Set List critique
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Khalida wrote:
Paul plays mostly Beatles songs because he knows that is what the audience wants to hear. Every single person in the crowd cheers as soon as any Beatles song starts. How many would cheer for "Average Person" or "Name and Address"? He needs the adulation.
Those on a website such as this might agree it is a shame how he neglects most of his career. Poll those in the audience and I think all would be familiar with the Beatles, half might know his Wings hits, and perhaps a quarter would be familiar with his biggest solo hits.
And...that is his fault for not playing more solo songs all along. If he had, people would be more familiar with them.
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oobu24 wrote:
Khalida wrote:
Paul plays mostly Beatles songs because he knows that is what the audience wants to hear. Every single person in the crowd cheers as soon as any Beatles song starts. How many would cheer for "Average Person" or "Name and Address"? He needs the adulation.
Those on a website such as this might agree it is a shame how he neglects most of his career. Poll those in the audience and I think all would be familiar with the Beatles, half might know his Wings hits, and perhaps a quarter would be familiar with his biggest solo hits.
And...that is his fault for not playing more solo songs all along. If he had, people would be more familiar with them.
Other artists still manage to occasionally challenge their audiences with new material and pull it off quite well. Paul could do it -- while still playing enough Beatles and Wings hits for the masses to feel they got their money's worth. He chooses not to.
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Bruce M. wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
Khalida wrote:
Paul plays mostly Beatles songs because he knows that is what the audience wants to hear. Every single person in the crowd cheers as soon as any Beatles song starts. How many would cheer for "Average Person" or "Name and Address"? He needs the adulation.
Those on a website such as this might agree it is a shame how he neglects most of his career. Poll those in the audience and I think all would be familiar with the Beatles, half might know his Wings hits, and perhaps a quarter would be familiar with his biggest solo hits.
And...that is his fault for not playing more solo songs all along. If he had, people would be more familiar with them.
Other artists still manage to occasionally challenge their audiences with new material and pull it off quite well. Paul could do it -- while still playing enough Beatles and Wings hits for the masses to feel they got their money's worth. He chooses not to.
I totally agree.
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Well Khalida, I would not be the only one cheering if Paul played an obscure song like "Average Person". I have attended nearly two dozen McCartney shows and am always very impressed when a "Temporary Secretary", "Off The Ground", "Every Night", "Magneto and Titanium Man", etc. is played and the great reaction from the audience to these 'lesser known' songs.
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Bruce M. wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
Khalida wrote:
Paul plays mostly Beatles songs because he knows that is what the audience wants to hear. Every single person in the crowd cheers as soon as any Beatles song starts. How many would cheer for "Average Person" or "Name and Address"? He needs the adulation.
Those on a website such as this might agree it is a shame how he neglects most of his career. Poll those in the audience and I think all would be familiar with the Beatles, half might know his Wings hits, and perhaps a quarter would be familiar with his biggest solo hits.
And...that is his fault for not playing more solo songs all along. If he had, people would be more familiar with them.
Other artists still manage to occasionally challenge their audiences with new material and pull it off quite well. Paul could do it -- while still playing enough Beatles and Wings hits for the masses to feel they got their money's worth. He chooses not to.
He will perform a few songs from the latest album. I have seen him perform songs from Memory Almost Full, New and "My Valentine" when they were new releases. He also added a Flaming Pie here and there. But the vast majority of his setlist in any concert I have attended was released before 1974.
The choice is his, but I wonder how many Beatles signs, costumes, and t-shirts he sees in the audience as opposed to fan signs for Driving Rain and Pipes Of Peace. I have seen signs telling him that the audience member was turning 64, or was called Jude. I have never seen a sign that read, "Please take us back to the egg."
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wingsoverkc wrote:
Well Khalida, I would not be the only one cheering if Paul played an obscure song like "Average Person". I have attended nearly two dozen McCartney shows and am always very impressed when a "Temporary Secretary", "Off The Ground", "Every Night", "Magneto and Titanium Man", etc. is played and the great reaction from the audience to these 'lesser known' songs.
I fear you have missed my point.
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No Khalida, I am afraid you missed MY point. By the way, at the recent Moline show, I observed about FIVE Egypt Station signs. The coolest was , "This stop: MOLINE Next stop: Egypt Station".
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wingsoverkc wrote:
No Khalida, I am afraid you missed MY point. By the way, at the recent Moline show, I observed about FIVE Egypt Station signs. The coolest was , "This stop: MOLINE Next stop: Egypt Station".
Very well. You win. "Average Person" is just as famous as "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude", if not more so. The audience only cheers at '60s songs to be polite. Secretly, they would all rather hear him play Driving Rain in its entirety than have to sit through another one of those pesky Beatles songs.
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Khalida wrote:
Bruce M. wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
Khalida wrote:
Paul plays mostly Beatles songs because he knows that is what the audience wants to hear. Every single person in the crowd cheers as soon as any Beatles song starts. How many would cheer for "Average Person" or "Name and Address"? He needs the adulation.
Those on a website such as this might agree it is a shame how he neglects most of his career. Poll those in the audience and I think all would be familiar with the Beatles, half might know his Wings hits, and perhaps a quarter would be familiar with his biggest solo hits.
And...that is his fault for not playing more solo songs all along. If he had, people would be more familiar with them.
Other artists still manage to occasionally challenge their audiences with new material and pull it off quite well. Paul could do it -- while still playing enough Beatles and Wings hits for the masses to feel they got their money's worth. He chooses not to.
He will perform a few songs from the latest album. I have seen him perform songs from Memory Almost Full, New and "My Valentine" when they were new releases. He also added a Flaming Pie here and there. But the vast majority of his setlist in any concert I have attended was released before 1974.
The choice is his, but I wonder how many Beatles signs, costumes, and t-shirts he sees in the audience as opposed to fan signs for Driving Rain and Pipes Of Peace. I have seen signs telling him that the audience member was turning 64, or was called Jude. I have never seen a sign that read, "Please take us back to the egg."
Just wanted to add my two cents into the discussion. Before I do, let me quote a review of Egypt Station from "Classic Rock History"..."This is great songwriting; it's pop perfection. If we were living in the era in which radio used to play music other than hip hop and rap, these new Paul McCartney songs would become staples of pop culture like so many of the Beatles classics did. However, times have changed and so sadly these great records can get lost".
From a standpoint of dollars and sense, Paul has listened to his record company and is doing the right thing. Going into his tour for Egypt Station (ES), Paul did what his management advised. Just stay with the same formula and pretty much same setlist with the exception of adding 3 ES songs and you will still sell out all the arenas and get great reviews. Stay within your wheelhouse and play the large majority of your setlist with Beatle songs and big Wing's Hits, and everytlhing will be fine. You don't have to add to your creative costs if you just stay with the same formula. Just also remember that most of your shows are at new venues so most of the people are first timers anyway. From a standpoint of logic, Paul and his advisors were right and his company made tons of money.
Now if I was one of Paul's kids, here is what I would conversely advise. Dad...we all know that you can't control the "radio"so your new ES songs won't get heard to the masses. Someone at your age will not get airplay no matter how great the songs/album is. But there is one thing you can control...what songs are played on your tour. Unfortunately and one year later... the above review from "Classic Rock History" is correct. Now that ES is 1 year old, almost all the "Beatle Worthy" songs on ES have already gotten lost. My advise for your new tour setlist would have been that you can still play the large majority of your setlist with the big known Beatle and Wings songs, but you still have plenty of room for of the best songs on ES. The reviews from ES have been tremendous so you know the songs are great. Play 7-8 of the best Beatle Worthy ES songs on the tour and with all the video hits you would get, so many more people will know your new songs. Unfortunately, Paul I believed listened to the "suits" and went the other way. Playing only 3 ES songs (and not the best ones) on his tour was a bad decision. That's not to say that the tour wasn't a big success but Paul didn't help his individual Solo reputation of being mainly an ex-Beatle still touring in his 60's and 70's. In truth, ES should have been a fabulous late era McCartney record, but unfortunately no one heard it except for hard core fans that actually bought it. If I was Paul, the #1 reason for Paul to tour in the first place was to have people hear his great new songs from ES. Unfortunately, Paul chose to not have that as his #1 reason.
As a son or daughter I would have asked Paul...what are the best Beatle worthy songs on ES. One song that in all likelihood would not have been one of his answers would have been "Fuh You". That is what the record company was promoting and advising him, but "Fuh You" was the least "Beatle Worthy" song on the album in my opinion. As much as the record company continued to try to push the song, it did very little to keep it selling. In my opinion, the top 4-5 songs for Paul to have played on this tour was:
I Don't Know - just a fantastic song and in my opinon, right up there with many of Paul's best Beatle songs.
Dominoes - another great song that should have been played for sure. What a song!
People Want Peace - a universal message song about "Peace" that is much better than some of his previous "peace" Solo songs like "C'Mon People (from Off the Ground). Would have worked great anywhere in the setlist. Put the words on the large screens and I can hear people singing this song like "Hey Jude". Everybody wants peace.
Hand in Hand - a great Macca ballad. People should know this song as much as they know "Here,There&Everywhere" but if people never hear it, how do they know it
Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link - This is a great multi-part song that would have worked great as part of the encore. Blends beautiiful together with Rock, Ballad and Blues selections. In my opinion, Paul shouldn't be concerned if the majority of the audience doesn't know it. As Bruce says above, challenge your audience. I can only imagine how well Paul's young band along with their leader could have performed this song. Unfortunately, no one will ever know.
Unfortunately, Paul listened to the "suits". Yes, it was a success and Paul had little additional work to do, but in the long run, a great album like (ES) with great songs should have never got lost. Unfortunately, I fear it already has.
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"I Don't Know" and "Dominoes" might be not right for a huge arena, and "Hand In Hand" as great as it is, too, might also be too quiet and subdued, too subtle and nuanced for gigantic stadiums. I don't know for sure. "People Want Peace" is a big heavy anthem and I can imagine that being being played there and going over well. It's a quite beautiful and profound "protest" song. So much better than his more folky protest ditties like "Hope of Deliverance" (though that's catchy and perky). "Nothing For Free" might work in that setting. It's quite catchy, too. Ever since hearing how great Egypt Station is, I'm especially fixated on Paul coming out with another new album of all originals, and I hope he's finding inspiration for new work from him. More new songs.
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BJ, “Paul’s young band?” You do know that Wix, Rusty and Brian are in their 60s, don’t you? Even Abe is pushing 50!
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
"I Don't Know" and "Dominoes" might be not right for a huge arena, and "Hand In Hand" as great as it is, too, might also be too quiet and subdued, too subtle and nuanced for gigantic stadiums. I don't know for sure. "People Want Peace" is a big heavy anthem and I can imagine that being being played there and going over well. It's a quite beautiful and profound "protest" song. So much better than his more folky protest ditties like "Hope of Deliverance" (though that's catchy and perky). "Nothing For Free" might work in that setting. It's quite catchy, too. Ever since hearing how great Egypt Station is, I'm especially fixated on Paul coming out with another new album of all originals, and I hope he's finding inspiration for new work from him. More new songs.
Great post Susy.
One thing that I did want to add to my post above is that I do think that "Come One To Me" and "Who Cares" were good ES choices for the setlist. The problem was that for a new album that was so great (in my opinion) doing only 3 songs were far, far too few.
As far your setlist feelings for ES songs in big arenas like "I Don't Know" and "Dominoes", I'm not saying that your wrong but the problem is that we will never know. Personally, I think "Dominoes" would have gone down great because it is an up-tempo song. I love the song and many ES reviews I read picked it as one of their favorites (some had it has their #1 fav). To me "Dominoes" is Paul's latter era "Band on the Run". Would have loved to hear Rusty playing the solo guitar parts towards the end.
As far as "I Don't know", I personally feel that this is too great of song for Paul to totally omit from his setlist. To me, "I Don't Know" is Paul's Solo "Long and Winding Road" or even "Let It Be". That is how much I personally love the song. I love the part when Paul repeats the "I got crows out my window,dogs at my door" lyric at the end and speeds up the tempo. I love his understated bass throughtout the entire song also. You might be right that it might not have gone over as well at a big arena but I long for the Macca of 1976, or 1989 (Flowers in the Dirt) when Paul had the courage to play 7 or 8 songs from a new album. I was considering going to one of the Southern dates (not too far from where I live) but I know I would have been so disappointed hearing Paul do "Fuh You" and then omiting great Beatle worthy songs like "Dominoes" and "I Don't Know".
I agree with you on "People Want Peace". Like you, that is the one ES song that I'm very confident would have gone down well in a big arena. As I said, just put the key words on the big screens. A total missed opportunity in my opinion. Anyway, as I said, we will never know. I think the quote from "Classic Rock History" is so true. Because of the fact that radio (except for "Come On To Me") totally ignored ES, the Grammy's ignored ES and that Paul practically ignored the best songs on all his live shows, it is yet another example of Paul's Solo career where some of his even great Solo albums (like ES and Chaos) get lost. Like you, I love ES and it has a bunch of great songs and yet they are unknown to the masses. Very sad in my opinion.
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Nancy R wrote:
BJ, “Paul’s young band?” You do know that Wix, Rusty and Brian are in their 60s, don’t you? Even Abe is pushing 50!
Nancy,
Good point. I didn't really know their ages. I would have guessed that Wix might be hitting close to 60 but I would have thought that Rusty, Brian and Abe were in their low 50s. Anyway, I was thinking in relative terms to Paul. I think they have great energy and would have done a great job on this last tour's "encore" section with "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link. Such a great multi-part song and they would have been perfect with Paul performing the track together. How many times do we need to hear Birthday and Helter Skelter. I know we are not first timers so I'm speaking from a standpoint of someone who has seen Paul like a dozen times. Great songs in their day but give me more variety and something new anyday. Don't get me started on Mr. Kite earlier in the setlist.
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Totally agree with BJ concerning "I Don't Know"; the sound check version is simply amazing. Now my now almost daily defense of "Fuh You". Only went to one show this year (Moline), but the reaction to "Fuh You" there was very, very positive. Of course Paul's little story about the black hole during new songs inspired all of us to light up during the song, I was very impressed how "Fuh You" sounded throughout the arena. It was fast, loud, and fun. And sorry BJ, but "Helter Skelter" absolutely is a show stopper that simply amazes the audience. Do agree with you about "Birthday".
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B J Conlee wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
BJ, “Paul’s young band?” You do know that Wix, Rusty and Brian are in their 60s, don’t you? Even Abe is pushing 50!
Nancy,
Good point. I didn't really know their ages. I would have guessed that Wix might be hitting close to 60 but I would have thought that Rusty, Brian and Abe were in their low 50s. Anyway, I was thinking in relative terms to Paul. I think they have great energy and would have done a great job on this last tour's "encore" section with "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link. Such a great multi-part song and they would have been perfect with Paul performing the track together. How many times do we need to hear Birthday and Helter Skelter. I know we are not first timers so I'm speaking from a standpoint of someone who has seen Paul like a dozen times. Great songs in their day but give me more variety and something new anyday. Don't get me started on Mr. Kite earlier in the setlist.
I totally agree about Mr. Kite - get rid of it already!
P.S. All the guys have had their birthdays this year: Brian is 64, Wix is 63, Rusty is 60 and Abe is 48. (Brian is 4 months older than me!)
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Nancy R wrote:
P.S. All the guys have had their birthdays this year: Brian is 64, Wix is 63, Rusty is 60 and Abe is 48. (Brian is 4 months older than me!)
... and Rusty is one day younger than me !!
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Nancy R wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
BJ, “Paul’s young band?” You do know that Wix, Rusty and Brian are in their 60s, don’t you? Even Abe is pushing 50!
Nancy,
Good point. I didn't really know their ages. I would have guessed that Wix might be hitting close to 60 but I would have thought that Rusty, Brian and Abe were in their low 50s. Anyway, I was thinking in relative terms to Paul. I think they have great energy and would have done a great job on this last tour's "encore" section with "Hunt You Down/Naked/C-Link. Such a great multi-part song and they would have been perfect with Paul performing the track together. How many times do we need to hear Birthday and Helter Skelter. I know we are not first timers so I'm speaking from a standpoint of someone who has seen Paul like a dozen times. Great songs in their day but give me more variety and something new anyday. Don't get me started on Mr. Kite earlier in the setlist.
I totally agree about Mr. Kite - get rid of it already!
P.S. All the guys have had their birthdays this year: Brian is 64, Wix is 63, Rusty is 60 and Abe is 48. (Brian is 4 months older than me!)
Thanks Nancy. I'm shocked that Brian and Rusty are 60 and over. Well I guess if we had the job of a lifetime (performing all the time with Paul McCartney, we would look so young too.
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wingsoverkc wrote:
Totally agree with BJ concerning "I Don't Know"; the sound check version is simply amazing. Now my now almost daily defense of "Fuh You". Only went to one show this year (Moline), but the reaction to "Fuh You" there was very, very positive. Of course Paul's little story about the black hole during new songs inspired all of us to light up during the song, I was very impressed how "Fuh You" sounded throughout the arena. It was fast, loud, and fun. And sorry BJ, but "Helter Skelter" absolutely is a show stopper that simply amazes the audience. Do agree with you about "Birthday".
wingsoverkc,
Good to hear that "Fuh You" went down so well in Moline. Yes, not my favorite song but one reason that I love ES is that I really like all the songs. "Fuh You" is my least favorite but it doesn't ruin the album by any means. It's quite catchy and I like the "I just wanna know how you feel" parts. Unlike 6 minute plus songs lke "Really Love You" and "What's That You're Doing" that really marr Flaming Pie and Tug of War respectively, "Fuh You" is only a little over 3 minutes long and as I said, it is catchy. Compared to just about all the other songs on ES, you have to admit that the lyrics are weak. I cringe when I hear lyrics like "Come on Baby Now, Help me work it out etc.' i'm pretty sure this was Ryan Teddar's influence. Conversersely, I love the lyrics on so many ES songs.
Nothing against Helter Skelter...it is a classic but I still wishedm Paul and Band would have performed "Hunt You Down/Naked etc. in their encore. Can you imagine them adding that great multi-part song at the end of the show.
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As far as a couple of other ES Songs I failed to mention, I would have also loved to hear Paul perform Confidante and Happy With You. I love both songs. Maybe we would have gotten a definitive version of Confidante with a better vocal and Happy With You is a classic Macca acoustical performance.
As much as I like "Despite Repeated Warnings", I never saw it as an addition to the setlist. Too long for most people (especially for more Beatle oriented fans) but I would have still paid money to hear Paul and Band perform it. Great universal story song that is so well written.
I kind of went through ES in its entirety with these latest posts (at least the proper album) and in summary why I think ES is such a very good album. It's classic melodic Paul in my opinion with great lyrics as a whole. This is also why I was so disappointed that Paul only did 3 ES songs on this tour from a current album that was so well received by the critiics. As someone else said, I hope that Paul has another whole album in him and that Greg Kurstin will be his producer. In my opinion, Greg seemed to work very well with Paul.
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If modern songs were the big hits that his older songs were, he would definitely play them in concert. But I think it is more about the audience's reaction than chart position. He plays a lot of Beatles songs that were never singles, whereas "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" went to #1, won a Grammy, and is on several comilations. Has he ever played it in concert?