Paul McCartney's Magical Mystery Tour of 2005
Nov 15 '05
The Bottom Line Excellent show, highly recommended.
On November 8th 2005, I had the pleasure of attending a concert featuring the magnificent and incredible talents of Paul McCartney, who performed at the HP Pavilion aka “Shark Tank” hockey arena in San Jose, California. Though it was a rather tiring expedition to San Jose it was more than worth it to see the living legend in person. Upon arriving outside of the stadium two religious fanatics were protesting, or maybe just preaching, asking the crowds if Paul McCartney will spend eternity in heaven or hell, to which someone answered “Heaven, because he sings like an angel”. And that response couldn’t have been more accurate.
Despite our seats being basically in the next county, my group had brought a pair of binoculars, which came in handy when the Jumbo-Tron screen was disheartening in a distancing, television kind of way. The stadium was said to be housing some gargantuan number of about 20,000 McCartney-hungry folk. Because of the stadium setting, the place was initially unsettling with its masses of nacho and hotdog-eating consumers. I have also noticed in my recent attendance of concerts featuring older musicians (I saw Robert Plant at the Santa Barbara Bowl and Dick Dale in Ventura both over the summer) that the unwritten rule of not wearing the Band’s shirt to whose concert you’re attending–did not apply. Beatles and Paul McCartney shirts were in great abundance. In addition, the majority of middle-age male attendees also tend to sport Hawaiian shirts (or Old Guys Rule shirts), ball caps, shorts and sandals.
The concert didn’t really have an opening act, or at least a band anyway, instead featuring some masked DJ spinning rather tepid techno remixes of Paul McCartney songs and other Beatles’ tunes. Accompanying the rather pointless act was a kind of digital psychedelic light show that I frankly could have done without, at the end of which the turntablist revealed his face. However, I was seated too far to see whom the crowd cheered on after the revelation... McCartney himself perhaps? Unlikely. Or at least I hope not.
After the DJ, a video played on the giant screen, which chronicled the life and career of McCartney from the Beatles to Wings to the present. It was an amusing and perhaps pleasant way to start the concert though I’m not sure it was especially necessary.
Then the real show began. The stage had a floor made of screens that alternated lights and digital visuals, curving up like a wall towards the back of the stage. McCartney and his band belted out the perfect opening number “Magical Mystery Tour”. He proceeded to perform a few more classic Beatles’ songs and introduced the drummer. Throughout the performance, he introduced the rest of the band, which consisted of a lead guitarist and rhythm guitarist as well as a keyboardist who also played an accordion and other instruments, whilst McCartney himself played his traditional Hofner bass guitar. However, during the course of the show, numerous instruments were passed around and McCartney demonstrated his uncanny talent as he switched from bass guitar to guitar to piano for almost every song (and at one point played the intimate “Yesterday” with the original Epiphone Texan acoustic guitar from the ancient Ed Sullivan performance).
The amazing music flowed with accuracy and passion from the man, songs from the Beatles’ days such as “Hey Jude”, “Let it Be”, “Get Back”, “Penny Lane”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Back in the USSR”, “The Long and Winding Road”, “Please Please Me”, “Blackbird”, “I Will”, “Helter Skelter”, from Wings and solo projects such as “Jet”, “Too Many People”, “Band on the Run”, “Live and Let Die”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, and from his newest album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (which is awesome by the way) “Fineline”, “Jenny Wren”, “Follow Me” and “English Tea”.
During the concert, McCartney often told anecdotes about his early and recent days, most of which had relevance to the next song he was to sing. For instance, he joked about the spill he took earlier in his tour when the hole from where his piano rises hadn’t filled and he fell some feet backwards into it. He then proceeded to give an excellent performance on the piano. And during one of the shows’ climaxes, with the James Bond adventure epic “Live and Let Die” the stage lit up with bursts of intense flames. In addition, around this time, as the end seemed near, fireworks exploded behind the music and rained down, entrancing the audience.
Not only was the whole performance exhilarating but even its conclusion was of monumental proportions. False ending after false ending occurred until the band exited. They returned for the obligatory encore, which turned out to be about three or four songs. Exited and returned again. Easily pulled through two or three final songs, the result of which turned out to be just the right one. “Magical Mystery Tour” resurfaced, bookending the show, then morphed into “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band” which then morphed into a finale of “The End”. The concert must have been at least three hours, explaining the lack of an opening act, and inexplicably showcasing a legend of 63 years still incredibly passionate and enthusiastic about musical performance.
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Epinions.com ID:
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Member: Randall Leong
Location: Sunnydale, CA
Reviews written: 56
Trusted by: 180 members
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