Paul McCartney onstage at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016. (Credit: Bruce Gilbert)
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Paul McCartney mixes old with new at MetLife concert
By Glenn Gamboa
August 8, 2016
Paul McCartney performs with his band at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016. (Credit: Bruce Gilbert)
Paul McCartney still knows how to pull out some surprises.
There was the Kraftwerk-like new wave of “Temporary Secretary.” There was the rockabilly swing he gave “Can’t Buy Me Love.” And there was his Elvis Presley-ish version of the first song he ever recorded, “In Spite of All the Danger” by The Quarrymen.
But McCartney’s “One on One” tour, which stopped at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, is actually one big surprise. It isn’t supporting a new album, which means Macca gets to pick through the most celebrated catalog in rock and roll history and find the songs that suit his current mood.
“We know which songs you like,” he teased the crowd, noticing how their phones all lit up during Beatles songs and were dark as a “black hole” during the new songs. “We just don’t care.”
That means we get to hear underappreciated songs from his 2013 album “New,” including the joyous “Queenie Eye,” and his more rocking take on “FourFiveSeconds,” his collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna
Paul McCartney onstage at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016. (Credit: Bruce Gilbert)
At 74, McCartney also is big on paying tribute, dedicating songs to Nancy Shevell, his wife of nearly five years; his late wife Linda McCartney, with the great “Maybe I’m Amazed”; and the late Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison.
However, it’s the way McCartney keeps his classics so current that maybe amazes most. McCartney’s voice isn’t as pliable as it used to be, but he makes the most of it. His style is often punchier, harder-hitting than it used to be, making songs like “I’ve Got a Feeling” sound rougher and tougher.
His band — guitarist Rusty Anderson, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens, and bassist Brian Ray — is first-rate and used brilliantly, whether they are filling “A Hard Day’s Night” with extra percussion or bringing the house down with a titanic, flame-filled version of “Live and Let Die.”
And when McCartney delivers the poignant civil rights anthem “Blackbird” by himself on acoustic guitar, raised 20 or so feet in the air on a special videoscreened riser, that is when the night is most magical.
After all, the best parts of the “One on One” tour come when it feels like McCartney is engaging each concertgoer personally, telling stories of how some of his classics were created or personal remembrances of his friends.
Paul McCartney onstage at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016. (Credit: Bruce Gilbert)
McCartney’s warm, easygoing personality has always been his most charming quality. On nights like this, it’s still a surprise how well he still shows it off.
SET LIST: A Hard Day’s Night / Save Us / Can’t Buy Me Love / Letting Go / Temporary Secretary / Let Me Roll It > Foxy Lady / I’ve Got a Feeling / My Valentine / Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five / Here, There and Everywhere / Maybe I’m Amazed / We Can Work It Out / In Spite of All the Danger / You Won’t See Me / Love Me Do / And I Love Her / Blackbird / Here Today / Queenie Eye / New / The Fool on the Hill / Lady Madonna / FourFiveSeconds / Eleanor Rigby / Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! / Something / Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da / Band on the Run / Back in the U.S.S.R. / Let It Be / Live and Let Die / Hey Jude // ENCORES: Yesterday / Hi, Hi, Hi / Birthday / Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End
GALLERY
Paul McCartney onstage at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016. (Credit: Bruce Gilbert)
Paul McCartney sings onstage at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016. (Credit: Bruce Gilbert)
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REVIEW: Paul McCartney's magic at MetLife Stadium
Chris Jordan
August 8, 2016
Paul McCartney performs in concert at MetLife Stadium on August 7, 2016 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
(Photo: Mike Coppola, Getty Images)
A Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer who married a Jersey girl played a “hometown” show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Sunday, Aug. 7.
No, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band come to the stadium later this month. It’s Paul McCartney we’re talking about. The rock ‘n’ roll icon touted his Jersey connections during a splendid, hits filled evening. He called his Edison-raised wife Nancy Shevell a “Jersey girl” when he dedicated a tender “My Valentine” to her and, referring to family and friends in audience, said the night sort of “feels like home.”
The night certainly kept up the Jersey-Mersey work ethic. There was a boat load of hits, rarities and new stuff in nearly three hours of music. The new, “Queenie Eye,” from the 2013 album “New,” was a fun romp with echoes of “I Am the Walrus” and rarities included the rockabilly-leaning “In Spite of All the Danger,” recorded by his and John Lennon’s pre-Beatles band, the Quarrymen. Yet, the biggest highlights were the Beatles and Wings hits that speak very much to today’s generation as they did to fans 50 years ago. “Love Me Do” had them dancing in the aisles; “Band on the Run” was a rock tour de force and cell phones in the audience alighted the stadium for a moving “Let It Be.”
Along the way, McCartney dropped a few anecdotes and stories about his music. Some stories were familiar to Beatles fans, such as the telling of how Jimi Hendrix learned “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and performed it in a London club two days after it’s release in the summer of ‘67. A new wrinkle in the story is how Hendrix wanted Eric Clapton, who was in the club, to tune his guitar after the performance.
After playing “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” McCartney noted how he was the first rocker to play the Kremlin. Members of the Soviet hierarchy came up to him after the show.
“They said we learned how to speak English by listening to Beatles records,” McCartney said. “Hello, goodbye.”
Paul McCartney performs in concert at MetLife Stadium on August 7, 2016 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo: Mike Coppola, Getty Images)
At 74, McCartney appeared fit, trim and in fighting shape at MetLife . He even shook his backside, when captured on the giant LED screens during “And I Love Her” for an appreciative audience. McCartney is one of the rare ones, a songwriting genius who ranks with Berlin, Porter and Gershwin who’s also scintillating performer. His able band -- Abe Laboriel Jr., drums; Rusty Anderson, guitar; Paul “Wix” Wickens, keyboards and Brian RaySure, bass -- know when to adhere to the originals and when to expand them, too. The sound was crisp and powerful and the visuals enhanced the experience. The concert, part of his One on One tour, was a night of Boomer revelry, but it was certainly something more, too.
It’s the magic of music, from yesterday to today.
www.nj.com
Paul McCartney's marathon N.J. concert: Rock brilliance does not age
By Bobby Olivier
August 08, 2016
Paul McCartney plays MetLife Stadium on the One On One Tour. Sunday August 7, 2016. East Rutherford, NJ, USA (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
EAST RUTHERFORD — The demo cost them just five pounds, Paul McCartney said.
He, John Lennon, George Harrison and their mates huddled around a single microphone, and laid down two tracks in Percy Phillips' Liverpool studio, a cramped middle-room between a kitchen and living room/electrical shop.
The single, 78 rpm disc they received from the session featured a grainy cover of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day," and an original, written by McCartney and Harrison, called "In Spite Of All The Danger."
It was the band's first recording, as The Quarrymen — they wouldn't become The Beatles for two more years. McCartney had just turned 16. It was 1958.
Stop reading for a moment and take a look around. Think of all that's taken place since McCartney set off; wars, space travel, dozens of trends in music and culture.
None of that seemed to matter Sunday night at MetLife Stadium, where the sovereign songwriter of pop and rock revisited his "Danger" — inside almost three hours of indomitable Beatles, Wings and solo tunes — and all but seized the clocks on our digital screens.
At 74, McCartney has shown no interest in retirement — this was night No. 29 of his One On One stadium tour — and in 2016, our landscape of political uproar and seemingly endless acts of human brutality may require his voice, his music and his whimsy more than ever. A few extra spins of "All You Need Is Love" could go a long way.
Backed by a wonderfully precise four-piece band, Sir Paul traversed nearly 60 years of his rock standards, and was sure to wrap many in ebullient tales, of their origins, his songwriting process and his undying belief in peace and love.
Here are a few highlights from his marathon at the Meadowlands.
MOMENTS + NOTES
- If you're one for bucket lists, listening to 55,000 fans wail the na-na-na's of "Hey Jude" while McCartney conducts should top any fan's ledger. Before "Jude," it was a full-on fireworks and pyro show for a pounding rendition of "Live and Let Die," which, in turn, preceded a delicate "Let It Be," with McCartney plinking on piano. Is there a more significant 10-minute clip of live music left to be performed in this world?
Paul McCartney plays MetLife Stadium on the One On One Tour. Sunday August 7, 2016. Eeast Rutherford, NJ, USA (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
- Though he referred to the East Rutherford crowd mostly as "New York" throughout the night, McCartney did well to note "she's a Jersey girl," as he dedicated a sweet "My Valentine" performance to his wife Nancy Shevell. Shevell, 56, attended J.P. Stevens High School in Edison. McCartney later honored his late wife Linda with "Maybe I'm Amazed," as a vintage photo of the pair appeared behind him.
- "After John died, there were a lot of things I wished I'd told him," McCartney lamented before "Here Today," a conversational tune written for Lennon. McCartney played this and the Civil Rights-influenced "Blackbird" — another exhilarating crowd sing-along — on acoustic guitar, from a section of stage risen two stories high. He spent most of the set with his more traditional Hofner bass, or behind a vibrantly painted upright piano.
- Another story followed Wings' "Let Me Roll It," more pointedly a potent, closing jam to Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady." McCartney explained how after The Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," fan Hendrix learned it straightaway, and performed much of it live himself, with McCartney watching in the crowd. But the warp effects he used on his guitar threw it wildly out of tune. Hendrix called for "Eric" to come up and tune his guitar.
That Eric was Eric Clapton, who said "tune it yourself."
- Let's get technical: It's fair to say McCartney cannot sing as he once did. The high notes of "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Let Me Roll It" were very strained. But some leeway is given to a 74-year-old who still plays three hours at a clip — there was no intermission. Luckily, guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray were both stellar backing vocalists, and provided tight harmonies, with more than a few brightly polished guitar breaks — Ray on "Letting Go," Anderson on "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five." Longtime session drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and longtime McCartney keyboardist Paul Wickens rounded out the lineup.
- Kudos to McCartney for breaking out a few deeper cuts, like "Danger," but also "The Fool On The Hill," off the "Magical Mystery Tour" record.
- But with that, a potentially unpopular opinion: "Temporary Secretary," off 1980's "McCartney II" is not a very good song. The synth pattern is just grating.
- Can someone explain why this was called the One On One tour? It wasn't especially intimate, it felt like any other massive stadium show McCartney might do.
THE QUIPS
McCartney has always been an agent of sarcasm, quick for a bit of deadpan, Brit-fancied humor. And as he was chatty and gregarious for the New Jersey crowd all night, here are a few of his best lines.
- Setting up "New," a song off 2013's eponymous album: "We can tell which songs you really like, like when we play an old Beatles song your phones light up like a galaxy," he noted. "But when we play a new song, it's like a black hole. But we don't care. Here's another black hole."
Paul McCartney plays MetLife Stadium on the One On One Tour. Sunday August 7, 2016. Eeast Rutherford, NJ, USA (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
- Before "Back in the U.S.S.R.," McCartney remembered his first performance in Moscow's Red Square (not until 2004, his was the first rock band to play there), and how a Russian government official walked up and told him, in broken tongue: "we learn English from Beatles records. Hello goodbye."
"He was so close!" McCartney laughed to the crowd.
- "Is anyone celebrating a birthday tonight?" he asked during the encore. "This song is for you, and for anyone else in the audience who has a birthday this year." Can you guess what he played next?
- "If you want to sing along, I believe the words will come up on the screen," he quipped, before his latest mainstream contribution, the groovy Kanye West and Rihanna collab "FourFiveSeconds." Played with the full band as opposed to just an acoustic guitar in its studio version, the jam scored an extra kick. Record that version, Paul!
- To a fan who held a sign saying he'd seen McCartney 107 times: "That's obsessive." And to another, whose placard read "SIGN MY BUTT": "Well, let's have a look."
THE SET LIST
"A Hard Day's Night"
"Save Us"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Letting Go"
"Temporary Secretary"
"Let Me Roll It"
"I've Got a Feeling"
"My Valentine"
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"
"Here, There and Everywhere"
"Maybe I'm Amazed"
"We Can Work It Out"
"In Spite of All the Danger" (The Quarrymen song)
"You Won't See Me"
"Love Me Do"
"And I Love Her"
"Blackbird"
"Here Today"
"Queenie Eye"
"New"
"The Fool on the Hill"
"Lady Madonna"
"FourFiveSeconds" (Rihanna and Kanye West and Paul McCartney cover)
"Eleanor Rigby"
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
"Something"
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
"Band on the Run"
"Back in the U.S.S.R."
"Let It Be"
"Live and Let Die"
"Hey Jude"
Encore:
"Yesterday"
"Hi, Hi, Hi"
"Birthday"
"Golden Slumbers"
"Carry That Weight"
"The End"
GALLERY
Paul McCartney plays MetLife Stadium on the One On One Tour. Sunday August 7, 2016. East Rutherford, NJ, USA (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Paul McCartney, plays with guitarist Rusty Anderson, left, and bassist Brian Ray, right. Paul McCartney plays MetLife Stadium on the One On One Tour. Sunday August 7, 2016. East Rutherford, NJ, USA (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Paul McCartney plays MetLife Stadium on the One On One Tour. Sunday August 7, 2016. East Rutherford, NJ, USA (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
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