maybe not the parking fees.

Full review forthcoming.

[Drunk Monk]

Sir Paul played a very similar show as the AT&T one. There was a long video intro - like half an hour, but that was okay as a ton of people couldn't get in due to the parking mess (I heard later that hundreds were turned away due to lack of parking - a nice kiss-off from the Niners that). Of course, we would be sitting behind the most self-centered drunken cowboys who kept screaming, singing along and talking incessantly. The cowgirl even had a Let It Be tattoo, and kept saying "Am I really here?" In front of us was another drunk dude who kept groping his gf and saying 'shit!' to everything that happened. Sometimes it's good for me to get that concert-goer experience, although S gets pretty fed up with it all. But musically, when Paul took the stage, all was forgiven. Sure, it was a canned show - with such a massive stage, it's all pre-programmed with little room for variation. It is an amazing stage - even the floor lights up with video screens. He gave a nice nod to John and George (on ukelele no less) but no mention of Ringo. He did a lot of the same songs as before, and made some passing acknowledgements to the closing of the 'Stick. The big pyro happened in Live & Let Die, replete with the RG&G strobes during the reggae bridge. Man, I love that song. It's a slick production, just what you'd expect from Sir Paul. When he trots out his remarkable guitar collection, including his signature violin base and guitars he used to play original Beatles hits, it's just heartwarming. The audience was on its feet for most of the show. He concluded with the last song the Beatles played at the Stick ( Long Tall Sally), then worked through the end of Abbey Road to get to the The End, which worked well for me.

S&T had a good time. I still haven't looked at the ticket price as I promised S that I wouldn't (she wouldn't even give me the ticket to get around at first). I should really pick up a Best of Wings CD as I forgot how great some of that stuff was.

[Drunk Monk]

Slightly OT

The latest from Ringo



To his credit, that's Tony Chin on guitar.