Paul McCartney

M.E.N. Arena, Manchester

 Monday 19 December  2011

Written in Gran Canaria, Tuesday 02.10.12

Mr McCartney seems to be held in low esteem by all and sundry these days,  and I'm at a loss to understand why. I think that once people attain the  status of "national treasure", it becomes a national obsession to knock them off  their perch and belittle them mercilessly. McCartney has suffered more than  most in this: I was "disbelieved" that I had bought a ticket for this  concert, and his two headline appearances during the summer, at the Diamond  Jubilee and the Olympics, brought almost total derision. To deal with the "events" briefly - you can't possibly get the same effects on a tinny TV sound  system as you get at a live concert with a proper sound system, so if you are a  little out of tune or your voice is a bit off, it will show up very quickly  on TV, and as this is watched by people who want to pull you apart, they will  kill you. Anyway, I'm not much interested in these events: people will have  their views and they are entitled to them. He was plainly out of tune at  the start of Hey Jude at the Olympics and he looked worse for wear - and at  both events his voice didn't come over too well. But hey, that's the peril of  live music and not really sufficient ammunition to string someone up who has  given so much pleasure over 50 years. What matters is this concert, at the  MEN Arena, in the run up to Christmas 2011. I had to pay a fortune to get to  see my longest standing hero: would he give me a Christmas present to  remember, or would he confirm the neigh sayers in their new found confidence? Read  on....

First, a little digression. Why is he a national treasure, and in the same  breath, why now so universally disliked amongst cool trendy people? Well, the  Beatles are in my humble opinion, the cornerstone of everything in the pop  and rock world today. Everything that exists today depends almost entirely  on them and owes them big time. There is very little if anything released  since the mid sixties that doesn't owe it's inspiration to the Beatles in some  sort of way, some more obvious than others. The best example I can think of  is a song called “Somewhere In My Heart” by Aztec Camera - a nice jolly sing-along tune, and for  quite a while I actually thought it was Paul McCartney singing - but no, it  was a great favourite of my friend simply because the group came from  Glasgow - that friend would be totally horrified at the thought of going to  see Paul McCartney or listening to his music - too UNCOOL for words - but a  little copy cat ditty by a one hit wonder band is evidently worth so much  more. So there you have it: the Beatles were four ordinary lads from Liverpool,  with no particular coaching or skill in music other than being able to  play, and write a few songs- but they single handedly changed the world, not  only in music, but in art, fashion, social outlook, virtually anything you can  think of, even politics. That's why Paul McCartney, the last living  "composing" Beatle is a national treasure - and also, because the British have such  a "build them up and knock them down" mentality, it's why he's also such a  whipping boy. Apart from complaints about being out of time, and his voice no  longer being up to it, the big complaint is that "he is living off past  glories". Well, fair enough, his "muse" has obviously deserted him, I don't  think he's written a decent tune since about 1983, but hey, in the twenty years  before that he wrote more decent tunes than entire nations - so, to be blunt, I reckon he's entitled!   

Well, what about the concert itself? Did he look bedraggled? Could he keep  in tune? Could his voice hold up? Would he give anything approaching value  for money on the vast outlay incurred? Would it cement him in place as one of  my all time heroes or would I conclude that he was indeed living on past  glories? More than anything else, would he play some decent stuff and would he  do it well.

In short answer, he vastly exceeded my expectations in all areas. I never  expected him to be anywhere near half as good in any respect. This was easily  the best concert I have attended, by some distance, and I severely doubt it  could ever be bettered. 

Firstly his voice - it didn't sound like it does on the records, but heck,  he is seventy years old and some deterioration is inevitable. I've been to an  awful lot of concerts of "ageing" rock stars and not a single  one of them  can boast a voice in prime condition - Ian Gillan and Robert Plant being  prime suspects. A few months later I went to see Ian Anderson and his voice had  "gone" to the extent that he had to have an understudy sing half the  material - imagine the national outcry if McCartney had done that? His voice held  up, it was utterly recognisable as him and he had all the right inflexions  and tones in place - obviously he wasn't singing directly from the Abbey Road  LP, but this is live music and it was good enough for me.

Was he dishevelled? Well, he looked like an ordinary bloke cum ageing rock  star singing some songs. You can't seriously have expected him to come out  wearing a Beatle suit and driving the women into orgasms - again, he is  seventy years old and to me he looked just like you expect Paul McCartney to look  at his age, playing some songs in front of a large audience. It was plenty  good enough for me.

The standard of playing was the best I have seen. He may have been out of  tune on occasions, but I didn't notice. The songs were perfectly played and  instrumented, the volume was extremely loud, but unlike Bob Dylan, they were  complemented by a state of the art sound system that made it far superior  than listening to the CDs on your hi-fi at home.

The showmanship was superb, second to none. You can tell that he has been  adept at this since the Beatles played in Hamburg. I was taken aback by the  fact that his first words to the audience were a Scouser's anti Manc jokes  -  shocking but very cheeky, and from that moment on he held the crowd in the  palm of his hand. He could do and say anything he wanted, and the crowd loved  him and let him get away with blue murder. I can honestly say that I've  never been to a concert where a performer captivated, worked the audience or  kept them enthralled to this extent: Phil Collins was very good, but I now  recognise that he is a mere beginner. What I liked most was that he had the  time to personally introduce each song and add a little anecdote - it didn't  take long, but added greatly to the experience. The audience participation  bit, with fans from Argentina for example coming on stage, was a bit hackneyed,  but it's all part of the show. I also think I've heard him use many of the  anecdotes elsewhere, but yes, that's one of the perils of live music,  there's only so many ways of saying the same things.

The choice of music itself? Well, spot on, and at heavenly length. I think  every major Beatles track that he composed was played, and practically every  important solo track too, including the whole of the Band on the Run album. His more recent stuff didn't do so well, but you have to let him have his  little indulgence. A particularly nice bit was a selection of songs written by  John Lennon and then George Harrison - although I got the impression that  the George songs were sung almost through gritted teeth. My one bum note of  the night was why not even a fleeting acknowledgement for Ringo? I know he's  not dead, but he did do an impressive tribute piece for Jimi Hendrix (who  wasn't even in the Beatles) and it would have rounded up the Beatles tribute  perfectly - and seeing as he wrote it, he certainly could have sung Yellow  Submarine. However, all that is to merely quibble - he covered every single  aspect of his song writing - from the sweetly sentimental of "Yesterday" to the  out and out heavy metal of "Helter Skelter" and from the starkly political  civil rights era politics of "Blackbird" to the pop inanity of "Obla Di Obla  Da" and to the all time rock classics of “Hey Jude” and “Band on the Run”, to  the song that will be played at my funeral, “Let It Be”. I did wonder why no "Mull of Kintyre" though, seeing as its Christmas?!

I took the liberty of noting each song on my iPhone, so for the first time  ever I append a complete play list - see below. I have had to guess at the names of some of the more recent/obscure songs         

In conclusion - don't listen to the nay sayers! If they want to pull someone  down, they will always find ways. Paul McCartney may be an old man and he  may not have written a memorable tune for ages - but he has got a vast  reservoir,  vaster than anyone alive (even Bob Dylan) and he can produce it at  length in concert to a supremely professional and enjoyable standard. Don't be  put off by tinny sound quality TV appearances - this concert showed the most  important living founder of the rock and pop - and indeed cultural - world  in fine form and I will always regard this concert as an utter pleasure and  privilege to have attended, very much a "life's highlight".

20:20

Magical Mystery Tour

Juniors Farm

All My Loving

Jet

Got To Get You Into My Life

??Fireman??

The Night Before

Let Me Roll It To You

Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix Tribute)

Paperback Writer

The Long and Winding Road

If You Want It – (Badfinger)

1985

Maybe I'm Amazed

I'm Looking Through You

And I Love Her

Blackbird

??Here Today/ Worlds Apart??

Everybody Gonna Dance Tonight

Mrs Vanderbilt

Eleanor Rigby

??Give Your Heart To Somebody?? *Ukulele*

Something -*Ukulele*

Band On The Run

Obla Di Obla Da

Back In The USSR

I've Got a Feeling

A Day In The Life

Give Peace A Chance

Let It Be

Live And Let Die

Hey Jude

-------------------- (encore)

The Word

All You Need Is Love

Wonderful Christmastime

Day-Tripper

**Guests**

Get Back

---------------------- (encore)

22:57

Yesterday

Helter Skelter

Golden Slumbers + Carry That Weight + The End