Paul McCartney has officially become an oldies act.
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Have to agree totally here.... yes its great to watch Paul.... but you know...he desperately needs to do some different stuff!!!!! the George story about the Uke... the story of blackbird.... how him n george ripped off Bach..the boys n girls doin Hey Jude's "na na na" seperately...Fireworks on Live n Let Die' cant somebody tell him..or are they all simply bound n gagged, hired hands..who are scared to death of upsetting him...he probably would welcome some advice...be brave people. I do a Paul tribute all over Europe..and have just been to Vegas too... many people have said that they wished Paul did the set I did.... just off the top of my head..some songs I do which Paul should consider... Juniors Farm, Silly Love Songs, Mr Bellamy, Ever Present Past,Helen Wheels, Figure Of Eight, Off The Ground, Paperback Writer, Day Tripper,For No One, Fine Line..yes I know he has touched on some of these in the past, but I think those are well departed from the set..and please...no excuses that things like Daytripper are "John" songs... he has introduced Please Please Me...so no reason why he cant celebrate John and all he stood for by throwing in stuff like "Ticket To Ride"..I feel Fine etc etc...consider it a great tribute to his old friend!! no one is gonna be upset...save for Yoko..and he seems able to get her approval these days!! come on his band.... speak up....you must all be peeved to see/hear/play the same ole stuff in exactly the same ole way, with the same ole "ad libs" every night. no "flaming" please..I love this guy and his music... it hurts me to see it become so stale and totally predictable still enjoyed the gig though...and thats the problem..... even when he is sooo sooo predictable...its acceptable..... but for how much longer??
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I'm also frustrated at Paul's lack of creativity when it comes to his live shows. In the old Wings days they used to rehearse for months before a tour, and I don't think he does that anymore. Maybe that's the reason for the many recycled songs tour after tour... he sticks with the formula, the showstoppers instead of rehearsing new exciting stuff. The Beatles songs are usually much simpler than his solo songs. A lot less rehearsal time probably and he knows the audience will be ecstatic. All of this is in sharp contrast to his studio work which has gotten more and more unpredictable the last few decades. It's almost like he's got two separate careers.
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I really don't see Paul changing his set. If and when he tours this year, he will be 66. If he keeps his schedule of touring every 3 years or so, he would be 69 IF he did another tour after this one, which I doubt. If reports are true and this is his last world tour, I'm just going to see him as many times as I can (2 shows in Detroit and maybe Chicago). Then I will sit back and thank both Paul and God that he was able physically and mentally, to give me so many wonderful memories, in my life...... especially since the US tour in 2002 until now. I think he will be in great shape on stage this time around, because he is happy again and will probably have Nancy by his side. We all know now that he probably had some things on his mind during the 2005 tour.... Let's be grateful we still have Paul 44 years after The Beatles first toured, and be happy with whatever song list he chooses to play.
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DennyC:
1979, the tickets were cheap & wings were still a group. You didn't have to justify songs as much at 30 dollars a seat. At 250 plus, any group/artist better sing what the audience dictates. That is something you can't get around. Sorry, I disagree, with each concert, I have a better time. Can his vocals handle certain songs, maybe maybe not. At the Highline he sang House of Wax (difficult song) and it sounded incredible. I think he's still at his peak, but that's just me. Worth every penny I spent on the several shows I went to last tour and plan to do the same if he comes back and tours again. If we are lucky he will tour. I've been to every tour since 76 as well, big arenas and small gigs.
I don't know what $30 a ticket would translate into today's dollars, it was 32 years ago. McCartney could have still played bunch of Beatle songs back then(1976) but did not want to. He did not want to totally embrace his Beatle past back then. I have had a great time seeing McCartney through the years and have enjoyed every minute. I just feel at this point he is getting repetitive. If McCartney is so worried about the person seeing him for the first time he should also worry about people who come to see him every time he plays their city. I feel this whole point is frustrating because he has been so creative with his latest records but "stuck in the mud" with concert setlists. McCartney is no longer at his peak (IMO), his vocals are not as powerful and he cracks more often. On the CHAOS tour, he seemed to have a tough time with "Jenny Wren" for example. He is also more prone to forget lyrics of songs also, see original post on this thread. This is understandable because he is 66 yrs old but still the truth. I would be concerned how well his voice would hold up for a world tour. I saw Sinatra (took my Mom) at the end and it was almost embarassing how bad he had become. Hope McCartney never gets to that point.
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neilot:
Have to agree totally here.... yes its great to watch Paul.... but you know...he desperately needs to do some different stuff!!!!! the George story about the Uke... the story of blackbird.... how him n george ripped off Bach..the boys n girls doin Hey Jude's "na na na" seperately...Fireworks on Live n Let Die' cant somebody tell him..or are they all simply bound n gagged, hired hands..who are scared to death of upsetting him...he probably would welcome some advice...be brave people. I do a Paul tribute all over Europe..and have just been to Vegas too... many people have said that they wished Paul did the set I did.... just off the top of my head..some songs I do which Paul should consider... Juniors Farm, Silly Love Songs, Mr Bellamy, Ever Present Past,Helen Wheels, Figure Of Eight, Off The Ground, Paperback Writer, Day Tripper,For No One, Fine Line..yes I know he has touched on some of these in the past, but I think those are well departed from the set..and please...no excuses that things like Daytripper are "John" songs... he has introduced Please Please Me...so no reason why he cant celebrate John and all he stood for by throwing in stuff like "Ticket To Ride"..I feel Fine etc etc...consider it a great tribute to his old friend!! no one is gonna be upset...save for Yoko..and he seems able to get her approval these days!! come on his band.... speak up....you must all be peeved to see/hear/play the same ole stuff in exactly the same ole way, with the same ole "ad libs" every night. no "flaming" please..I love this guy and his music... it hurts me to see it become so stale and totally predictable still enjoyed the gig though...and thats the problem..... even when he is sooo sooo predictable...its acceptable..... but for how much longer??
Thank you and agree totally. I especially agree with your comments about the band. I am sure it is a great honor to tour with McCartney and it probably pays well. I would think they know him well enough to tell him he could make some more changes because they are getting bored musically. Would it be that hard to come up with 5-10 different songs from his career and practice them? See what songs work and if Paul can handle the vocal at this time in his career. I am sure we as fans could comprise a list of 10-15 Beatle songs that would satisfy most people and still leave room for some new numbers from his Wings and solo days. How about these and I made sure I left some that "everybody" has to hear. (in no particular order). Beatles 1 I Feel Fine - agree with your suggestion 2 Your Gonna Lose That Girl 3 Rocky Racoon 4 Yesterday 5 Let It Be 6 Can't Buy Me Love 7 Oh Darling 8 Helter Skelter 9 I've Just Seen A Face 10 Lovely Rita 11 Penny Lane 12 Long Tall Sally 13 Get Back 14 We Can Work It Out 15 Good Day Sunshine Solo McCartney Only Mama Knows - MAF Promise To You Girl - CHAOS About You - Driving Rain My Brave Face - Flowers In The Dirt Take It Away - Tug Of War Wings Bluebird - BOR Old Siam Sir - Back to the Egg I've Had Enough - London Town Band On The Run - BOR Let Em In - Wings at the Speed of Sound I believe there are 6 Beatle songs on list he never did live (1,2,3,7,10,15) and several he has done before but not every tour. Four out of the five solo songs on list has not been done on tour, "Only Mama Knows" was done on promotional gigs for MAF but not on tour. Four out of the five Wings songs may have been done before but it was many years ago and doubt many people saw him do them live. (exp. "Old Siam Sir" was done on last Wings tour - Europe) There are enough songs for a acoustic set and I believe there are songs to do a appropiate "opening" and "closing" number. I cut the number of songs to 25 just in case show needs to be shorter. IMO - this list still leans heavy on the Beatles but is a bit different from recent tours. I think it gives first time goers a chance to hear some of their favorites but gives others a chance to hear some new Beatle songs. What do you think of the list and would it be that hard for Paul and the band to learn this stuff and perform it well live.
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i type this as i watch the re-run of the gig on bbc i player.i had a gig on the night of pauls show - and had it in the back of my mind that the liverpool gig was on the 12th of june - don't know why - but there you go.gutted i didn't record it - if anyone can help me out on that,please let me know. anyway to the gig , and the negative posts on this thread: paul started with hippy hippy shake. he played 'in liverpool' - how many times have you heard that live ?! he played ' a day in the life' - he does that every gig ........ not : the only time he has ever played the version of 'something ' with the whole band before , was at george's tribute concert. of course he is going to play his staple hits as well. i get the impression the crowd wouldn't have stood for less - considering how heartedly they sang along with EVERY hit. in short (and i don't care who i upset here - i feel so strongly about the subject) - the negative posters on this thread are talking COMPLETE AND UTTER S***E - FACT - see above for details. keep up the good work paul - different class - i only wish i could have been there - saw you at the kings dock in liverpool 5 years ago, and like at anfield you were absolutley bloody tremendous.i don't mind fair criticism,but the detractors on this thread are talking absolute pants - there ......i feel better now
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stuartjb:
i type this as i watch the re-run of the gig on bbc i player.i had a gig on the night of pauls show - and had it in the back of my mind that the liverpool gig was on the 12th of june - don't know why - but there you go.gutted i didn't record it - if anyone can help me out on that,please let me know. anyway to the gig , and the negative posts on this thread: paul started with hippy hippy shake. he played 'in liverpool' - how many times have you heard that live ?! he played ' a day in the life' - he does that every gig ........ not : the only time he has ever played the version of 'something ' with the whole band before , was at george's tribute concert. of course he is going to play his staple hits as well. i get the impression the crowd wouldn't have stood for less - considering how heartedly they sang along with EVERY hit. in short (and i don't care who i upset here - i feel so strongly about the subject) - the negative posters on this thread are talking COMPLETE AND UTTER S***E - FACT - see above for details. keep up the good work paul - different class - i only wish i could have been there - saw you at the kings dock in liverpool 5 years ago, and like at anfield you were absolutley bloody tremendous.i don't mind fair criticism,but the detractors on this thread are talking absolute pants - there ......i feel better now
If you read my posts correctly, I stated that it was understandble that the Liverpool and Kiev shows would be mostly the "hits". I and other people said that if he tours the US again, he should consider mixing up the setlist since he has played there a bunch in recent years. This website is for discussion, it is not supposed to have everybody agree on everything. Believe it or not, once in awhile a fan can say that maybe Paul is wrong or could do something better. This does not mean that we don't admire McCartney, he is a musical legend and one of a kind but not God.
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Actually when I was queueing last week some girl arrived & I heard her say to the security guy that she had ' come to see God !! '.
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She must've mistook the Shankly gates for the pearly ones .. there used to be St John there but no St Peter .. great night though!!
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Stuart, I couldn't agree with you more. It's time for some to stop getting tickets. especially if they find him past his peak. Why bother anymore. Nice comment Sue. Glad you had a great time at the show and it all worked out for you. Yankee, if you want perfection in vocals, listen to the cd. silly loves songs, was a duet with Linda, doubtful that will happen. He's done I've just seen a face in concert, Old Siam Sir and I had enough will be bathroom breaks. 30 dollars was still easier to come by than 250 plus today.
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DennyC:
silly loves songs, was a duet with Linda, doubtful that will happen. He's done I've just seen a face in concert, Old Siam Sir and I had enough will be bathroom breaks.
I don't see why he couldn't do "Silly Love Songs". Linda's counter melody ("Ah, he gave me more...") is basically a repeat of the second verse and is not really essential to the song IMO. I agree with you about "Old Siam Sir" and "I've Had Enough" - they weren't even hits when they were released, and by now they're about as obscure as some of his B-sides.
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I can't believe what I'm reading here. People are getting bored of 'Let It Be' and 'Yesterday'? How can anyone say that? I can understand, but up to a point. Sure, you listen to 'Back To The World' and watch the DVD's all the time. But NOTHING compares to watching Macca play 'Yesterday' right in front of you. The gig was primarily for the people at Anfield, not for the people listening on BBC Radio Merseyside. I'm astounded that people prefer Wings hits over Beatles hits. As far as I'm concerned, Paul should play wall to wall Beatles at a gig. They were the songs that defined him. I have only one fault with the Anfield gig. He played 'Flaming Pie'. But it doesn't take a genius to realise that Paul had asked for the setlist from Liverpool Dock 2003 and looked at what he didn't play there but has been included into his repertoire since. If he played his own songs, then I would say that the 'Flaming Pie' album has been criminally overlooked on the whole. 'Little Willow', 'Young Boy', 'Souvenir', 'Great Day' and 'Beautiful Night' are up there with the very best of his solo work. Teenagers got into that album and the Beatles Anthology. They're barely thirty now. How can that be for oldies? His music will last for generations.
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It's like your favourite movies. You can dig them maybe once a year or once every two years but you can't go watching them every couple of months or you'll be wanting to skip bits. It was my first time seeing Macca at Liverpool but at various points, particularly when he did the same inter-song routines as I'd seen on the televised coverage of EVERY GIG HE'S DONE IN THE LAST FIVE OR TEN YEARS, I was looking for the remote. You can tell me I'm not a 'proper' fan for being 'bored' or tutting but I'll have to remind you that 'fan' is short for 'fanatic' and 'fanatic' I'm not, at least about repeats (on TV or elsewhere) It's only natural, la. There's an aspect of Paul thinking in sixties or nineties terms about gigs, when, with much much less coverage, it would only be toward the end of the tour or after it that everyone in the world would have become familiar with the set. In this era of multi-channel +1 and on demand interweb, we've had dozens of opportunities to see Paul live and on replay and repeat and it's only natural that people will then start to look out for the differences and the new. Can't fight it so deal with it. So it's 'nothing personal'. It's just time for Team Macca to step it up a gear with the programme to adapt to this situation. Personally I think something as simple as wearing a pair of underpants on his head during 'Hey Jude' will keep everybody's attention.
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DennyC:
Stuart, I couldn't agree with you more. It's time for some to stop getting tickets. especially if they find him past his peak. Why bother anymore. Nice comment Sue. Glad you had a great time at the show and it all worked out for you. Yankee, if you want perfection in vocals, listen to the cd. silly loves songs, was a duet with Linda, doubtful that will happen. He's done I've just seen a face in concert, Old Siam Sir and I had enough will be bathroom breaks. 30 dollars was still easier to come by than 250 plus today.
I am just stating a fact, never expected perfection. Actually, most "live" performances by artists are re-recorded in the studio to polish it up. Personally, I got to laugh at people about bathroom breaks. I have never gone during a show in my life and I have been to many many concerts. I guess I am lucky. Anything not "Beatles" is considered a bathroom break for most people, to each their own. I never said he had not done "I've Just Seen A Face" before but it probably has not been done in over 20 years. This is quite different than "Let It Be", "Yesterday", "Long And Winding Road", "Live and Let Die", "Jet" , "Band On The Run" to name a few. I am not saying I don't like them but it they have been done quite often. IMO the original poster was right. McCartney has basically become a "oldies" act. Personaaly, I think it is a shame because I would love to hear his solo work more in concert. The last 20 years, McCartney has put out great records like "Flowers in The Dirt", "Flaming Pie" , "CHAOS" and "MAF". I even like "Run Devil Run" especially McCartney's killer vocal on "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (would love to see him do that in concert) Finally, I know it is not going to change but will always think it would have been great if McCartney celebrated his entire career of music better in concert.
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michaelk:
It's like your favourite movies. You can dig them maybe once a year or once every two years but you can't go watching them every couple of months or you'll be wanting to skip bits. It was my first time seeing Macca at Liverpool but at various points, particularly when he did the same inter-song routines as I'd seen on the televised coverage of EVERY GIG HE'S DONE IN THE LAST FIVE OR TEN YEARS, I was looking for the remote. You can tell me I'm not a 'proper' fan for being 'bored' or tutting but I'll have to remind you that 'fan' is short for 'fanatic' and 'fanatic' I'm not, at least about repeats (on TV or elsewhere) It's only natural, la. There's an aspect of Paul thinking in sixties or nineties terms about gigs, when, with much much less coverage, it would only be toward the end of the tour or after it that everyone in the world would have become familiar with the set. In this era of multi-channel +1 and on demand interweb, we've had dozens of opportunities to see Paul live and on replay and repeat and it's only natural that people will then start to look out for the differences and the new. Can't fight it so deal with it. So it's 'nothing personal'. It's just time for Team Macca to step it up a gear with the programme to adapt to this situation. Personally I think something as simple as wearing a pair of underpants on his head during 'Hey Jude' will keep everybody's attention.
I agree with you totally. It amazes me how people get that upset with change. It is not like you or I are requesting a show without Beatle songs. Like many young men, I was in a band many many years ago as a teenager and into my early twenties. We changed the majority of songs were were doing ar bars/clubs every month so we did not get stale. I would think that Paul and the band would enjoy changing the setlist quite a bit just to enjoy playing different music. Well, I think I have beaten this topic to death with a bunch of posts. I guess you and I will be the ones who will disagree with the other fans.
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jacden:
DennyC:
silly loves songs, was a duet with Linda, doubtful that will happen. He's done I've just seen a face in concert, Old Siam Sir and I had enough will be bathroom breaks.
I don't see why he couldn't do "Silly Love Songs". Linda's counter melody ("Ah, he gave me more...") is basically a repeat of the second verse and is not really essential to the song IMO. I agree with you about "Old Siam Sir" and "I've Had Enough" - they weren't even hits when they were released, and by now they're about as obscure as some of his B-sides.
I could be wrong but did not think "C Moon" was a big hit, thought it was a B side and he plays it quite often.
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yankeefan7:
jacden:
DennyC:
silly loves songs, was a duet with Linda, doubtful that will happen. He's done I've just seen a face in concert, Old Siam Sir and I had enough will be bathroom breaks.
I don't see why he couldn't do "Silly Love Songs". Linda's counter melody ("Ah, he gave me more...") is basically a repeat of the second verse and is not really essential to the song IMO. I agree with you about "Old Siam Sir" and "I've Had Enough" - they weren't even hits when they were released, and by now they're about as obscure as some of his B-sides.
I could be wrong but did not think "C Moon" was a big hit, thought it was a B side and he plays it quite often.
"C Moon" was the B-side to "Hi Hi Hi" which was banned so "C Moon" was the more popular song of the two.
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Beatlesfan94:
I could be wrong but did not think "C Moon" was a big hit, thought it was a B side and he plays it quite often.
"C Moon" was the B-side to "Hi Hi Hi" which was banned so "C Moon" was the more popular song of the two.
Not in the US. He added "C Moon" to the set list for the first part of the US 2002 tour and it went over like a lead balloon. I adore "C Moon" and was soooo happy to finally hear it in the set instead of just through a door during a sound check. But the majority of the audiences had no idea. I predicted it would disappear from the set on the second leg and I was correct. He replaced it with "Let Em In" which was better received.
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yankeefan7:
Understood, to each their own. I do give Springsteen credit for trying something different.
Bruce is always doing something different, especially over the last few years--since that Joad tour he has done one additional solo tour and also a tour of mostly cover material ("Seeger Sessions). Yet there are portions of his fan base who don't like *anything* but E Street Band material. I have seen boatloads of concerts by both Springsteen and Paul and I don't think you can compare them when it comes to the *style* of their live shows (whether or not you like the music itself). Paul is very much in his comfort zone doing the same set every night. He wants fans everywhere to see the same excellent show and by doing the same songs, he can deliver that. Springsteen decides each night before the show what songs he will do, writes up a handwritten set list, then goes onstage and sometimes doesn't play anything close to that setlist. and at this stage, while I would LOVE to hear some rare stuff and more Wings and pretty much any Paul/Beatles songs I have NOT heard him do before (and I *have* heard "Old Siam Sir" ), I am resigned to the fact that we are going to get pretty much the same songs on the next tour because that is what Paul wants to give us. I am not complaining about it, just accepting it.
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I'm not excepting it, and if it's just more of the same on the upcoming tour I'm not spending my money to see it either!