Set List critique
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Bruce M. wrote:
I love Paul to death, but don't expect to see him live again. I just don't need to see him do songs I've mostly heard him play before with a weaker voice. It's okay. I had a blast at the six Macca shows I've seen, and I'll always have the memories.
Well said as usual Bruce. I liked the play on words from "Dominoes".
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B J Conlee wrote:
Bruce M. wrote:
I love Paul to death, but don't expect to see him live again. I just don't need to see him do songs I've mostly heard him play before with a weaker voice. It's okay. I had a blast at the six Macca shows I've seen, and I'll always have the memories.
Well said as usual Bruce. I liked the play on words from "Dominoes".
It was well said, but I doubt Bruce was referencing Dominoes "It's been a blast" when he wrote that. Bruce, correct me if I'm wrong.
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B J Conlee wrote:
wingsoverkc wrote:
Very cool stream here gentlemen. BUT, since I have been to several McCartney shows in the past three years, I believe I can give a better response, since I have actually attended several live shows recently. When you are actually at a live show, you can pretty much accurately respond to your requests. Here goes:
Sorry, but Junior's Farm explodes into the audience. Even I was shocked at the positive reaction.
My favorite song on ES is Dominoes, BUT , not sure it would be a great crowd reaction. Who Cares was really responded well in my shows last year. The same with Come On To Me; the audience really, really dug this song. Not sure Confidante would have the same reaction. And sorry, but Let Me Roll It is kind of the Wings Hey Jude. The crowd digs the heavy hard rock song. And sorry again, but Let 'EM In is incredibly excepted by the crowds I attended. And the video of marching bands is very, very cool. Again, the audience loves, loves this tune!!
Yes, I know, 'Maybe I'm Amazed' is a stressful time for us McCartney fans, but, the audience simply weeps during this song. And Dance Tonight is a hoot; with Abe dancing, the crowd just has a blast.
Sorry, I could go on and on, but just a couple more suggestions; Helter Skelter is an absolute show stopper; almost as powerful as Live and Let Die; don't ever drop this tune!! And yes, one of my all time favorite Beatles song is Penny Lane, but please Sgt. Pepper brings the house down.
Yes, I am a huge, huge, Wings fan, I would love to hear Helen Wheels, So Glad To See You Here, Dear Friend, Getting Closer, Silly Love Songs, etc, etc, but I am just so glad that Sir Paul is still playing live in 2020, anything he sings, I'm there.!!!
Thanks for your sincere response Wingsoverkc. I appreciate it when someone gives me the other side of the coin. Since you have been to a few very recent Macca shows, you certainly have a leg up on us relative to seeing and feeling the crowds' reaction to various Paul songs whether they are Beatles, Wings or Solo.
I would be the first to admit that I'm not the average Paul fan attending his shows. Many might be around my age (I'm 70) but they tend to be far more Beatle Paul fans (and a little bit Wings) but certainly not the McCartney Solo fan from the 80's onward like you and me. I'm also much more of a fan of Paul's latter Solo career like from the 2000's till today. I try to listen to the Beatles' Sirius channel (Channel 18) but I often change the channel because they seem to play so many songs I have heard just too many times. In most cases these songs are great songs but how many times can you hear them. Maybe it's just the specific times I try to listen to Channel 18, but they also don't seem to play the really good Paul Solo songs I love. And for some strange reason, they seem to play a lot of recent Solo Ringo songs.
Because of some of the reasons above, I have chosen not to attend any Paul shows since 2010. That last show for me was a very enjoyable show because Paul did add a lot of Post Beatle songs I loved like Venus and Mars/Rock Show, Letting Go, 1985 etc. Conversely, over the last 7 or 8 years Paul has just repeated too many of the same songs and even some "unusual" songs he did add weren't close to my favorites like Temporary Secretary, Four Five Seconds and Mr. Kite.
I just happen to like variety but it's hard to fault Macca. He's playing to the overwhelming majority and as I said, Paul is always involved with new side projects whether it's books, film or new songs. If we want brand new music and other material perhaps it's good that Paul isn't over working about his current tours and trying to change the setlist. I'm different... when I go to see Paul, I'm far more interested in hearing songs I've never heard live before plus I want to hear songs I particularly like from his Post Beatles' career that have not been over commercialized.
The setlist I quickly put together still has a lot of songs that would appeal to the Beatle Paul fans (but with some changes so we get some variey) while I also tried to appeal to the hard core Paul fans like you and me. I would like to hear songs like Dominoes and I Don't Know that are not only great songs but in my opinion easily measure up to the great Beatle Paul songs that everyone knows.
In reality, Paul will probably add a couple of songs to the upcoming Europe 2020 shows but that will be it. He might add a couple of new ES songs but I don't expect much more. As I also siad, Paul is a creature of habit so we likely get many of the same songs and stories. Just my opinion and just the fact that I live in Florida and far away from these shows, I won't stress about it.
A bunch of years ago, Billy Joel announced he would not be creating anymore new music because he felt he had nothing left to say. I said around a year ago, basically the same thing about this topic. I had nothing left to say that I had not expressed about this topic. I just wanted you to know I enjoyed reading your posts but will no longer comment about McCartney's setlist.
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Prediction: no changes, apart from a 'Junior's Farm' out and 'Hi Hi Hi' in kind of swap. The local bookers were carefully instructed to find a city or territory he never performed at, and this is for a reason. We know McCartney's heart lies with creating music and performing his old music while putting on a tremendous show, but not in performing his new music or rehearsing anything to put on said show.
What I posted elsewhere about a half year ago:
Which has to go as soon as possible:
A Hard Day's Night - an absolute stomper. But a Lennon song. Now opening the Paul McCartney show for 2 tours straight, for 4 years. Keep it in rotation as encore opener, but it has to go as fixed spot, let alone as opener. His shows need a new opener now, even if it’s just ‘Jet’ or ‘Coming Up’, that's how little I expect at this point.
I've Got A Feeling - D-tier Beatles song, then 16 years in the set with a break of about 2 years. Out of all solo shows in the past 3 decades, he played it at about half of them, and it wasn’t even introduced until 15 years in his live solo career! A telling figure. The audience doesn’t go crazy for it, first “bathroom break” song in the territory where that’s a thing (North America), often the atmosphere deflates very early in the set. Not great hearing the slick stadium band going through it, and a bit sad hearing the American voices doing Lennon’s bit. Totally unnecessary to drag this out night after night. Wrong song at the worst spot, and it’s exactly this song which comes back like a boomerang all the time. Drop it for good! And then the generic show band jam at the end, extending it to boring proportions.
Let Me Roll It - gone, gone, gone. 15-20 years of the same minor solo song attached to the same story and the same cheesy Hendrix jam. Yes, again a jam like that. 2 of these pests in a row, with 2 similar jams, which he’s both doing for at least 10 to 15 years. The only big 15 minute downer during his sets. The king of setlist sequencing gotta see this just doesn’t work. The song itself is good, once every 3 tours, not every single tour at exactly the same spot. Visiting a show by him and hearing 6 or 7 bangers in a row, and him then going in the slow “1…2…3…4” with Abe Jr. banging the hats, is borderline satirical at this point.
Something - this lost all charm, almost everyone born before 2000 living in the Western world now had a chance to hear this tribute live. Substitute it with a solo hit by Harrison, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ (with a different story) or even just ‘All Things Must Pass’ like he did in 2004.
Here Today - exact same category as ‘Something’. Substitute it with ‘In My Life’ acoustically.
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite - a great surprise in 2013, but again a Lennon song, worth the price of admission for the bass work, but it's now 7 years in the way of other far superior (solo) songs, and at this point still only there for the laser show.
00’s solo, wrong picks:
My Valentine - a fantastic solo song, one of his finest of all time, which he can still sing pretty well. But of course nothing which makes the crowd roar, and now 8 years in the set, at this exact spot. He tried a different arrangement for one show, which could’ve extended the lifespan. But he didn’t go through with that, and now it’s time to go. Purely there as tribute to Nancy. Add a different solo love song.
Who Cares - a year and a half of ‘Egypt Station’ promotion, decent enough song, but nothing which would ever make a 100-song compilation. It now has to clear up space for any solo song, played before or not.
Queenie Eye - worked well live, fine song, but again has to make room for a different solo song now, it has been 6 years.
Dance Tonight - shouldn't ever have returned. A very fun song which always worked live, but it belongs in the 2007-2012 set, where it well overstayed its welcome. It’s just a piss-take to bring it out again now with so many other options available, even with the slightly new arrangement. A waste of a solo slot.
Save Us - not a fixed song in the set any more, but it's a very average rock song from a mediocre album, and still got played every 1 out of 5 or so shows in 2017-2018, I believe.
More contenders:
Got to Get You Into My Life / Let 'Em In - both great live, but only re-added because of the horns section. If the horn section is gone upcoming leg: drop it immediately, because they have been played plenty on tour in the past 30 years. If not, just play one of them, do ‘Coming Up’ instead of ‘Let ‘Em In’ - or, gasp, even ‘C Moon’ - and use the other slot for another upbeat Beatles rock song he didn’t overplay like ‘Another Girl’ or ‘The Night Before’. See, not even asking for much. Of course I’d rather see him use the spot(s) for something he never played before, solo (loads left) or Beatles (not much left).
Pepper reprise - unnecessary, brought back for the 2017 Pepper hype, but it's so uninspired to continue with that after it already had been done to death for a decade at the beginning of this century.
Eleanor Rigby - time to give it a rest, like he previously dared to do with ‘The Long And Winding Road’. Vocally he just can't do it justice any more, and the moment in the set with just the three of them at the front doing the vocals has become stale.
Birthday - works great live, but should get at least rotated by other Beatles rock songs at that spot, loads to chose from, fully rehearsed already.
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I wish he would take advantage of his new horn section and replace songs that have been played for several years in a row for ones that require those instruments.
In fact, when I met those 3 guys I told them "I hope you'll be able to convince Paul to add Silly Love Songs to the setlist" and they seemed glad to hear that.
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nobodytoldme wrote:
Prediction: no changes, apart from a 'Junior's Farm' out and 'Hi Hi Hi' in kind of swap. The local bookers were carefully instructed to find a city or territory he never performed at, and this is for a reason. We know McCartney's heart lies with creating music and performing his old music while putting on a tremendous show, but not in performing his new music or rehearsing anything to put on said show.
What I posted elsewhere about a half year ago:
Which has to go as soon as possible:
A Hard Day's Night - an absolute stomper. But a Lennon song. Now opening the Paul McCartney show for 2 tours straight, for 4 years. Keep it in rotation as encore opener, but it has to go as fixed spot, let alone as opener. His shows need a new opener now, even if it’s just ‘Jet’ or ‘Coming Up’, that's how little I expect at this point.
I've Got A Feeling - D-tier Beatles song, then 16 years in the set with a break of about 2 years. Out of all solo shows in the past 3 decades, he played it at about half of them, and it wasn’t even introduced until 15 years in his live solo career! A telling figure. The audience doesn’t go crazy for it, first “bathroom break” song in the territory where that’s a thing (North America), often the atmosphere deflates very early in the set. Not great hearing the slick stadium band going through it, and a bit sad hearing the American voices doing Lennon’s bit. Totally unnecessary to drag this out night after night. Wrong song at the worst spot, and it’s exactly this song which comes back like a boomerang all the time. Drop it for good! And then the generic show band jam at the end, extending it to boring proportions.
Let Me Roll It - gone, gone, gone. 15-20 years of the same minor solo song attached to the same story and the same cheesy Hendrix jam. Yes, again a jam like that. 2 of these pests in a row, with 2 similar jams, which he’s both doing for at least 10 to 15 years. The only big 15 minute downer during his sets. The king of setlist sequencing gotta see this just doesn’t work. The song itself is good, once every 3 tours, not every single tour at exactly the same spot. Visiting a show by him and hearing 6 or 7 bangers in a row, and him then going in the slow “1…2…3…4” with Abe Jr. banging the hats, is borderline satirical at this point.
Something - this lost all charm, almost everyone born before 2000 living in the Western world now had a chance to hear this tribute live. Substitute it with a solo hit by Harrison, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ (with a different story) or even just ‘All Things Must Pass’ like he did in 2004.
Here Today - exact same category as ‘Something’. Substitute it with ‘In My Life’ acoustically.
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite - a great surprise in 2013, but again a Lennon song, worth the price of admission for the bass work, but it's now 7 years in the way of other far superior (solo) songs, and at this point still only there for the laser show.
00’s solo, wrong picks:
My Valentine - a fantastic solo song, one of his finest of all time, which he can still sing pretty well. But of course nothing which makes the crowd roar, and now 8 years in the set, at this exact spot. He tried a different arrangement for one show, which could’ve extended the lifespan. But he didn’t go through with that, and now it’s time to go. Purely there as tribute to Nancy. Add a different solo love song.
Who Cares - a year and a half of ‘Egypt Station’ promotion, decent enough song, but nothing which would ever make a 100-song compilation. It now has to clear up space for any solo song, played before or not.
Queenie Eye - worked well live, fine song, but again has to make room for a different solo song now, it has been 6 years.
Dance Tonight - shouldn't ever have returned. A very fun song which always worked live, but it belongs in the 2007-2012 set, where it well overstayed its welcome. It’s just a piss-take to bring it out again now with so many other options available, even with the slightly new arrangement. A waste of a solo slot.
Save Us - not a fixed song in the set any more, but it's a very average rock song from a mediocre album, and still got played every 1 out of 5 or so shows in 2017-2018, I believe.
More contenders:
Got to Get You Into My Life / Let 'Em In - both great live, but only re-added because of the horns section. If the horn section is gone upcoming leg: drop it immediately, because they have been played plenty on tour in the past 30 years. If not, just play one of them, do ‘Coming Up’ instead of ‘Let ‘Em In’ - or, gasp, even ‘C Moon’ - and use the other slot for another upbeat Beatles rock song he didn’t overplay like ‘Another Girl’ or ‘The Night Before’. See, not even asking for much. Of course I’d rather see him use the spot(s) for something he never played before, solo (loads left) or Beatles (not much left).
Pepper reprise - unnecessary, brought back for the 2017 Pepper hype, but it's so uninspired to continue with that after it already had been done to death for a decade at the beginning of this century.
Eleanor Rigby - time to give it a rest, like he previously dared to do with ‘The Long And Winding Road’. Vocally he just can't do it justice any more, and the moment in the set with just the three of them at the front doing the vocals has become stale.
Birthday - works great live, but should get at least rotated by other Beatles rock songs at that spot, loads to chose from, fully rehearsed already.
Well thought out post...and very true. So many of his songs need to be dropped. But I doubt he'll do it at this late stage of his life. And I agree about the John & George songs. They totally need to be changed.
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nobodytoldme wrote:
Prediction: no changes, apart from a 'Junior's Farm' out and 'Hi Hi Hi' in kind of swap. The local bookers were carefully instructed to find a city or territory he never performed at, and this is for a reason. We know McCartney's heart lies with creating music and performing his old music while putting on a tremendous show, but not in performing his new music or rehearsing anything to put on said show.
What I posted elsewhere about a half year ago:
Which has to go as soon as possible:
A Hard Day's Night - an absolute stomper. But a Lennon song. Now opening the Paul McCartney show for 2 tours straight, for 4 years. Keep it in rotation as encore opener, but it has to go as fixed spot, let alone as opener. His shows need a new opener now, even if it’s just ‘Jet’ or ‘Coming Up’, that's how little I expect at this point.
I've Got A Feeling - D-tier Beatles song, then 16 years in the set with a break of about 2 years. Out of all solo shows in the past 3 decades, he played it at about half of them, and it wasn’t even introduced until 15 years in his live solo career! A telling figure. The audience doesn’t go crazy for it, first “bathroom break” song in the territory where that’s a thing (North America), often the atmosphere deflates very early in the set. Not great hearing the slick stadium band going through it, and a bit sad hearing the American voices doing Lennon’s bit. Totally unnecessary to drag this out night after night. Wrong song at the worst spot, and it’s exactly this song which comes back like a boomerang all the time. Drop it for good! And then the generic show band jam at the end, extending it to boring proportions.
Let Me Roll It - gone, gone, gone. 15-20 years of the same minor solo song attached to the same story and the same cheesy Hendrix jam. Yes, again a jam like that. 2 of these pests in a row, with 2 similar jams, which he’s both doing for at least 10 to 15 years. The only big 15 minute downer during his sets. The king of setlist sequencing gotta see this just doesn’t work. The song itself is good, once every 3 tours, not every single tour at exactly the same spot. Visiting a show by him and hearing 6 or 7 bangers in a row, and him then going in the slow “1…2…3…4” with Abe Jr. banging the hats, is borderline satirical at this point.
Something - this lost all charm, almost everyone born before 2000 living in the Western world now had a chance to hear this tribute live. Substitute it with a solo hit by Harrison, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ (with a different story) or even just ‘All Things Must Pass’ like he did in 2004.
Here Today - exact same category as ‘Something’. Substitute it with ‘In My Life’ acoustically.
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite - a great surprise in 2013, but again a Lennon song, worth the price of admission for the bass work, but it's now 7 years in the way of other far superior (solo) songs, and at this point still only there for the laser show.
00’s solo, wrong picks:
My Valentine - a fantastic solo song, one of his finest of all time, which he can still sing pretty well. But of course nothing which makes the crowd roar, and now 8 years in the set, at this exact spot. He tried a different arrangement for one show, which could’ve extended the lifespan. But he didn’t go through with that, and now it’s time to go. Purely there as tribute to Nancy. Add a different solo love song.
Who Cares - a year and a half of ‘Egypt Station’ promotion, decent enough song, but nothing which would ever make a 100-song compilation. It now has to clear up space for any solo song, played before or not.
Queenie Eye - worked well live, fine song, but again has to make room for a different solo song now, it has been 6 years.
Dance Tonight - shouldn't ever have returned. A very fun song which always worked live, but it belongs in the 2007-2012 set, where it well overstayed its welcome. It’s just a piss-take to bring it out again now with so many other options available, even with the slightly new arrangement. A waste of a solo slot.
Save Us - not a fixed song in the set any more, but it's a very average rock song from a mediocre album, and still got played every 1 out of 5 or so shows in 2017-2018, I believe.
More contenders:
Got to Get You Into My Life / Let 'Em In - both great live, but only re-added because of the horns section. If the horn section is gone upcoming leg: drop it immediately, because they have been played plenty on tour in the past 30 years. If not, just play one of them, do ‘Coming Up’ instead of ‘Let ‘Em In’ - or, gasp, even ‘C Moon’ - and use the other slot for another upbeat Beatles rock song he didn’t overplay like ‘Another Girl’ or ‘The Night Before’. See, not even asking for much. Of course I’d rather see him use the spot(s) for something he never played before, solo (loads left) or Beatles (not much left).
Pepper reprise - unnecessary, brought back for the 2017 Pepper hype, but it's so uninspired to continue with that after it already had been done to death for a decade at the beginning of this century.
Eleanor Rigby - time to give it a rest, like he previously dared to do with ‘The Long And Winding Road’. Vocally he just can't do it justice any more, and the moment in the set with just the three of them at the front doing the vocals has become stale.
Birthday - works great live, but should get at least rotated by other Beatles rock songs at that spot, loads to chose from, fully rehearsed already.
From your lips to Paul's ears!
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Argh, I see the formatting of my text was completely messed up after posting, and unreadable now.
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Second try! What I posted elsewhere about a half year ago, but I'm not going through it all again to edit the years and add some text like I did in the previous messed up post.
Going objectively through this current setlist, based on seeing the core of the same setlist for way too many times in the past decade, and the crowd responses I've experienced or pure redeeming quality in the setlist and sequencing of that:
Which has to go as soon as possible:
A Hard Day's Night - an absolute stomper. But a Lennon song. Now opening the Paul McCartney show for 2 tours straight, for 3,5 years. Keep it in rotation as encore opener, but it has to go as fixed spot, let alone as opener. His shows need a new opener now, even if it’s just ‘Jet’ or ‘Coming Up’, that's how little I expect at this point.
I've Got A Feeling - D-tier Beatles song, now 15 years in the set with a break of about 2 years. Out of all solo shows in the past 3 decades, he played it at about half of them, and it wasn’t even introduced until 15 years in his live solo career! The audience doesn’t go crazy for it, first “bathroom break” song in the territory where that’s a thing (America), often the atmosphere deflates very early in the set. Not great hearing the slick stadium band going through it, and a bit sad hearing the American voices doing Lennon’s bit. Totally unnecessary to drag this out night after night. Wrong song at the worst spot, and it’s exactly this song which comes back like a boomerang all the time. Drop it for good! And then the generic show band jam at the end, extending it to boring proportions.
Let Me Roll It - gone, gone, gone. 15-20 years of the same minor solo song attached to the same story and the same cheesy Hendrix jam. Yes, again a jam like that. 2 of these pests in a row, with 2 similar jams, which he’s both doing for at least 10 to 15 years. The only big 15 minute downer during his sets. The king of setlist sequencing gotta see this just doesn’t work. The song itself is good, once every 3 tours, not every single tour at exactly the same spot. Visiting a show by him and hearing 6 or 7 bangers in a row, and him then going in the slow “1…2…3…4” with Abe Jr. banging the hats, is borderline satirical at this point.
Something - this lost all charm, almost everyone born before 2000 living in the Western world now had a chance to hear this tribute live. Substitute it with a solo hit by Harrison, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ (with a different story) or even just ‘All Things Must Pass’ like he did in 2004.
Here Today - exact same category as ‘Something’. Substitute it with ‘In My Life’ acoustically.
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite - a great surprise in 2013, but again a Lennon song, worth the price of admission for the bass work, but it's now 6 years in the way of other far superior (solo) songs, and at this point still only there for the laser show.
00’s solo, wrong picks:
My Valentine - a fantastic solo song, one of his finest of all time, which he can still sing pretty well. But of course nothing which makes the crowd roar, and now 7,5 years in the set, at this exact spot. He tried a different arrangement for one show, which could’ve extended the lifespan. But he didn’t go through with that, and now it’s time to go. Purely there as tribute to Nancy. Add a different solo love song.
Who Cares - a year of ‘Egypt Station’ promotion, decent enough song, but nothing which would ever make a 100-song compilation. It now has to clear up space for any solo song, played before or not.
Queenie Eye - worked well live, fine song, but again has to make room for a different solo song now, it has been 6 years.
Dance Tonight - shouldn't ever have returned. A very fun song which always worked live, but it belongs in the 2007-2012 set, where it well overstayed its welcome. It’s just a piss-take to bring it out again now with so many other options available, even with the slightly new arrangement. A waste of a solo slot.
Save Us - not a fixed song in the set any more, but it's a very average rock song from a mediocre album, and still gets played every 1 out of 5 or so shows, I believe.
More contenders:
Got to Get You Into My Life / Let 'Em In - both great live, but only re-added because of the horns section. If the horn section is gone next (leg of a?) tour: drop it immediately, because they have been played plenty on tour in the past 30 years. If not, just play one of them, do ‘Coming Up’ instead of ‘Let ‘Em In’ - or, gasp, even ‘C Moon’ - and use the other slot for another upbeat Beatles rock song he didn’t overplay like ‘Another Girl’ or ‘The Night Before’. See, not even asking for much. Of course I’d rather see him use the spot(s) for something he never played before, solo (loads left) or Beatles (not much left).
Pepper reprise - unnecessary, brought back for the 2017 Pepper hype, but it's so uninspired to continue with that after it already had been done to death for a decade at the beginning of this century.
Eleanor Rigby - time to give it a rest, like he previously dared to do with ‘The Long And Winding Road’. Vocally he just can't do it justice any more, and the moment in the set with just the three of them at the front doing the vocals has become stale.
Birthday - works great live, but should be at least rotated by other Beatles rock songs at that spot, loads to chose from.
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nobodytoldme wrote:
Argh, I see the formatting of my text was completely messed up after posting, and unreadable now.
It was not unreadable to me. (?)
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Nancy R wrote:
nobodytoldme wrote:
Argh, I see the formatting of my text was completely messed up after posting, and unreadable now.
It was not unreadable to me. (?)
It's a wall of text without formatting. I see it failed once again. But we both know this forum will never be fixed. How it should've looked:
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LOL and now it looks all stretched and funny! This is borderline slapstick. I give up. This forum is simply unworkable.
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Nancy R wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Bruce M. wrote:
I love Paul to death, but don't expect to see him live again. I just don't need to see him do songs I've mostly heard him play before with a weaker voice. It's okay. I had a blast at the six Macca shows I've seen, and I'll always have the memories.
Well said as usual Bruce. I liked the play on words from "Dominoes".
It was well said, but I doubt Bruce was referencing Dominoes "It's been a blast" when he wrote that. Bruce, correct me if I'm wrong.
I wasn't consciously referencing "Dominoes," but maybe it was subconscious. The song, like much of Egypt Station, is very much about the passage of time.
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Assuming that Paul and the boys will be able to return to concerts at some point, here's what I would like to see at least for a few special shows in the beginning. Not just for my own pleasure but most importantly for Paul's legacy.
I would like to see Paul do something radically different from his more recent tours. Here what I mean:
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Smaller venue. Start off by doing something that Yankeefan has suggested. Begin by doing a few shows in a much smaller venue. I'm thinking a venue similar to like he used for the "Unplugged" Show back in the early 90's. It would be a combination of an acoustic show but with his band using full electric instrumentation also.
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Doing maybe about 20 songs
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The Setlist would contain "all" Solo songs (No Beatles and No Wings)
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Using his Band to help Paul on vocals as well as their normal instruments
When I say a show for his "legacy" I think that Paul has relied too much on his Beatles' past and his Wings' big hits. This is understandable since he was doing large venues and his Beatles' past is so much of a draw to fill the seats at high ticket prices. As a result, his Solo career has sadly been way overlooked in general and Paul has contributed to this greatly because of his own live shows. The recent tours have been too much of an "oldies" show with Paul singing the same songs for the most part and with Paul adding the same stories to supplement the songs. I think by using a smaller venue and playing only Solo songs, Paul would emphasize how much he has done since his Beatles' and Wings' days. He would be forced to play more recent songs which would also be easier for him to remember and easier for him to sing since those songs were written and sung based on his older voice.
The fact that these shows would be held in a smaller venue and they would be advertised as a "Solo" based show would almost guarantee that the audience would consist of mainly "true" Paul fans and not Beatle Paul fans. These fans would know most of the songs and would be evem more excited knowing that they were not going to get the same old Setlist (e.g. Hey Jude, Let it Bet, Blackbird, Back in the USSR, Band on the Run etc.etc.)
Since unfortunately the Pandemic has continued to persist it also would give Paul and the Band (either together or separately) the time to practice the songs that Paul would identify as their setlist. This would be a necessity since it would better guarantee a good to great performance. The whole idea would be doing a few shows and then record for a CD or Vinyl Album the best performances of the bunch. This would almost guarantee a good selling CD. It would potentially be very successful because they are not repeats from past "live" CD's and the songs would be from his latter era's and not just his Beatles' and Wings' career.
Here would my own dream Setlist with Paul and his Band:
1. Long Tailed Winter Bird - nice opener (probalbly shorter than the studio version) just to get the crowd warmed up the to the type of show this will be.
2. Find My Way - a great early setlist song because it is upbeat and lively.
3. Pretty Boys - Fans very familiar with McCartney 3 will love this because they will be realizing that they will be hearing plenty from his latest album. The other plus is that "Pretty Boys" is simple and easy to sing plus he will be assisted by his Band with back-up vocals and instrumentation.
piano portion
4. I Don't Know - great recent song that Paul has never officially done live.
5. Women and Wives - another piano based tune from McCartney 3
6. Mr. Bellamy - obviously Paul would need Wix for this one but it would be a great choice from Memory Almost Full and having never been performed "live" before.
7. This Never Happened Before - great piano track from Chaos and Creation
8. Too Much Rain - one of Paul's best Solo songs from Chaos and never done "live" before
9. House of Wax - another deep cut from Memory Almost Full that Paul and Band only did a couple of times
Acoustic portion
10. Early Days - great song from the "New" album
11. Happy With You - great acoustic song from Egypt Station
12.. Friends to Go - great song from Chaos and Creation
13. The Kiss of Venus - great little acoustic song
Back to normal instruments
14. New - title track from the "New" album that Paul and Band have played in the past
15. On My Way to Work - another deep cut from the "New" album that they have never done live before
16. Dominoes - great song from Egypt Station
Encore Songs
17. Ever Present Past - great song from Memory Almost Full that they have never done live
18. That Was Me - great little rocker from Memory Almost Full that Paul and Band only did a couple of times
19. Lavatory Lil - blues/rocker from McCartney 3
20. Slidin - electric rocker from McCartney 3
21.. Seize the Day - great song from McCartney 3 to end the show
Now I would buy the CD for this in a heartbeat!
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B J Conlee wrote:
Assuming that Paul and the boys will be able to return to concerts at some point, here's what I would like to see at least for a few special shows in the beginning. Not just for my own pleasure but most importantly for Paul's legacy.
I would like to see Paul do something radically different from his more recent tours. Here what I mean:
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Smaller venue. Start off by doing something that Yankeefan has suggested. Begin by doing a few shows in a much smaller venue. I'm thinking a venue similar to like he used for the "Unplugged" Show back in the early 90's. It would be a combination of an acoustic show but with his band using full electric instrumentation also.
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Doing maybe about 20 songs
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The Setlist would contain "all" Solo songs (No Beatles and No Wings)
-
Using his Band to help Paul on vocals as well as their normal instruments
When I say a show for his "legacy" I think that Paul has relied too much on his Beatles' past and his Wings' big hits. This is understandable since he was doing large venues and his Beatles' past is so much of a draw to fill the seats at high ticket prices. As a result, his Solo career has sadly been way overlooked in general and Paul has contributed to this greatly because of his own live shows. The recent tours have been too much of an "oldies" show with Paul singing the same songs for the most part and with Paul adding the same stories to supplement the songs. I think by using a smaller venue and playing only Solo songs, Paul would emphasize how much he has done since his Beatles' and Wings' days. He would be forced to play more recent songs which would also be easier for him to remember and easier for him to sing since those songs were written and sung based on his older voice.
The fact that these shows would be held in a smaller venue and they would be advertised as a "Solo" based show would almost guarantee that the audience would consist of mainly "true" Paul fans and not Beatle Paul fans. These fans would know most of the songs and would be evem more excited knowing that they were not going to get the same old Setlist (e.g. Hey Jude, Let it Bet, Blackbird, Back in the USSR, Band on the Run etc.etc.)
Since unfortunately the Pandemic has continued to persist it also would give Paul and the Band (either together or separately) the time to practice the songs that Paul would identify as their setlist. This would be a necessity since it would better guarantee a good to great performance. The whole idea would be doing a few shows and then record for a CD or Vinyl Album the best performances of the bunch. This would almost guarantee a good selling CD. It would potentially be very successful because they are not repeats from past "live" CD's and the songs would be from his latter era's and not just his Beatles' and Wings' career.
Here would my own dream Setlist with Paul and his Band:
1. Long Tailed Winter Bird - nice opener (probalbly shorter than the studio version) just to get the crowd warmed up the to the type of show this will be.
2. Find My Way - a great early setlist song because it is upbeat and lively.
3. Pretty Boys - Fans very familiar with McCartney 3 will love this because they will be realizing that they will be hearing plenty from his latest album. The other plus is that "Pretty Boys" is simple and easy to sing plus he will be assisted by his Band with back-up vocals and instrumentation.
piano portion
4. I Don't Know - great recent song that Paul has never officially done live.
5. Women and Wives - another piano based tune from McCartney 3
6. Mr. Bellamy - obviously Paul would need Wix for this one but it would be a great choice from Memory Almost Full and having never been performed "live" before.
7. This Never Happened Before - great piano track from Chaos and Creation
8. Too Much Rain - one of Paul's best Solo songs from Chaos and never done "live" before
9. House of Wax - another deep cut from Memory Almost Full that Paul and Band only did a couple of times
Acoustic portion
10. Early Days - great song from the "New" album
11. Happy With You - great acoustic song from Egypt Station
12.. Friends to Go - great song from Chaos and Creation
13. The Kiss of Venus - great little acoustic song
Back to normal instruments
14. New - title track from the "New" album that Paul and Band have played in the past
15. On My Way to Work - another deep cut from the "New" album that they have never done live before
16. Dominoes - great song from Egypt Station
Encore Songs
17. Ever Present Past - great song from Memory Almost Full that they have never done live
18. That Was Me - great little rocker from Memory Almost Full that Paul and Band only did a couple of times
19. Lavatory Lil - blues/rocker from McCartney 3
20. Slidin - electric rocker from McCartney 3
21.. Seize the Day - great song from McCartney 3 to end the show
Now I would buy the CD for this in a heartbeat!
I promised years ago that since I had beaten the subject of his set list to death, I would stop posting on this thread. All I will say is Amen to what you posted and I will give you my thoughts in PM.
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^ You neglected to mention he would need to cut the ticket prices in half.
Maybe in some alternate universe Paul will do that concert.
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BJ, see PM.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Assuming that Paul and the boys will be able to return to concerts at some point, here's what I would like to see at least for a few special shows in the beginning. Not just for my own pleasure but most importantly for Paul's legacy.
I would like to see Paul do something radically different from his more recent tours. Here what I mean:
-
Smaller venue. Start off by doing something that Yankeefan has suggested. Begin by doing a few shows in a much smaller venue. I'm thinking a venue similar to like he used for the "Unplugged" Show back in the early 90's. It would be a combination of an acoustic show but with his band using full electric instrumentation also.
-
Doing maybe about 20 songs
-
The Setlist would contain "all" Solo songs (No Beatles and No Wings)
-
Using his Band to help Paul on vocals as well as their normal instruments
When I say a show for his "legacy" I think that Paul has relied too much on his Beatles' past and his Wings' big hits. This is understandable since he was doing large venues and his Beatles' past is so much of a draw to fill the seats at high ticket prices. As a result, his Solo career has sadly been way overlooked in general and Paul has contributed to this greatly because of his own live shows. The recent tours have been too much of an "oldies" show with Paul singing the same songs for the most part and with Paul adding the same stories to supplement the songs. I think by using a smaller venue and playing only Solo songs, Paul would emphasize how much he has done since his Beatles' and Wings' days. He would be forced to play more recent songs which would also be easier for him to remember and easier for him to sing since those songs were written and sung based on his older voice.
The fact that these shows would be held in a smaller venue and they would be advertised as a "Solo" based show would almost guarantee that the audience would consist of mainly "true" Paul fans and not Beatle Paul fans. These fans would know most of the songs and would be evem more excited knowing that they were not going to get the same old Setlist (e.g. Hey Jude, Let it Bet, Blackbird, Back in the USSR, Band on the Run etc.etc.)
Since unfortunately the Pandemic has continued to persist it also would give Paul and the Band (either together or separately) the time to practice the songs that Paul would identify as their setlist. This would be a necessity since it would better guarantee a good to great performance. The whole idea would be doing a few shows and then record for a CD or Vinyl Album the best performances of the bunch. This would almost guarantee a good selling CD. It would potentially be very successful because they are not repeats from past "live" CD's and the songs would be from his latter era's and not just his Beatles' and Wings' career.
Here would my own dream Setlist with Paul and his Band:
1. Long Tailed Winter Bird - nice opener (probalbly shorter than the studio version) just to get the crowd warmed up the to the type of show this will be.
2. Find My Way - a great early setlist song because it is upbeat and lively.
3. Pretty Boys - Fans very familiar with McCartney 3 will love this because they will be realizing that they will be hearing plenty from his latest album. The other plus is that "Pretty Boys" is simple and easy to sing plus he will be assisted by his Band with back-up vocals and instrumentation.
piano portion
4. I Don't Know - great recent song that Paul has never officially done live.
5. Women and Wives - another piano based tune from McCartney 3
6. Mr. Bellamy - obviously Paul would need Wix for this one but it would be a great choice from Memory Almost Full and having never been performed "live" before.
7. This Never Happened Before - great piano track from Chaos and Creation
8. Too Much Rain - one of Paul's best Solo songs from Chaos and never done "live" before
9. House of Wax - another deep cut from Memory Almost Full that Paul and Band only did a couple of times
Acoustic portion
10. Early Days - great song from the "New" album
11. Happy With You - great acoustic song from Egypt Station
12.. Friends to Go - great song from Chaos and Creation
13. The Kiss of Venus - great little acoustic song
Back to normal instruments
14. New - title track from the "New" album that Paul and Band have played in the past
15. On My Way to Work - another deep cut from the "New" album that they have never done live before
16. Dominoes - great song from Egypt Station
Encore Songs
17. Ever Present Past - great song from Memory Almost Full that they have never done live
18. That Was Me - great little rocker from Memory Almost Full that Paul and Band only did a couple of times
19. Lavatory Lil - blues/rocker from McCartney 3
20. Slidin - electric rocker from McCartney 3
21.. Seize the Day - great song from McCartney 3 to end the show
Now I would buy the CD for this in a heartbeat!
Just want to emphasize that what I'm suggesting above is that Paul and his fabulous Band should do a few "small scale" live shows almost as a warm up to fully "touring again". After all this time, they would probably have to rehearse anyway.
As a big time Paul Solo fan, I would love to see a future "Live"CD consisting of just his more recent songs (from the 2000's till now). I realize that it isn't realistic to think that Paul would do full scale live show without any Beatle songs or the big hits from Wings. But just think of the above setlist as a warm-up to their future tours. What a breathe of fresh air it would be for Paul and Band to do only songs from Mccartney 3, Egypt Station (the great ES songs he didn't do on his last tour) New (the album), Memory Almost Full and Chaos and Creation.
You could quibble about certain songs on this "make believe" setlist above but the overall point would prove that his late period songs were also good to great. Doing some necessary rehearsals for this type of show would also give Paul the opportunity to substitute a few other Solo songs if they felt a couple of alterate songs would go down better. For example, instead of doing the song New (the title cut on the "New" album) which they did many times on a couple of previous tours, they could do a couple of very good unreleasd recent songs like "In a Hurry" or "Home Tonight". The point I'm trying to make for Paul is to do a few shows without his normal Beatle and Wings' songs and then release a "Live" CD from those special shows. It would be so different from his other "live" CD's and it would emphasize that his career didn't end with the Bealtes and the 70's with Wings.
Looking at the Setlist above or something very similar to it, Paul's music "quality" stayed very consistent in my opinion and these songs above are on a par with his songs from the 60's and 70's. It is just that the public by and large doesn't realize it so a CD like this would do wonders for his legacy. Your Catalog continued to be good to great by and large from Tug of War onward.
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As for his legacy BJ, I think the music critics know very well he is more than "Beatle Paul" and leader of Wings. It is the general music fan that is stuck in the past and is clueless about the great music he has done the last 40 something years. While I would love this type of "make believe" concert and have a CD of it, I don't think it would do anything for his legacy with the general public. Only "hardcore" fans would even know about this type of concert if it ever happened (not going to -lol) so it really would not accomplish anything for his legacy as a solo artist IMO.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
As for his legacy BJ, I think the music critics know very well he is more than "Beatle Paul" and leader of Wings. It is the general music fan that is stuck in the past and is clueless about the great music he has done the last 40 something years. While I would love this type of "make believe" concert and have a CD of it, I don't think it would do anything for his legacy with the general public. Only "hardcore" fans would even know about this type of concert if it ever happened (not going to -lol) so it really would not accomplish anything for his legacy as a solo artist IMO.
Just PM'd you a few minutes ago.