Paul McCartney Tour 2010

Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010

Setlist

Venus And Mars
Rock Show
Jet
All My Loving
Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Highway (The Fireman cover)
Let Me Roll It
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Let 'Em In
My Love
I'm Looking Through You
Two Of Us
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs Vandebilt
San Francisco Bay Blues
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Sing the Changes (The Fireman cover)
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back In The USSR
I've Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day In The Life / Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon cover)
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:

Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Get Back

Encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End

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Review: Kansas City Star
by Timothy Finn

Paul McCartney's Sprint Center concert was one of the best ever

When tickets went on sale for Paul McCartney's first show in Kansas City in more then 17 years, the ticket prices - as high as $250 - made even some hard-core Beatles fans mutter.

In his Saturday night show at the Sprint Center, McCartney took some of the sting out of that sticker shock.

The show lasted about 12 minutes shy of three hours. The setlist included more than three dozen songs and touched many phases of his Beatles, Wings and solo careers.

McCartney, who turned 68 in June, sang every one of those songs in a voice that started off strong and did not falter all night.

He also played an array of instruments - bass, guitar (lead and rhythm), ukulele, mandolin, piano - and acted like a cheerleader, master of ceremonies and curator of the music that made him a legend. Of the 15,000-plus who attended this show, most, I'm assuming, will put it down as one of their favorite shows ever, and not because they're rationalizing the ticket price.

It was one of those shows - certainly the year's best, certainly among the best ever at the Sprint Center and probably among anyone's shows of a lifetime.

Expectations were high coming in; he exceeded them. He opened with some classic Wings, "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" and then "Jet," from the "Band on the Run" album. Then came "All My Loving," the first of 23 Beatles songs.

For the first third of the show, he shuffled them among his post-Beatle catalog, songs like "Highway" from his "Fireman" album and "Let Me Roll It," which he appended with "Foxy Lady" as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. McCartney was all business most of the night, but he sprinkled some light chit-chat and anecdotes into his performance.

He kept saying how glad he was to be in Kansas (he was pardoned for that), but he also grunted a few lines of "Kansas City," the one from "Oklahoma!"

He did not acknowledge Ringo Starr, but he paid tribute to the Beatles who have passed on, first with "Here Today," a hymn for John Lennon. A few songs later, for George Harrison, he played a version of "Something" that started off as a jaunty ukelele number, that turned quickly into something heavier.

All the while, black-and-white images of Harrison appeared on the screen behind McCartney and the band. Later, he would end "A Day In The Life" with choruses of "Give Peace a Chance."

He brought a four-piece band that added lots of bright, clean harmonies and played the best-known parts of the best-known songs close to the ways everyone knows them.

The show, which plateaued a bit during the first hour, picked up steam in the second, starting with "My Love," then a version of "I've Just Seen a Face" that had some Buck Owens flavor.

When the crowd gave that one a big ovation, McCartney dubbed this "cowboy country." He would toss in a couple recent numbers, like the frothy ditty "Dance Tonight," and then another "Fireman" song, the joyous "Sing the Changes," in which he proved he can out-anthem Springsteen andBon Jovi combined.

The show took off from there, to another level of energy and connection between him, his band and the crowd.

McCartney's stamina was astounding. So was his ability to change gears. Like going from the warm and honeyed version of "Yesterday" to the primal screaming of "Helter Skelter." Or from "Let It Be" to "Live and Let Die" and then "Hey Jude," which ignited the loudest sing-along.

In the end, maybe money can't buy you love, but it can sure buy you three unforgettable hours of nostalgia and joy.




Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010

Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010

Setlist

Venus And Mars
Rock Show
Jet
All My Loving
Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Highway (The Fireman cover)
Let Me Roll It
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Let 'Em In
My Love
I'm Looking Through You
Two Of Us
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs Vandebilt
San Francisco Bay Blues
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Sing the Changes (The Fireman cover)
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back In The USSR
I've Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day In The Life / Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon cover)
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:

Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Get Back

Encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End

Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010

Review: Denver Post
by John Wenzel

Paul McCartney rolls back the years at Pepsi Center love fest

Is it perverse to call Paul McCartney "Beatlesesque"?

Of course it is, since he's the most enduring member of the most enduringly popular rock band in history. But one couldn't help thinking that as McCartney dashed onto the Pepsi Center stage Thursday night - particularly since he was wearing an outfit more than a little reminiscent of his old band from Liverpool.

A black, high-collared suit and black boots were accented by McCartney's trademark Hofner semi-acoustic bass, an instrument that the thin performer still dwarfs.

Even at 68, McCartney is a ridiculously charming, unreasonably boyish performer with a strong, gorgeous voice. He still rises from his piano in triumph or lifts his guitar skyward after nearly every song, clapping and dancing and spurring the audience to greater expressions of adulation. He's clearly enjoying his job.

And so was the crowd. A standing ovation greeted McCartney's appearance, one of many he would receive throughout the night. People waved homemade signs with messages such as "Can't Buy Me Love, But This Is Pretty Darn Close." They unfolded giant paper hearts and waved them above their heads.

McCartney responded in kind, repeatedly connecting with the audience by telling stories, dedicating songs to lost friends and lovers and generally being an earnest, sentimental chap.

Playing as a quintet, McCartney's crack band effortlessly traversed his songwriting catalog, including older numbers "All My Loving," "Paperback Writer," "Blackbird," "Eleanor Rigby" and other Beatles classics in which decades instantly melted away. Noisier, more ornery songs from McCartney's "alter-ego" band, the Fireman, or songs from his soft-rock days with Wings ("Band on the Run," etc.) sounded just as vital and fussed-over, if less memorably so.

McCartney, of course, is more than the Beatles, even if that group's songs received the strongest applause of any during his long, sold-out set - which was delayed by nearly an hour, initially causing long lines to form outside the venue shortly before the advertised set time.

And there were the occasional missteps, from a distressingly bass-heavy "I'm Looking Through You" to an awkward, pyrotechnics-ridden "Live and Let Die."

But fans were entirely forgiving of both the late start and the mixed-bag song list as McCartney delivered a bewildering number of pop and rock classics, hit after brilliant hit. And he's an expert at working the crowd into a lather, walking on stage with a giant Colorado state flag and waving it above his head just before he began his first encore song.

McCartney last played Denver five years ago, and after his Thursday night performance, it would be a shame if another five passed before his return.

Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010

Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010

Setlist

Venus And Mars
Rock Show
Jet
All My Loving
Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Highway (The Fireman cover)
Let Me Roll It
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Let 'Em In
My Love
I'm Looking Through You
Two Of Us
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs Vandebilt
San Francisco Bay Blues
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Sing the Changes (The Fireman cover)
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back In The USSR
I've Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day In The Life / Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon cover)
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:

Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Get Back

Encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End

Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010

Review: San Francisco Chronicle
by Aidin Vaziri

Paul McCartney blows San Francisco away
"This is such a scene I'm just going to take a moment for myself to just take it all in," Paul McCartney said, addressing an audience that had spent the previous hour or so cramming itself into every possible corner of AT&T Park. So a mere two songs into his set on Saturday everything stopped while the 68-year-old pop titan stood at the edge of the stage, mugging as much for the sea of raised cameras at his feet as for his own enjoyment.

The last time McCartney played in San Francisco was when the Beatles performed their final public concert at Candlestick Park in 1966. He returned on Saturday virtually unchanged - the same shaggy hair, titanium smile and desperate need to please. He was even wearing the same boots. "The only thing then is we couldn't hear a thing we were singing," he said, inspiring a fresh chorus of screams, only probably more ragged and breathless this time around.

You hear about all these things, but until you actually sit just a few yards away and witness McCartney in action for close to three hours, it's impossible to understand how they all conspire to make Sir Paul such an absolute whirlwind.

"It's character-building, this weather," he said, stripping off his suit jacket with a nod.

Tearing through five decades of rock history with a backing band that didn't miss a note, he kept bouncing and bantering throughout the night, even as large swathes of his fans fell back on their chairs in exhaustion. He even held onto "Helter Skelter" for the second encore, giving the song every bit of frenzy it required after having already delivered a powerhouse run through "Day Tripper," "Lady Madonna" and "Get Back."

What was really amazing was taking in the full scope of songs that have come out of this man: "Two of Us." "Eleanor Rigby." "Paperback Writer." "Yesterday." "Hey Jude." The audience may have heard it all before, but the thrill of hearing it again was undiminished. It was hard to believe that pop music was ever so good, that life was so good.

Unlike the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, who constantly destroy and rebuild their classics in ways that make the dogs in Potrero Hill want to put their paws over their ears, McCartney meticulously preserves his songs, delivering them precisely the way they sounded on the day they were etched in vinyl - integrity and soul intact.

Of course, it would be easy to nitpick with the set list. With his catalog, why bother with two songs from the little-heard album he released in 2008 under the name the Fireman? And why so much filler by Wings? The thing is, the band made even those songs sound endearing.

McCartney has been playing roughly the same set for more than a decade but still managed to draw resonance in the most unexpected places: An acoustic take on "Blackbird" that made a stadium filled with 40,000 people feel like a living room; the heart-stopping pyrotechnics display that ignited "Live and Let Die"; and the quick run through "San Francisco Bay Blues," which saw him veering off the rigid set list. "We had to throw that one in," he shrugged.

There were also reminders of the loss he has endured over the years. There was "Here Today," a song he wrote after John Lennon's death as a peace offering to his former band mate. He brought out a ukulele George Harrison had given him for a moving version of "Something." And for Linda McCartney - whose absence still looms large over the stage after all these years - he reserved the elegiac Wings ballad "My Love."

But through his sadness he offered solace. And to the people singing along, fighting back the tears and raising their thumbs in solidarity, McCartney is not merely a survivor: He is an enduring force of nature.

Find Paul McCartney Tickets 2010