Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
www.nola.com
Paul McCartney amazes at Smoothie King Center
By Doug MacCash
NOLA.com | Times-Picayune
Posted May 24 2019
If I reach the age of 76, I hope I still have the stamina to attend a three-hour rock concert, never mind performing a demanding three-hour show like Paul McCartney did at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday night (May 23). McCartney is a superstar’s superstar. He would be one of the great singer-songwriters of the last half century, even if he had not been half of one of the greatest songwriting duos in the history of popular music.
The former British invader -- who co-composed much of The Beatles songbook with John Lennon -- is reputed to be a billionaire. His artistic legacy is assured. He could easily be sleeping like a log on some picturesque estate somewhere. Instead, he was working like a dog on the Smoothie King stage until 11 p.m., energetically recreating almost 40 classics from “A Hard Day’s Night” to “Maybe I’m Amazed” to “Hey Jude,” plus a few newer tunes just to prove he hasn’t lost his composer chops.
“Let Me Roll It,” a less well-known song from his years leading the band Wings in the 1970s, was my favorite of the night. Definitely.
What does an almost unparalleled rock legend look like in the midst of his eighth decade? In a word, he looks swell. McCartney’s shaggy hair has gone gray, but the old dog still has those beseeching puppy eyes.
He wore an understated blue jacket that he nonchalantly peeled off after a few songs, eliciting shouts of appreciation from those in the crowd who remember him as the most cuddly of the Fab Four. Under the jacket lay a conservative long-sleeved shirt of the palest pink hue, tucked into black jeans. McCartney is the rare septuagenarian musical genius who can still pull off pink button-down shirts and black jeans.
On his feet were a type of ankle-cut, moderately high-heeled footwear similar to a style that was once internationally known as, well, Beatle boots.
In the course of the fast-paced show, McCartney played piano, organ, ukulele, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitar, plus his peculiar electric bass with a body that always seems to be masquerading as a cello. His right hand climbed the strings of the instrument as swiftly and nimbly as a spider climbs a water spout.
McCartney was backed by a four-piece band, augmented by the occasional accompaniment of a trio of horns. The spare, underproduced sound lent even the most raucous rock tunes a certain sense of old-fashioned intimacy. His voice may be somewhat less supple than it was during the “Band on the Run” recording sessions, but not enough to undermine his marvelous delivery.
The bubblingly psychedelic “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” from the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album was definitely the best song of the show.
At moments during the concert, the reality of the passing of time seemed to pile up as cold and hard as a glacier. McCartney played a country ditty called “In Spite of All the Danger” that dated to 1958, before The Beatles were The Beatles. As some of the more, uh, seasoned members of the audience might recall, McCartney played Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park with his Liverpool bandmates way back in 1964. His 1968 satirical classic “Back in the U.S.S.R.” has outlived the actual U.S.S.R. And the murderous hippie-era cult leader Charles Manson, who was unintentionally inspired by Lennon and McCartney’s “Helter Skelter,” died in prison in 2017.
But McCartney’s songs are not frozen wooly mammoths waiting to be chipped free. Many seem entirely of the moment. His gorgeously melancholy song “Blackbird” has been rediscovered as a hopeful anthem of Civil Rights. In the current political climate “Lady Madonna” and “Let Em In” also seemed much more topical than I’d ever realized. And a new song titled “Who Cares” is meant as an antidote to bullying.
Forget what I’d written earlier. The “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/In the End” medley that concluded the show was the tour de force of the night, for sure. You get the point: With a setlist that includes “Let It Be,” “Live and Let Die,” “Hey Jude” and dozens of other tunes that have crackled through our synapses for decades, it’s impossible to settle on a favorite.
McCartney announced that Thursday’s show was the first stop on a North American tour. He bid his New Orleans fans farewell until his next appearance in the city. Judging by last night’s time-defying performance, there’s no reason to think he won’t be back.
www.nola.com
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center
By Michael DeMocker
Posted on May 23, 2019
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney gives a little shimmy after playing "A Hard Day's Night" at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
A doll watches from the soundboard as Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney greets the crowd as he takes the stage at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Paul McCartney performs at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
www.theadvocate.com
Paul McCartney review: 'Freshen Up' concert in New Orleans a 38-song showcase of his hits and more
BY KEITH SPERA
THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE
MAY 23, 2019
Paul McCartney’s performance Thursday night at the Smoothie King Center boiled down to four numbers: 76, 2, 45 and 38.
The 76-year-old McCartney spent two hours and 45 minutes showcasing a staggering 38 songs from one of popular music’s greatest catalogs. (That's assuming “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End” — the three-part suite that closed the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album and Thursday’s concert — are counted separately.)
That, in and of itself, qualified the show as a success.
Has he lost a half-step since his previous visit to New Orleans five years ago? Perhaps. His voice occasionally cracked or sounded thin, in “Eleanor Rigby” and elsewhere (maybe he should finally reconsider his aversion to drinking water onstage). He related several of the same tales he’s told for years. His movement was extremely measured. His humor and attire — a sensible Oxford-style shirt, neatly tucked into his trousers — were decidedly Dad-rock, or Granddad-rock, in nature.
But again, he’s 76. He shouldn’t be expected to twist and shout like he and his fellow Beatles did 55 years ago at what was then called City Park Stadium.
When you’ve got a story as good as one about the Beatles going to see Jimi Hendrix in London two nights after the release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” only to hear Hendrix cover songs from the album and solicit Eric Clapton from the audience to help tune his guitar, why not keep telling it?
And if McCartney must conserve some energy to front a fully amped and invigorated rock ’n’ roll band for nearly three hours in a show that only got stronger as the evening progressed … well, just let him be.
He has been on break since the South American leg of his Freshen Up Tour concluded in late March. He and his band reconvened in New Orleans this week to rehearse and launch the tour’s new North American leg.
They did themselves no favors at the outset. Instead of being in position and hitting the famous first chord of the first song — “A Hard Day’s Night” — when the introductory fanfare faded, McCartney and company still had to stroll onstage and get ready, squandering momentum. McCartney’s vocals were initially too low in the sound mix.
But the mix soon improved and McCartney quickly warmed up, as evidenced by the pep in the third song, “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Later, he sounded especially powerful for the scalded vocals of “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Helter Skelter.”
The three-piece horn section that popped up in the arena’s lower bowl between sections 112 and 113 gave some lift to the Wings chestnut “Letting Go,” with its brash electric guitars.
McCartney spent the early part of the show working his trademark Hofner bass, but he also played acoustic and electric guitars, piano, electric keyboard, ukulele and more. He relished “Who Cares,” an anti-bullying song from his 2018 album “Egypt Station.”
An opportunity was missed during “Come On To Me,” another “Egypt Station” track. The stage set’s elaborate LED screens could have displayed one of the song’s locally shot videos, the most entertaining of which featured Mike Marina, a member of the comic all-male dance troupe the 610 Stompers. Instead, the screens remained dark for that song.
At other times, visuals were used to great effect, as when, during a terrific “Maybe I’m Amazed,” the screen showed the classic photo of a bearded McCartney cradling his infant daughter Mary inside his coat. (Mary, all grown up with four boys of her own, was in attendance Thursday; A Gallery for Fine Photography featured an exhibit of her photos this week.)
The core of McCartney’s band — keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray — has remained unchanged for years. They came across as a band rather than a collection of backing musicians. The animated Laboriel was especially fun to watch; he appeared at times as if he might fall apart while drumming.
Subtle musical moments abounded, such as the trombone solo in “Let ’Em In” and Anderson’s slide guitar in a potent “Band on the Run.”
The other musicians gathered around their leader for a quasi-unplugged segment that featured “In Spite of All the Danger,” a song McCartney recorded in 1958 with his pre-Beatles band the Quarrymen. The recording session resulted in a single acetate disc, which each band member was to keep for a week, then pass on. Fellow Quarryman John Duff Lowe, McCartney noted wryly, “kept it for 20 years, and then sold it back to me at a slightly inflated price.”
His first-person anecdotes are inevitably the stuff of legend. When producer George Martin originally asked him to sing the “Love Me Do” refrain, he was nervous. “But not tonight,” he quipped.
Anyone in attendance likely could have named a dozen or more hits that McCartney “should” have done; “Yesterday” was an especially glaring omission. But the 38 songs he selected balanced the three major phases of his epic career.
He held the arena rapt while finger-picking an acoustic guitar, alone, for “Blackbird,” the Beatles’ nod to the civil rights movement. He related writing “Here Today” as an imaginary conversation of reconciliation he never got to have with John Lennon.
He saluted George Harrison with a ukulele version of Harrison’s “Something,” which then blossomed into a full-band version that was a show highlight.
“Live and Let Die” was bombs away: pyro, percussive blasts, lasers. McCartney jokingly held his ears and mouthed, “Too loud!”
“Hey Jude” inspired a mass, joyous singalong to conclude the regular set.
The guitars cranked for a raging “Helter Skelter” before the band segued into the final “Abbey Road” sequence. The Beatles recorded those three songs long after they had ceased touring. Fifty years later, those songs, their sounds and sentiments made for a wholly satisfying concert conclusion.
The final words McCartney sang were, “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Clearly, he still loves what he does. In return, he is still loved for it.
Here's the complete set list:
"A Hard Day's Night"
"Junior's Farm"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Letting Go"
"Who Cares"
"Got to Get You Into My Life"
"Come On to Me"
"Let Me Roll It"
"I've Got a Feeling"
"Let 'Em In"
"My Valentine"
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"
"Maybe I'm Amazed"
"I've Just Seen a Face"
"In Spite of All the Danger"
"From Me to You"
"Dance Tonight"
"Love Me Do"
"Blackbird"
"Here Today"
"Queenie Eye"
"Lady Madonna"
"Eleanor Rigby"
"Fuh You"
"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:
"Birthday"
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
"Helter Skelter"
"Golden Slumbers"
"Carry That Weight"
"The End"
GALLERY
Photos: Paul McCartney performs in New Orleans at the Smoothie King Center
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney onstage at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019, for the opening night of the latest leg of his Freshen Up Tour
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
A sign welcoming Paul McCartney is illuminated on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for his show at the nearby Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
A welcome sign above the loading dock at the Smoothie King Center for the Paul McCartney show in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Advocate Staff photo by CHRIS GRANGER
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