Paul McCartney Celebrates First-Ever Solo Montana Show, Talks Upcoming Projects

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Paul McCartney Celebrates First-Ever Solo Montana Show, Talks Upcoming Projects
by Jeff Giles
August 6, 2014

Paul McCartney‘s current ‘Out There’ tour has taken him to some fairly far-flung locations on its quest to send the former Beatle to corners of the globe he’s never played before, but not all of the stops on his itinerary are as exotic as others. Take, for example, McCartney’s sold-out, three-hour show in Missoula, MT on Aug. 5.
Hard as it might be to believe, McCartney had never performed in the state, and his arrival was celebrated accordingly; in fact, representatives for the University of Montana and city of Missoula collectively agreed to temporarily rename the local landmark Mount Sentinel in his honor, dubbing it Mount McCartney for a 24-hour period.
“We are thrilled to have a legend such as Paul McCartney playing in our community. This concert not only brings folks from around our great state together in Missoula, but also attracts fans from around the country. We think Washington-Grizzly Stadium is a wonderful place to host a concert of this caliber,” enthused the university president in a statement. Added Missoula mayor John Engen, “It’s exciting to have an artist of this magnitude visit Missoula. We hope he has a good time here, and we know we will enjoy his visit.”
McCartney seemed to be having a good time when he discussed his time in town during an interview with the Bozeman AM station KMMS, jokingly responding to the “Why Missoula?” question by quipping, “Why not? Give me one good reason.”
Explaining the point of view behind the ‘Out There’ tour in general, he continued, “I really like coming to places we haven’t been before. I have friends from Montana, so it’s kind of nice to come here and see the place and check it out. The truth is, I go to my promoter. He knows just to get me into good places, you know? He says, ‘You want to go to Missoula?’ I go, ‘Yep.’”
Talk soon turned to McCartney’s plans for new music, which he said he plans to fit into gaps in his touring schedule. “Towards the end of this year, we’ll be happy to think of some way for me to get time to get into the studio.” In the meantime, there’s the work he did with composer Martin O’Donnell for ‘Destiny,’ a new video game from the developer behind the massively successful ‘Halo.’
“I knew about ‘Halo,’ but I didn’t understand what was involved in making soundtracks and what they wanted from me. It was great — it was a real learning process for me,” mused McCartney. “What I love about it is that my music will get heard by a whole other bunch of people. A whole other generation, a whole other type — gamers, really, rather than record buyers. That’s exciting to me. The world of how people listen to your music is changing constantly, and I think this is one of the exciting ways; I was really glad to get involved and learn how they do it.”
For now, McCartney remains on the road, where he says he still focuses on giving audiences the bang for their buck he expected as an allowance-scrounging kid in Liverpool. “We like to have a party,” he explained. “We like to have a good evening out for everyone.”