www.forbes.com

Backstage at Paul McCartney's Night of 100 Stars

Roger Friedman, Contributor

2/11/2012

I’ve seen a lot of MusiCares tribute shows in my time, but nothing like Friday night’s Paul McCartney extravaganza. With the main ballroom of the LA Convention Center filled well beyond capacity (2500?), producer Tommy LiPuma assembled a gang of all stars to play McCartney’s music elegantly on not one but two stages–there was a huge revolving stage in the center of the room which offered acts like Alison Krauss, and Coldplay, intimacy in the massive room.

But wait you ask–who was there? Yoko Ono in her trademark white hat sat with Paul, new wife Nancy, and son James. That’s right. No Ringo, but there was a Jack Nicholson sighting and Crole King was spotted, too. Smokey Robinson, Berry Gordy, and Suzanne dePasse represented Motown. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Steve and Maureen van Zandt, John Stamos, and Christopher Lawford added to the Hollywood quotient.

There were plenty of musicians, and not just the ones on stage. Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Valerie Simpson, Glen Campbell, Phil Ramone, David Crosby, Jeff Lynne, David Foster, Randy Jackson were in the audience. So was Piers Morgan. I’m pretty sure I saw David Geffen. LA Reid and Doug Morris were there from Sony Music, so was Martin Bandier, Paul’s music publisher. Before the show began, Paul had long talks with Gordy, with Neil Young, and so on.

It wasn’t all geezers. Katy Perry — who sang “Hey Jude” with a ”Live and Let Die” intro–donated $250,000 to MusiCares because she was so impressed with the event. She wore a gigantic white rose hat while she sang, but she was good.

The fact is, you can’t wreck a Lennon-McCartney song. On top of that, MusiCares imported actors and acrobats from Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas “Love” show to open the evening. McCartney himself played several songs like “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Junior’s Farm,” as as well as a couple of numbers from his new “Kisses on the Bottom” album of standards.

The evening took in $6 million, according to MusiCares, which helps indigent and needy musicians. It was their biggest evening ever, a spectacle befitting a Beatle.

Here’s something funny. I was ‘stuck’ at table 228–far from the front, feeling a little left out,. So who else was there? British comic Eddie Izzard. He was also hosting the show. McCartney had so liked it when Izzard hosted a memorial for Linda McCartney in London years ago, that he has asked him to come do the honors here. Izzard was brilliant. He wrote a monologue at 4am, he told us, chucking McCartney’s well known bio and giving him a good send up. It was smashing.

Some highlights: Diana Krall and James Taylor — he sang “Yesterday” while she played piano, then they switched and she did “For No One” while he played guitar. Rock legend Duane Eddy played an instrumental guitar version of “And I Love Her” that was like poetry. Tony Bennett remade “Here, There and Everywhere.” I loved Allison Krauss’s group doing “No More Lonely Nights.” Neil Young and Crazy Horse just ripped through “I Saw Her Standing There.”

More later in an update. I didn’t see Olivia Harrison. There was little to no mention of the other Beatles. I give Yoko Ono credit for sitting there, never once acknowledged. When this behemoth of a show finally came to a semi conclusion, McCartney had little to say other than thank you. He didn’t mention John Lennon. But he sang a beautifully concise new love song to his new wife, Nancy, “My Valentine.” And you realize he simply expresses himself in music. That’s his language.