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Paul McCartney rocks Fort Wayne
By: WANE Staff Reports
Updated: Jun 03, 2019
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Sir Paul McCartney played to a capacity crowd at Fort Wayne's Memorial Coliseum Monday night.
The former Beatles and Wings legend opened with "A Hard Day's Night" and played an array of hits after that, leaving the sold-out crowd energized and loud.
Paul McCartney fans buy merchandise ahead of the rocker's show at Fort Wayne's Memorial Coliseum on Monday, June 3, 2019.
Guests were encouraged to arrive early as Coliseum officials warned Coliseum Boulevard, Parnell Avenue and other roadways surrounding the complex would see traffic delays.
Photos: Paul McCartney in Fort Wayne
Beatles legend Paul McCartney played a show in Fort Wayne on Monday, June 3, 2019, at the Memorial Coliseum.
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Rock royalty visits city
The Journal Gazette
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Mike Moore | The Journal Gazette
Paul McCartney gestures to the Memorial Coliseum crowd Monday night as the former Beatle brought his Freshen Up tour to the Summit City.
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Recap: Paul McCartney at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
Photos by Lora Olive / Captions by Seth Johnson
Jun 4, 2019
Sir Paul treated fans in Fort Wayne to a three-hour set chock-full of hits new and old.
Paul McCartney visited the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on Monday, June 3 as part of his “Freshen Up” tour.
The show marked McCartney’s first-ever trip to Fort Wayne, and fans made sure he felt their gratitude. The sold-out crowd of 11,000+ stuck with him every step of the way, as the former Beatle and his band performed for nearly three hours.
Throughout the set, McCartney surveyed material from his entire catalog, kicking off the night with 1964 Beatles classic “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Sir Paul also touched on several selections from his 2018 album, Egypt Station. At one point in the night, he humorously commented on fans putting their phones away when he played newer songs.
McCartney also made sure he satisfied any Wings fans in the audience, offering up spirited renditions of tunes like “Junior’s Farm,” “Let Me Roll It,” and more.
At separate points throughout the night, McCartney paid tribute to fellow Beatles George Harrison and John Lennon. He honored Harrison with a ukulele-sparked rendition of “Something” and Lennon with a chilling solo performance of “Here Today.”
In between heartfelt moments, McCartney successfully kept the mood light, often imitating hoots and hollers from fans in his own playful way.
The 76-year-old also shared some stories from throughout his illustrious career. This included a trip in the way-back machine to when he, Lennon, and Harrison played in The Quarrymen prior to Beatlemania.
McCartney closed out his initial set with a string of sing-a-longs, kicked off by “Ob-La-di, Ob-La-Da,” “Band on the Run,” and “Back in the U.S.S.R.”
McCartney then continued on with more timeless standouts, performing “Let It Be,” “Live and Let Die,” and “Hey Jude” before giving way to chants of encore.
After several minutes of raucous applause from the Fort Wayne crowd, McCartney returned to the stage for an encore consisting exclusively of Beatles tunes.
McCartney kicked off his encore with White Album selection “Happy Birthday,” before quickly jumping into the reprised rendition of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.”
The Liverpudlian kept his volume turned up for the encore’s finale. After tearing through “Helter Skelter,” he sent fans home with an Abbey Road farewell, performing “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” and “The End” in album-ending fashion.
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Paul McCartney Revisits The Beatles, Wings And More On Stage In Fort Wayne - Photos And Review
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Contributor
Hollywood & Entertainment
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Paul McCartney performs during his "Freshen Up" tour. Monday, June 3, 2019 at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN
PHOTO BY PHILAMONJARO STUDIO
Monday night in Fort Wayne, Paul McCartney returned to Indiana for the first time since 2013.
But it’s been nearly 55 years since he first performed in the midwest state at a pair of Beatles concerts during the 1964 Indiana State Fair.
Following dates in Europe and South America, McCartney’s “Freshen Up” tour seems to be making a concerted effort to get off the beaten arena and amphitheatre path outings from artists of his stature usually wind up on, putting him in front of as many new faces as possible. The tour has already made stops in Greenville, South Carolina and Lexington, Kentucky and resumes this week with shows in Madison, Wisconsin (June 6) and Moline, Illinois (June 11).
As they have on all of his most recent tours, tickets for Monday’s sold out show started at just $27, belying the importance McCartney clearly feels of keeping his shows affordable for anyone who wants to attend, a rarity within a live music sphere where ticketing more often resembles an arms race than an affordable night out.
With an impressive history of its own, the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum acted as the perfect setting for the “Freshen Up” tour.
Since opening in 1952, the 13,000 seat arena (10,500 for concerts) has been a tour stop for legendary artists like Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Queen and the Rolling Stones, with McCartney providing another chapter in the historic venue’s story Monday night.
“Good evening, Fort Wayne!” said McCartney. “Something’s giving me the feeling we’re gonna have a bit of fun.”
The “Freshen Up” setlist features a rotating group of nearly forty songs over the course of just under three hours. Monday in Fort Wayne, McCartney hit upon virtually every corner of his career working in cuts from The Beatles and Wings alongside solo tracks from recent albums like last September’s Egypt Station and even a cut from his pre-Beatles project The Quarrymen (“In Spite of All the Danger”).
“There will be old songs and there will be new songs… This next one is not a new one,” he joked heading into The Beatles’ “All My Loving.”
That track came third Monday in Fort Wayne following “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Junior’s Farm” to open the show. “I feel like letting go tonight…” McCartney mused, aptly setting the table for more Wings next.
A 3-piece horn section (saxophone, trumpet and slide trombone) performed together from an aisle in the arena’s lower seating bowl during “Letting Go” and reappeared throughout the evening on cuts like “Let ‘Em In,” “Lady Madonna,” “Let it Be” and “Golden Slumbers,” augmenting McCartney’s longtime 4-piece backing band.
That group is one reason recent tours have been such a rousing success.
PHOTO BY PHILAMONJARO STUDIO
While McCartney was famously a Beatle for only ten years, and with Wings for about the same, he’s been with his current group - keyboards/multi-instrumentalist Paul Wickens, guitarists Brian Ray and Rusty Anderson and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. - for nearly twice that.
To say there’s a familiarity between the group would be a vast understatement. McCartney turns to focus on his bombastic drummer frequently during these shows, setting the pace, and each member of the group assists with beautifully arranged harmonies and backing vocals (most notably on cuts like “I’ve Just Seen a Face”).
Monday night, Laboriel looked to his right, nodding with a smile at Wickens on keys, as Ray moved to bass, allowing for a scorching electric guitar solo from McCartney to open a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady.” “That was the only wardrobe change of the whole evening,” joked Paul, taking off his jacket.
As they’ve been during recent roadtrips, tributes to McCartney’s departed colleagues were a centerpiece Monday night. The stories the singer told were nearly as compelling as performances of “Here Today” (a tribute to John Lennon), “Something” (featuring McCartney’s strumming of a ukulele gifted to him by George Harrison) and “Love Me Do” (preceded by a fascinating George Martin story).
But one of the most noteworthy elements of Monday’s show was just how well the material from Egypt Station worked alongside nuggets from the vaunted Beatles pop canon.
“Who Cares,” a song McCartney wrote about bullying, was bookended by Wings (“Letting Go”) and The Beatles (“Got to Get You Into my Life”), a gutsy decision that worked. “Who cares? We do,” said McCartney, encouraging fans to play the track for anyone in their life impacted by bullying.
“How many people here are actually from Fort Wayne?” he asked, making note of the response from those travelling to the show from outside Indiana. “Well, on behalf of the tourist board, we welcome you!”
With the video screens arranged to give the impression of a group performing on the front porch of a juke joint, the group moved closer together near the foot of the stage for a bit more intimate take on The Quarrymen’s “In Spite of All the Danger.” Paul channeled Elvis with his plucking of the acoustic guitar and Laboriel moved to a scaled down drum kit as each member of the group joined in on the song’s intricate harmonies. “Gonna take you back to Liverpool,” said McCartney, setting it up.
PHOTO BY PHILAMONJARO STUDIO
Back on Höfner bass, Paul hammed it up during “Band on the Run,” putting his leg up on the monitor, preening, as he turned to point at an image of the album’s iconic cover on the massive video screen behind the group.
It was here the show hit its stride, heading for encore with McCartney tickling the ivories on an unparalleled hit parade that kicked off with explosions and pyro on “Back in the U.S.S.R.” before moving through some of the biggest, most influential pop songs in the history of recorded music: “Let it Be,” “Live and Let Die” and “Hey Jude.”
Kicking off LGBT Pride month, McCartney and his band returned to the stage carrying the Union Jack, American, state of Indiana and Pride flags, beginning the encore with “Birthday.”
At the end of any Paul McCartney concert, what he didn’t play is almost as striking as what he did. Even after almost forty songs, it’s stunning just how many gigantic hits went unplayed.
It’s a tribute to how influential the music of The Beatles remains and the strength of songwriting that characterizes a recording career which lasted only about seven years.
It makes McCartney’s place in the annals of pop music unparalleled, leaving him with the unenviable task of figuring out how to present his legacy each night on stage without settling wholly for nostalgia.
With the help of his stellar band, he’s managed to hit on the right balance, always finding new ways to present that music and push it forward on stage during each tour, freshening it up.
“There’s only one thing left to say,” said McCartney Monday, two weeks before his 77th birthday as streamers and confetti rained down upon the Fort Wayne crowd following the “The End.” See you next time!”
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