Doc’s Doctrine #9: Everyone from the Baby Boomer generation first loved The Beatles. That’s a generalization, of course, but I bet I’m right fairly often on that assertion. Most everyone heard The Beatles during the British Invasion (or whenever they discovered The Fab Four) and fell in love with them, eventually moving on to love other bands, too, sometimes more, but most folks loved The Beatles right off.
The wife and I attended the Paul McCartney concert Saturday night at sold out Busch Stadium in St. Louis, almost 50 years to the date (off by just a week) of The Beatles rainy show at the old Busch Stadium near the end of their final tour in 1966. We shared the bucket list experience with our best friends, the Rolles, who love The Beatles as much as anyone. We were pleased that early week gloom and doom weather forecasts did not materialize, and the weather was dry and in the lower 80’s when Paul started, about 8:30 p.m.
McCartney mixed in new-ish solo songs here and there that I didn’t know. I’m guessing I didn’t know five or six songs he played, but I’ll be doing some internet and I tunes research, as I liked a couple of them on first listen. All the other songs in his two and a half hour set were the recognizable songs of my youth, ranging from early days Beatles pop-rockers (“Can’t Buy Me Love,” “A Hard Days Night”) to later Beatles tunes off Sgt. Peppers and Let It Be albums to his hit Wings era to recent, unknown (but to his hardcore fans) solo songs. See typical set list on this tour HERE.
All in all, it ranks up there with the best shows I’ve ever seen with fantastic music bringing back memories and emotions like few bands could. From my point of view, he ranks right behind Bruce Springsteen as my favorite concert. Paul’s voice ain’t what it used to be – he occasionally dropped an octave when he couldn’t hit the higher notes we remember from The Beatles records – but overall, again, his voice got the job done.
I knew Paul has a great sense of humor, and it was on display when he chatted with the 41,000 fans in between songs, like when he took time out from singing to read some of the fan signs, joking that they distract him when he’s playing, so he wanted to get them out of his head. He got a chuckle out of me just about every time with his “awe shucks” coolness. He told funny stories about being the first big Western rock band (with Wings) to play Russia and cool insights about how some of The Beatles songs came about, like “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” a collaboration mostly credited to John Lennon, inspired by a vintage circus poster John had bought. He told us about George Harrison’s love and collection of ukuleles, then started into Harrison’s “Something” playing one before the band eventually joined in.
From our vantage point in the top floor, section 361 down the left field foul line, he was but an ant on the center field stage. Luckily, the two huge video screens brought us in tight to view the legend and his band up close. And despite the giant venue, the sound was good. The large-screen visuals and pyro – complete with a fireworks display during Live and Let Die – were top notch. I’m a sucker for the old black and white pics of The Beatles.
His band was rock solid, duplicating The Beatles and Wings sound nearly perfectly. His drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. and keyboardist Paul Wicken have been with Paul since the Wings days, and those two can sing well still. His two lead guitarists, dark-haired Rusty Anderson and blonde-haired Brian Ray, who looked a little like David Bowie from a distance, sounded awesome. Paul changed guitars often and played a couple different keyboards, too. You can view some video clips at our Facebook page. Great time, great show, great legend. Glad I saw the fit 74-year-old before it’s too late.
Doc Watson
