Set List critique
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
We might as well give up trying to figure out why Paul does what he does. He is a mystery wrapped in an enigma!
IMO he is not hard to figure out in regards to set list. He wants to please the first timers and play Beatle heavy set list that allows him to charge high price for tickets. At this point, he has no desire to work on really mixing up his set list. He is also a man who does not like to hear criticism and it takes a very strong personality (ex. Nigel Godrich) to tell him a song may suck and he needs to do better. As for his selection of songs to keep on an album or selecting singles, that is one area I can't figure him out especially because he makes the wrong decision IMO so many times.
I think it's all about pleasing the masses. Let's face it, Paul loves the applause and adoration, and hates it when he feels like he's losing the audience. He's even said as much, talking about the different reactions to Beatles songs vs. newer tunes. He's never been one to challenge his live audiences, like Dylan. He wants to please the masses. So that's why we get Mr. Kite and not I Don't Know. And there are a few songs that he just clearly likes to play, Let Me Roll It clearly being one. Maybe In Spite of All the Danger is another, though I do find that one baffling.
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Bruce M. wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
We might as well give up trying to figure out why Paul does what he does. He is a mystery wrapped in an enigma!
IMO he is not hard to figure out in regards to set list. He wants to please the first timers and play Beatle heavy set list that allows him to charge high price for tickets. At this point, he has no desire to work on really mixing up his set list. He is also a man who does not like to hear criticism and it takes a very strong personality (ex. Nigel Godrich) to tell him a song may suck and he needs to do better. As for his selection of songs to keep on an album or selecting singles, that is one area I can't figure him out especially because he makes the wrong decision IMO so many times.
I think it's all about pleasing the masses. Let's face it, Paul loves the applause and adoration, and hates it when he feels like he's losing the audience. He's even said as much, talking about the different reactions to Beatles songs vs. newer tunes. He's never been one to challenge his live audiences, like Dylan. He wants to please the masses. So that's why we get Mr. Kite and not I Don't Know. And there are a few songs that he just clearly likes to play, Let Me Roll It clearly being one. Maybe In Spite of All the Danger is another, though I do find that one baffling.
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
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oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
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Kestrel wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
He was still popular enough to have "Egypt Station" be the #1 album in the US -lol. Just teasing you a bit, I understand what you were saying about his popularity years ago. Anyway, several of us are not questioning the bulk of his setlist being the Beatles/Wings hits, rough estimate that is around 25 songs a night. We are just saying we would like more diversity with the other 10 or more songs he plays live. Maybe it is me, but the idea of touring usually is to promote your latest albums. It is still mind boggling to me that McCartney still worries about some solo songs getting polite applause when he knows damn well the minute he plays any Beatle song including not top quality songs they will get big reaction.
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Bruce M. wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
We might as well give up trying to figure out why Paul does what he does. He is a mystery wrapped in an enigma!
IMO he is not hard to figure out in regards to set list. He wants to please the first timers and play Beatle heavy set list that allows him to charge high price for tickets. At this point, he has no desire to work on really mixing up his set list. He is also a man who does not like to hear criticism and it takes a very strong personality (ex. Nigel Godrich) to tell him a song may suck and he needs to do better. As for his selection of songs to keep on an album or selecting singles, that is one area I can't figure him out especially because he makes the wrong decision IMO so many times.
I think it's all about pleasing the masses. Let's face it, Paul loves the applause and adoration, and hates it when he feels like he's losing the audience. He's even said as much, talking about the different reactions to Beatles songs vs. newer tunes. He's never been one to challenge his live audiences, like Dylan. He wants to please the masses. So that's why we get Mr. Kite and not I Don't Know. And there are a few songs that he just clearly likes to play, Let Me Roll It clearly being one. Maybe In Spite of All the Danger is another, though I do find that one baffling.
I still have not figured out why he is not sick of "Let Me Roll It" by now but oh well. I have said it before and will say it again, raise your hand if you think anybody on their way to a McCartney concert says to their better half/ friend etc, I hope he plays "Benefit Of Mr. Kite" and "In Spite Of All Danger" tonight. Ok, play these songs for a tour and then move on and do something "crazy" (lol) like play more songs off your recent album that reached #1 in the US. Boy, if I was his manager I would light a fire under his butt about playing more "Egypt Station" songs this tour. Then again, I probably would not last very long as manager -ha ha.
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My prediction is that he will still only play 3 songs from ES (tops only 4) on his upcoming US leg of the "Freshen Up" tour. He might change "I Don't Know" and drop "Fuh You" but the true fans of Macca... the "complete" artist for 50 plus years will only get 3 or 4 songs. If he plays "Back to Brazil" in South America next month and it goes over pretty well, we might that song but he will still only do 4 tops for the US dates. He is just too comfortable doing the songs he does over and over to the point he can do at least the music portion perfect. Back in 2002 I thought he was the greatest performer on the planet but not anymore. But as Bruce says, he's afraid to challenge his audience with his massive catalog and he's at the point over the last 8 years or so of challenging himself anymore.
That is why I mentioned in my last post that I hope he is very angry with the Grammy Academy. That's the only way we might get the adventurous Paul of 1976 or 1990. If Paul is angry enough, maybe we could see 8 or more ES songs. That is the only way i.m.h.o. The other point I was making in my last post is that the ES songs make the most sense as additions to the setlist. They are the most recent songs as far as his memory is concerned and they are the songs for the most part that Paul can possibly sing the best. It will be interesting to see but again it takes some work for Paul and his team. The only hope I can think of is Paul deep down inside upset that the Grammy Academy totally shut him out on an album that hit #1 upon its release. We will have to wait and see but it won't be long at this point.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
He was still popular enough to have "Egypt Station" be the #1 album in the US -lol. Just teasing you a bit, I understand what you were saying about his popularity years ago. Anyway, several of us are not questioning the bulk of his setlist being the Beatles/Wings hits, rough estimate that is around 25 songs a night. We are just saying we would like more diversity with the other 10 or more songs he plays live. Maybe it is me, but the idea of touring usually is to promote your latest albums. It is still mind boggling to me that McCartney still worries about some solo songs getting polite applause when he knows damn well the minute he plays any Beatle song including not top quality songs they will get big reaction.
Personally I think far too much has been made of this 'having a #1 album' again business. It would have been more of an indicator of his current popularity had ES got to (for example) #7 and stayed in the Top 20 for six months. As it was, the album was out of the top 100 within a matter of weeks. And I still maintain that ES is a fairly bland,uninspired album that is far below Paul's best works. I think Paul has reached a time in his life that any change to the set-list is too much like hard work. New material has to be rehearsed, the lighting and fx / films have to be resequenced. Just changing one song creates a lot of hassle so why should he bother? Its all time and money and if the show ain't broke, why fix it? The vast majority of the audience wouldn't notice anyway. So long as they hear the 'greatest hits' show then thats all they are interested in.
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Kestrel wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
He was still popular enough to have "Egypt Station" be the #1 album in the US -lol. Just teasing you a bit, I understand what you were saying about his popularity years ago. Anyway, several of us are not questioning the bulk of his setlist being the Beatles/Wings hits, rough estimate that is around 25 songs a night. We are just saying we would like more diversity with the other 10 or more songs he plays live. Maybe it is me, but the idea of touring usually is to promote your latest albums. It is still mind boggling to me that McCartney still worries about some solo songs getting polite applause when he knows damn well the minute he plays any Beatle song including not top quality songs they will get big reaction.
Personally I think far too much has been made of this 'having a #1 album' again business. It would have been more of an indicator of his current popularity had ES got to (for example) #7 and stayed in the Top 20 for six months. As it was, the album was out of the top 100 within a matter of weeks. And I still maintain that ES is a fairly bland,uninspired album that is far below Paul's best works. I think Paul has reached a time in his life that any change to the set-list is too much like hard work. New material has to be rehearsed, the lighting and fx / films have to be resequenced. Just changing one song creates a lot of hassle so why should he bother? Its all time and money and if the show ain't broke, why fix it? The vast majority of the audience wouldn't notice anyway. So long as they hear the 'greatest hits' show then thats all they are interested in.
Kestrel,
I agree with the 2nd part of your post as to why Paul will change very little in his setlist for the 2019 leg of his "Refresh" tour. As I said, I think we will be lucky to get 4 ES songs. I don't think Paul wants to challenge himself in his live shows anymore because it is too hard for the valid reasons you gave.
As far as your first point, ES certainly did well enough on the charts (and at #1 for a week) for Paul and Band to perform only "3" songs. For the "true" fans, that was a disgrace in my opinion. ES was certainly deemed a "success" as a new album by a very large percentage of the music media press. And 1 of the 3 songs they did play (Fuh You) was also deemed generally by this same segment of the press as being one of the worse songs on ES.
Just another opinion but I totally disagree that ES is a bland album. In my opinion, ES is one of Paul's best Solo album (top 3 for me since the early 80's and Tug of War.
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When is his next big gig? In South America, I think. The middle or the end of March? Is that when we find out about the setlist issue? thanks for info.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
When is his next big gig? In South America, I think. The middle or the end of March? Is that when we find out about the setlist issue? thanks for info.
Santiago, Chile March 20th
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B J Conlee wrote:
My prediction is that he will still only play 3 songs from ES (tops only 4) on his upcoming US leg of the "Freshen Up" tour. He might change "I Don't Know" and drop "Fuh You" but the true fans of Macca... the "complete" artist for 50 plus years will only get 3 or 4 songs. If he plays "Back to Brazil" in South America next month and it goes over pretty well, we might that song but he will still only do 4 tops for the US dates. He is just too comfortable doing the songs he does over and over to the point he can do at least the music portion perfect. Back in 2002 I thought he was the greatest performer on the planet but not anymore. But as Bruce says, he's afraid to challenge his audience with his massive catalog and he's at the point over the last 8 years or so of challenging himself anymore.
That is why I mentioned in my last post that I hope he is very angry with the Grammy Academy. That's the only way we might get the adventurous Paul of 1976 or 1990. If Paul is angry enough, maybe we could see 8 or more ES songs. That is the only way i.m.h.o. The other point I was making in my last post is that the ES songs make the most sense as additions to the setlist. They are the most recent songs as far as his memory is concerned and they are the songs for the most part that Paul can possibly sing the best. It will be interesting to see but again it takes some work for Paul and his team. The only hope I can think of is Paul deep down inside upset that the Grammy Academy totally shut him out on an album that hit #1 upon its release. We will have to wait and see but it won't be long at this point.
It makes sense to do 4-6 songs from "Egypt Station" because McCartney is promting his new album and hopefully maybe you will get more people to buy it, what a novel idea (lol). You make excellent point that the new songs were recorded with his current voice so they are perfect for him to sing live now. His touring band for close to 20 years I am pretty confident can learn these songs pretty quickly especially since they recorded them with him. I don't think it will be that big a chore to do some lighting changes for these songs, my goodness he has been touring for years with the same team. Sadly, I don't think the Grammy snub will bother him. I think he is very happy being "Beatle Paul" and the days of really being into more than that ended around 1993 with "Off The Ground" album and tour where he showcased a bunch of songs off that album.
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Kestrel wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
He was still popular enough to have "Egypt Station" be the #1 album in the US -lol. Just teasing you a bit, I understand what you were saying about his popularity years ago. Anyway, several of us are not questioning the bulk of his setlist being the Beatles/Wings hits, rough estimate that is around 25 songs a night. We are just saying we would like more diversity with the other 10 or more songs he plays live. Maybe it is me, but the idea of touring usually is to promote your latest albums. It is still mind boggling to me that McCartney still worries about some solo songs getting polite applause when he knows damn well the minute he plays any Beatle song including not top quality songs they will get big reaction.
Personally I think far too much has been made of this 'having a #1 album' again business. It would have been more of an indicator of his current popularity had ES got to (for example) #7 and stayed in the Top 20 for six months. As it was, the album was out of the top 100 within a matter of weeks. And I still maintain that ES is a fairly bland,uninspired album that is far below Paul's best works. I think Paul has reached a time in his life that any change to the set-list is too much like hard work. New material has to be rehearsed, the lighting and fx / films have to be resequenced. Just changing one song creates a lot of hassle so why should he bother? Its all time and money and if the show ain't broke, why fix it? The vast majority of the audience wouldn't notice anyway. So long as they hear the 'greatest hits' show then thats all they are interested in.
I agree it would have been more of an accomplishment if "Egypt Station" stayed in the charts longer. That being said, it is still quite something for a 76 year old guy to enter the charts at #1 with a new album of original songs. Usually artists his age that have #1 album are doing a album of cover songs. I will agree to disagree with you regarding the quality of "Egypt Station". From what I have read, most critical reviews were pretty darn good. In addition, RS magazine ranked it as the 11th best album of 2018. Myself and BJ agree that adding new songs take work and sadly we know he probably will not do it anymore. Like you said, he is way too comfortable and the audience does not care as long as they hear the hits. Finally, I would love to ask McCartney one day if he feels that his live show is a disservice to all the fans who have bought his albums after 1980 and hear so little of it live.
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I realize that this has probably been discussed to death, but I really hope and pray that there would be a chance of Paul adding "Yesterday" back in for the U.S. leg of his tour. That song has meant so much to me, that it would seem to me as if there were a big gaping hole in the concert.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
He was still popular enough to have "Egypt Station" be the #1 album in the US -lol. Just teasing you a bit, I understand what you were saying about his popularity years ago. Anyway, several of us are not questioning the bulk of his setlist being the Beatles/Wings hits, rough estimate that is around 25 songs a night. We are just saying we would like more diversity with the other 10 or more songs he plays live. Maybe it is me, but the idea of touring usually is to promote your latest albums. It is still mind boggling to me that McCartney still worries about some solo songs getting polite applause when he knows damn well the minute he plays any Beatle song including not top quality songs they will get big reaction.
Maybe you're not questioning the bulks of his setlist being Beatles with a smattering of Wings hits, but many of us are. Many of us would prefer WAY more material from the last 20 years -- even though we know we're not going to get it.
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~lady*madonna~ wrote:
I realize that this has probably been discussed to death, but I really hope and pray that there would be a chance of Paul adding "Yesterday" back in for the U.S. leg of his tour. That song has meant so much to me, that it would seem to me as if there were a big gaping hole in the concert.
I agree with you 100% . In my opinion, that song is a must for a McCartney concert especially for first time people.
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Bruce M. wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
He was still popular enough to have "Egypt Station" be the #1 album in the US -lol. Just teasing you a bit, I understand what you were saying about his popularity years ago. Anyway, several of us are not questioning the bulk of his setlist being the Beatles/Wings hits, rough estimate that is around 25 songs a night. We are just saying we would like more diversity with the other 10 or more songs he plays live. Maybe it is me, but the idea of touring usually is to promote your latest albums. It is still mind boggling to me that McCartney still worries about some solo songs getting polite applause when he knows damn well the minute he plays any Beatle song including not top quality songs they will get big reaction.
Maybe you're not questioning the bulks of his setlist being Beatles with a smattering of Wings hits, but many of us are. Many of us would prefer WAY more material from the last 20 years -- even though we know we're not going to get it.
Exactly!
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Bruce M. wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Kestrel wrote:
oobu24 wrote:
The audience reaction/enthusiasm is less for his newer songs only because the audience does not know them. If he had played his more current tunes in concert everyone would learn the words & would be able to sing along. So...basically it's his own fault.
And the reason the audience don't know the songs is because they don't buy the albums. And that's been the case for the last 25 years or so, the vast majority of the live audience are not remotely interested in his later solo albums. Paul is far more popular as a live artist than he is as a recording artist so its understandable that the bulk of the songs that he performs live today are from the recording period when he was still popular...ie the 60's, the 70's and the early 80's.
He was still popular enough to have "Egypt Station" be the #1 album in the US -lol. Just teasing you a bit, I understand what you were saying about his popularity years ago. Anyway, several of us are not questioning the bulk of his setlist being the Beatles/Wings hits, rough estimate that is around 25 songs a night. We are just saying we would like more diversity with the other 10 or more songs he plays live. Maybe it is me, but the idea of touring usually is to promote your latest albums. It is still mind boggling to me that McCartney still worries about some solo songs getting polite applause when he knows damn well the minute he plays any Beatle song including not top quality songs they will get big reaction.
Maybe you're not questioning the bulks of his setlist being Beatles with a smattering of Wings hits, but many of us are. Many of us would prefer WAY more material from the last 20 years -- even though we know we're not going to get it.
Bruce, I have been questioning the bulk of a Beatle setlist for many years, you can check with BJ and Nancy - lol. Remember a poster named "Audi", we both used to constantly write about having a McCartney show without Beatle songs. Matter of fact, BJ and I used to get slammed by posters about "whining" becaused we dared to want more solo songs and less Beatle songs. It is just that after so many years I gave up and than just hoped for more solo songs in the songs that remained after the hits. Sadly, I know now that the chances of him ever doing songs like "Take It Away" are gone and we are left to hoping that McCartney actually plays more than three songs off Egypt Station.
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Looking back over the last 8 years or so, I started wondering why I had been become so less enthused about attending a Macca concert. The last indoor Paul concerts I really "loved" were in Philadelphia August 14 and 15 of 2010. Going on this Website into the Tour Archives section, it was easy for me to dig out the Setlists for both shows. The answer to my question above was staring right in front of me as I perused the setlist. I was kind of amazed when I saw and remembered how many of those songs were ones I had heard for the "first time" on those consecutive nights. That was precisely why those 2010 shows were so magical to me.
Keep in mind, I missed the 1976 Wings Over America tour so the first time seeing Paul was 1990 and 1993. While I loved those shows and hearing all those Beatle songs live for the first time, both of those 1990 and 1993 shows were held in ou massive outdoor stadiums. It wasn't until 2002 and 2005 I saw Paul for the first time in an indoor arena venue. Those were so intimate in comparison. Still, the 2010 shows had so many different songs that I heard in 2005.
Here is the list of Beatle, Wings, and Solo songs I heard for the first time in 2010.
Venus and Mars/Rock Show
Letting Go
Highway
1985
Let Em In
I've Just Seen a Face
And I love You
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Ram On
Sing the Changes
Ob La Di
I've Got a Feeling
Paberback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance
Day Tripper
Get Back
I'm Looking Through You (2nd night)
Two of Us
_________________________
At those 2010 shows, I heard like 19 songs I had never heard Paul perform before. That's a startling number from my recollecton. The shows that I had a chance to see afterwards (from 2012 on) didn't have nearly as many of 1st time songs for me. And some of the new additions that Paul did add over the last 8 years weren't nearly as good (e g. Mr Kite, 4-5 seconds, Temporary Secretary) in my opinion. It just got to the point for me where Paul's shows weren't nearly as exciting as they had been in 2002, 2005 and 2010 where I was hearing Paul songs that I loved for the 1st time. This is why I am hoping that Paul plays around 8 songs from ES. That would get me excited and motivated to see him again in 2019.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Looking back over the last 8 years or so, I started wondering why I had been become so less enthused about attending a Macca concert. The last indoor Paul concerts I really "loved" were in Philadelphia August 14 and 15 of 2010. Going on this Website into the Tour Archives section, it was easy for me to dig out the Setlists for both shows. The answer to my question above was staring right in front of me as I perused the setlist. I was kind of amazed when I saw and remembered how many of those songs were ones I had heard for the "first time" on those consecutive nights. That was precisely why those 2010 shows were so magical to me.
Keep in mind, I missed the 1976 Wings Over America tour so the first time seeing Paul was 1990 and 1993. While I loved those shows and hearing all those Beatle songs live for the first time, both of those 1990 and 1993 shows were held in massive outdoor stadiums. It wasn't until 2002 and 2005 I saw Paul for the first time in an indoor arena venue. Those were so intimate in comparison. Still, the 2010 shows had so many different songs that I heard in 2002 and 2005.
Here is the list of Beatle, Wings, and Solo songs I heard for the first time in 2010.
Venus and Mars/Rock Show
Letting Go
Highway
1985
Let Em In
I've Just Seen a Face
And I love You
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Ram On
Sing the Changes
Ob La Di
I've Got a Feeling
Paberback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance
Day Tripper
Get Back
I'm Looking Through You (2nd night)
Two of Us (2nd night)
_________________________
At those 2010 shows, I heard like 19 songs I had never heard Paul perform live. That's a startling number from my recollecton. Conversely, the shows that I had a chance to see afterwards (from 2012 on) didn't have nearly as many of 1st time songs for me. And some of the new additions that Paul did add over the last 8 years weren't nearly as good (for example, Mr Kite, 4-5 seconds, Temporary Secretary) in my opinion. It just got to the point for me where Paul's shows weren't nearly as exciting as they had been in 2002, 2005 and 2010 where I was hearing Paul songs that I loved for the 1st time. This is why I am hoping that Paul plays around 8 songs from ES at these upcoming shows. That would get me excited and motivated to see him again in 2019. But as most of us have been saying...I don't think that is a reality as Paul will be approaching 77. The only chance in my opinion, is if he decides to reach into his most recent album...Egypt Station. Let's hope!
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B J Conlee wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Looking back over the last 8 years or so, I started wondering why I had been become so less enthused about attending a Macca concert. The last indoor Paul concerts I really "loved" were in Philadelphia August 14 and 15 of 2010. Going on this Website into the Tour Archives section, it was easy for me to dig out the Setlists for both shows. The answer to my question above was staring right in front of me as I perused the setlist. I was kind of amazed when I saw and remembered how many of those songs were ones I had heard for the "first time" on those consecutive nights. That was precisely why those 2010 shows were so magical to me.
Keep in mind, I missed the 1976 Wings Over America tour so the first time seeing Paul was 1990 and 1993. While I loved those shows and hearing all those Beatle songs live for the first time, both of those 1990 and 1993 shows were held in massive outdoor stadiums. It wasn't until 2002 and 2005 I saw Paul for the first time in an indoor arena venue. Those were so intimate in comparison. Still, the 2010 shows had so many different songs that I heard in 2002 and 2005.
Here is the list of Beatle, Wings, and Solo songs I heard for the first time in 2010.
Venus and Mars/Rock Show
Letting Go
Highway
1985
Let Em In
I've Just Seen a Face
And I love You
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Ram On
Sing the Changes
Ob La Di
I've Got a Feeling
Paberback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance
Day Tripper
Get Back
I'm Looking Through You (2nd night)
Two of Us (2nd night)
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At those 2010 shows, I heard like 19 songs I had never heard Paul perform live. That's a startling number from my recollecton. Conversely, the shows that I had a chance to see afterwards (from 2012 on) didn't have nearly as many of 1st time songs for me. And some of the new additions that Paul did add over the last 8 years weren't nearly as good (for example, Mr Kite, 4-5 seconds, Temporary Secretary) in my opinion. It just got to the point for me where Paul's shows weren't nearly as exciting as they had been in 2002, 2005 and 2010 where I was hearing Paul songs that I loved for the 1st time. This is why I am hoping that Paul plays around 8 songs from ES at these upcoming shows. That would get me excited and motivated to see him again in 2019. But as most of us have been saying...I don't think that is a reality as Paul will be approaching 77. The only chance in my opinion, is if he decides to reach into his most recent album...Egypt Station. Let's hope!
I was fortunate to see him in 1976 and it was amazing !!. People were actually there to hear Wings songs and pleasantly surprised to hear a few Beatle songs. In 1990, he started playing more Beatle songs but that was kind of cool to hear them for first time. That being said, he still opened with song from FITD and if my memory is correct played six songs from FITD. The 1993 tour followed the same path with plenty of songs from OTG but he did open with Beatle song for the first time. Anyway, I saw him for the last time in 2010 in Charlotte NC. As I have stated several times, only reason I went was to attend with my daughters who had never seen him live. I had seen him in 2009 when he did Citifield concerts and enjoyed the Fireman songs.
The following tours I lost interest because to me his set list had become stale. McCartney no longer did many songs from his most current album, think he may have done two off MAF. I also got bored hearing he was telling the same old stories between songs. Even "Live And Let Die" with its fireworks had become ordinary to me. ( I understand it is very cool if you have not seen it before). I also was started to get "annoyed" that I was buying all his solo albums which I for the most part loved but was never really getting to hear them live. I really shook my head when he started playing songs like "Benefit For mr Kite" and "In Site Of All Danger" instead of some really good solo songs he ignored. IMO it has not become a freaking joke. McCartney released a successful album with critical acclaim and he still only does a token three songs live. At this point, nothing will change but it is still frustrating that there are so many good songs that will never be heard live. Finally, his tour names are a freaking joke. They give the impression he is really going to shake up his set list and it winds up being tweaked. Oh well.