![]() ![]() "Fuh You" confirmed his prediction as the phones did seem to dim. McCartney made clear that the post-millennium selection wasn't going to be a Spotify-only listening experience. But we don't care we're going to play new stuff." But if we play new songs, it's like a black hole. ![]() "We know what you like: If you play old Beatles songs, all the phones go off," McCartney told the crowd. ![]() The idea that someone could squeeze a six-decade-long catalog into a single extended set felt like a time warp. Watching a near-octogenarian perform classic after classic with a little break in between engenders some measure of anxiety on the audience's part. "Let's hear it for George," said McCartney, speaking about his late mate as if the latter were still alive and well. He played his 2007 song, "Dance Tonight," with only a mandolin accompaniment before a pounding drum kicked in with the second half.Ĭapturing the power of hollow-bodies, he covered George Harrison's "Something" with a ukulele and a story of how he'd go over to Harrison's home and play his songs on the instrument. ![]() It dazzled in the song's utter simplicity perhaps to add oomph, McCartney was elevated about 20 feet beneath a massive LED display. His somber solo acoustic strumming to "Blackbird" left that voice exposed - naked, as it were. But McCartney's voice commanded the venue with less. Photo by Michele Eve Sandberg The electric anthems throughout the Beatles and McCartney's solo work are what the crowd came for, leaving the artist no choice but to swap the bass for his customized Gibson Les Paul (left-handed, of course). Like a parent telling you how they first saw McCartney live, he explained how this cover finds its way into every setlist as a homage to Hendrix, who would often incorporate Beatles songs during his own shows - hilariously out of tune, Sir Paul added. It was only after the band's instrumental cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" that McCartney began to embellish his performance with dialogue. "That will be the one and only wardrobe change of the night," he quipped. Right before song four, "Got to Get You Into My Life," McCartney took off his navy jacket - naturally making the audience go gaga over the cute Beatle. He sang along to every word, gently clapping his hand to his knee, and felt overall loose - so much so, that I thought I was cramping his style by wearing earplugs and wrinkling my nose at the waft of weed blowing in my direction. My father, whom New Times once interviewed about his experience during Hurricane Irma, was, as they say, in the zone. His eyebrows rose, and he kicked off a roughly two-and-a-half-hour set, starting with "Can't Buy Me Love" while strumming his signature Hofner 500/1 violin bass abetted by Vox amplifiers stacked like bricks. Starting fashionably late at 8:15 p.m., a breathless crescendo of "The End" reverberated from the speakers as McCartney strutted onstage alongside his longtime backing band: Paul "Wix" Wickens (keyboards), Brian Ray (bass/guitar), Rusty Anderson (guitar), and Abe Laboriel, Jr. One person in attendance was my father, a self-declared hippie from the '60s, who has never seen McCartney in the flesh despite constantly mentioning he was at the Doors concert at Dinner Key Auditorium when Jim Morrison exposed himself. Still, his 60-plus year discography, showmanship, and influence didn't stop the nearly 7,000 attendees from enjoying the rock polymath perform at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood last night.Īs one attendee observed, "When you can see a legend, you see a legend." True, Sir James Paul McCartney, who will turn 80 years young on June 18, can't hit the high notes like he used to. Some people say Paul McCartney's voice has waned, that the natural wear and tear make it impossible to thoroughly enjoy his concerts. ![]()
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