left hand man:
I've read plenty of reviews that say McCartney needs to change his setlist. Sure they heap praises on his shows, but at the same time they do ask why doesn't he change it up more and why isn't he playing more of his hits. Since some of you say you've never seen any here's some examples from different people. cremetangerine I really hope word gets to Paul how much we want him to switch it up! I will be seeing Paul for the first time on his next tour and I must admit I would rather see Junior's Farm or Venus and Mars/Rockshow over many of the Beatles songs he plays now. It doesn't mean I like the Wings songs better, it's just a matter of what rocks better live. So many Wings songs just scream "Play me live!!!" If I could have it my way: Venus and Mars/Rockshow Hi Hi Hi Junior's Farm The Mess Call Me Back Again Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five Beware My Love Daytime Nightime Suffering The suggested Paul McCartney setlist By Tim Cain I haven?t seen Paul McCartney in concert, however much I?d like to. When he was playing stadiums, I stayed away because the venues were too large. In the early 1990s, when he was playing arenas, I stayed away because I didn?t want to see an oldies show, and if he was going to focus on his current material, I wasn?t very interested anyway. I was disappointed in McCartney?s set at the Super Bowl this year. He trotted out some Beatles tunes, and the most recently released song he played was 1973?s ?Live and Let Die.? (That beat his Live 8 set, which featured five Beatles songs, six if you count the one he did with U2.) As expected, that Super Bowl show primed the pump for another McCartney tour. Tickets at United Center in Chicago ranged from $50 to hang on the rafters to $250 to see the whites of his eyes. (The two shows are sold out, but ticket brokers naturally are willing to take plenty of your hard-earned cash.) Look, I present this knowing full well that Sir Paul McCartney couldn?t care less about my presence at one of his shows. And he?s one of the greatest showmen/businessmen in pop music history, so if he wants to trot out a 30-song setlist and have 75 percent of it be Beatles songs, he knows what his audience wants best. And if you want to drop that kind of cash to hear him run through those songs yet again, that?s your business, and you?ll get what you want, and everybody will go home happy. And keep in mind you?re not going to find many people who love The Beatles more than I do. When The Who did the first of their couple hundred farewell tours, they played five songs off ?Quadrophenia,? an album near and dear to my heart from its release. The guy sitting next to me kept asking me where these songs came from. By the fourth time I said ?Quadrophenia,? he said, ?I gotta go buy that tomorrow.? It would be nice for McCartney to provide similar prodding to his fans. McCartney practically denied the existence of The Beatles in the early days of Wings. One of the causes for excitement during the 1976 release of ?Wings Over America? was the appearance of four Beatles songs. But now he?s gone the other way and seems to be ignoring the last 35 years. It has its share of mediocre work, sure, but there?s some fantastic material that seems to be sliding away. And in many ways, that?s no one?s fault but McCartney?s. So here?s a proposed set list, even programmed with specific purposes in mind. This show would run a little over two hours, so if McCartney wanted to throw in a couple more Beatles songs, or some surprises (like playing ?Something? on ukulele in tribute to George Harrison), there?s room. Band on the Run Big Barn Bed A Love For You I Saw Her Standing There Hi Hi Hi Junior?s Farm As unhip as it is to say, ?Band on the Run? is a fantastic album, easily McCartney?s best solo work. Starting out with those complex rhythm changes would serve as a statement of purpose: This isn?t your everyday McCartney show. The next two are a little obscure. ?Big Barn Bed? is the first song on ?Red Rose Speedway? (the album with ?My Love?). Wings opened their shows with it for a little while. It?s always been a favorite. ?A Love For You? was not officially released until the soundtrack of the remake of ?The In-Laws? (of all places). Both have that unmistakable early 1970s McCartney feel. Classics. The last three bring in those who might feel a little lost at sea because of the previous two songs. Hit singles, recognizable tunes, but two are still solo (or Wings) pieces. Twenty Flight Rock Little Woman Love Momma?s Little Girl Brown-Eyed Handsome Man Name and Address I?m Carrying Yesterday Call this the ?unplugged? portion of the show, although it?s probably more ?stripped down? than unplugged. ?Twenty Flight Rock? is one of Eddie Cochran?s great songs, and a favorite of McCartney?s. ?Little Woman Love? was the B-side to Wings? 1972 ?Mary Had a Little Lamb? single, and the shuffling rocker should have been a hit in its own right. ?Momma?s Little Girl? was recorded in the early 1970s and eventually came out 15 years later. It would send people scurrying for the expanded ?Wild Life? CD, or the 2-CD limited edition ?Flowers in the Dirt.? Then a chance to show off influences. McCartney recorded a nice Cajun version of ?Brown-Eyed Handsome Man? for ?Run Devil Run,? and ?Name and Address? (from 1978?s ?London Town?) is one of his best Elvis tributes ever. ?I?m Carrying? is a sweet acoustic guitar-based song that would lead nicely into one of the greatest songs ever written. (Hey, I?ll give him this one and ?Hey Jude.? If you?re going to drop money to see the guy who wrote two of the greatest songs in the history of the English language, he?d better sing ?em.) Venus and Mars/Rock Show Spin It On Jet Live and Let Die Letting Go I hope you caught your breath during that last set, Paul, because this section will wring it out of you. These are, quite simply, some of the best concert songs he?s written. (The only reason I didn?t have ?Venus and Mars/Rock Show? lead off is to avoid a little bit of a cliché.) ?Spin It On,? from 1979?s ?Back to the Egg,? is the obscurity, but find it, play it, and follow it immediately with ?Jet,? and then write and tell me how cool it is.) Maybe I?m Amazed Yvonne?s the One Dear Boy So Bad Arrow Through Me My Brave Face Off the Ground Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five A nod toward some of the later-period ?hits? (?My Brave Face? and ?So Bad? were top five on the AOR charts, ?Off the Ground? hit the top 30). ?Arrow Through Me? should have been a single. ?Dear Boy? is an album cut from ?Ram,? an attack on Beatles partner John Lennon that still offers some entertaining backing vocals. And I?ve always said ?Yvonne?s the One? is one of the best songs McCartney gave away (to 10cc). ?Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five? provides some nice pre-encore theatricality, especially if the band is able to produce the cacophony of sound at the end. And if the ?Band on the Run? out-chorus is pre-recorded, the group can take its bows and run off while the music is playing. ?Band on the run? - get it? Get it? Beautiful Night Let It Be Hey Jude I might be alone in this, but I think ?Beautiful Night? (from 1997?s ?Flaming Pie?) is one of the greatest songs McCartney?s ever written. Its memorable chorus provides a setup for the last two songs, which feature even more memorable choruses. This is the type setlist McCartney could easily do, and the crowds would absolutely love it! Vadim Rizov is lifestyle editor for Washington Square News. Paul McCartney played a thunderously dull set including some of the most famous songs in the world, nimbly avoiding the danger of any emotional effect. The only thing surprising about McCartney's set, perhaps, was that he didn't play "Maybe I'm Amazed." Other than that, he remains the man with the world's most predictable setlist: a few Beatles songs just to remind everyone why he became legitimately famous in the first place, a solo number to reinforce his self-worth and the 357,000th rendition of "Hey Jude," which - if you did the math - he's probably played once for every day of his life. With a grimly efficient backing band behind him and a stadium packed full of the easily manipulated, things went off without a hitch. No one missed their cues, all the pre-coordinated fans waved their glowsticks in the air at the right moment and no one got injured by the fireworks. The set was by-and-large a note-for-note reproduction of classic recorded tunes. Make no mistake: "Hey Jude," on a bad day, is one of the most comforting songs around. But somewhere along the way, a song intended to cheer up a kid worried about his parents' divorce became the song to end all inspirational songs. A song that speaks to everyone tends to end up being a song that speaks to no one. Does it even matter? Is "Hey Jude" just a good song that we all know the words to, or does it mean anything more? It's weird to look for meaning in a Super Bowl halftime show, at which the best-case scenario is that disaster is avoided and no one is unduly offended. But watching Paul McCartney perform songs with professional detachment - songs it's hard to imagine him caring about any longer - is to watch someone formerly exciting going through the motions, frozen in a pose they struck 35 years ago. When McCartney storms through the fossilized canon, does he feel anything? What about the stadium of glowstick-waving fans and fireworks? Did they respond to the songs themselves? Or did they respond to the spectacle, the environment, the chance to see one of the world's two living Beatles stop being a waxwork for a fleeting moment? To be simultaneously united by a song everyone knows but is pretty much immune to is to be alone, together, united by familiarity but excited by nothing - which is kind of interesting, but ultimately boring. This is from a reviewer named George Starostin You could always argue that theoretically, a Paul McCartney show can't be all that great. Come on, even the Beatles themselves weren't the best live band in the world, and this is one fourth part of the Beatles. Come on, he just plays the songs the way they are. Come on, his backing bands are always interchangeable. Come on, the setlist is so painfully predictable it's almost laughable (although he did do 'She's Leaving Home', which even I couldn't have expected!). This is all true. mikeskapla Do people really think they will chase Paul off stage if he replaced obscure barely known Beatle songs like "I'll Get You" for bonafide blockbuster #1 hits like With a Little Luck, Listen to what the Man Said, etc. Did I miss something and Paul's solo career was a complete bomb as opposed to him being one of the biggest hitmakers on the planet? I'll take another crack at this point, everytime I do I get hit so I'll say this in advance: It's kind of weird I think all those that get offended when people make suggestions or disagree some with Paul's approach to concerts. If people think Paul is doing his tours perfectly, good for them, their opinion is just as valid but not more so than people who would like changes. And no I don't think its some sort of disloyalty to Paul if you disagree with his set list or that you are a truer fan if you eat up everything he does without question. I seriously doubt if I ran into Paul on the street, and I told him I'd love to hear more Wings stuff in concert -- he's think those damn Wing fan idiots, they aren't my true fans, its those that want to hear Let It Be and Hey Jude -- they are what I call my true blue fans. Having said all that. I'll run with Paul's articulated thoughts on what he wants to do in a show. He wants to give people the hits. He likes to say when people come to his shows they expect to hear the big songs. He also wants to give a broad perspective of his career and give a few oddies to those hardcore fans like us. Now I really doubt when people come to a Paul McCartney show they are expecting I"ll Get You, In Spite of All the Danger, Till There Was You, C-Moon, Let Me Roll It. In terms of hits: With A Little Luck #1 hit never been done in a major tour Ditto Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey#1 hit, never done Listen to What the Man Said -- #1 hit not done since 76 Silly Love Songs -- #1 hit not done since 76 Top 10 hits never done in a major tour: Helen Wheels, No More Lonley Nights, Juniors Farm, Take It Away, Goodnight Tonight I really can't see people coming to his shows and saying look its a Paul McCartney show I want to hear In Spite of All the Danger and I know that song not that obscure Listen To What the Man Says song. Or they say thankfully, he does Let Me Roll It on practically every tour becuase fans will be missing out -- who wants to hear any other track off of Band on the Run like 1985 or a hit like Helen Wheels, yuk! It's Let Me Roll It or nothing. And yeah C-Moon is the quientesential track from his Wings period, everyone knows that one, not Silly Love Songs, or Listen to what the Man Says. It's that sort of stuff that's puzziling to me. And yeah I know to some its sacriledge to question Paul's set list. For some weird reason we get hit basically for the idea that since we appreciate more of his catalogue then he puts out in concert, it means that we aren't as big a fan. Becauase his big fans should just suck it up and appreciate everything he throws at us. Look I can just as easy if not easier make the case that we are the bigger fans because we appreciate Paul's whole solo career, not just Paul the Beatle. And yeah I appreciate seeing him in concert. I love Paul's shows and I just think they can be even more special where he can cater to his hard core fans without losing his more causal ones. I am not talking about him doing Letting Go instead of Let It Be. But why not With A Little Luck (and BIG Wings hits) over obscure Beatle songs like I'll Get You? Look i am not even asking him to do what MOST major concert acts do like the Stones, Springsteen, and U2 and change things up in the middle of the tour and keep things spicy. Just do some big Wings hits, mix it up. Band on the Run is a classic album. And there are other tracks on that album for example that stand out, it wasn't just Let Me Roll It. Ditto for example with Flaming Pie, great album Looks like Calico Skies is going to be coming for a round 2 and maybe the title track Flaming Pie as well. OK, decent songs. But those weren't the singles -- the singles were: World Tonight, Young Boy, Beautiful Night. If you do Flaming Pie one tour, why not Somedays or Young Boy, etc the next one. If you are going to give the obscure fans a nugget like Let Me Roll It or C-Moon or a track from Flaming Pie. Why repeat the same nugget in the next tour or so, why not give a new one? It seems like he does just that with his Beatle songs but not with his Wings/solo stuff. That to me is the odd thing about Paul's tours compared to what most artists do. And yeah look i am going to go anyway, great shows, I just think they can be made more special if Paul embraced variety. Part of (in my opinion) what makes Paul's albums so special is he's eclectic and brings variety -- so it suprises me that on tour he's one of the more predictable artists. Great shows but predictable. And there is a context to my point, I have seen a ton of concerts so am making apples to apples comparisons to other big artists. And the larger point is it would be very easy for him to break the many years of predictability. I know I've shared a lot here but I wanted to give you guys several different opinions about McCartney's setlist and show you that people are talking!
And who are these writers? I am not interested in the comments of random people writing blogs on the internet. Anyone can do that, without any credentials. I am interested in a "professional" journalist. Show me a newspaper clipping where a reviewer (i.e., music critic) has complained about McCartney's set list. Of the hundreds of reviews you'd be hard-pressed to find a negative one. Oh, and by the way, the inclusion of "I'll Get You" into his setlist was at the prompting of one of his band members, I think it was Brian Ray, I recall reading that.