Paul McCartney Was In A Band?

Mike Hsu's Blog

Paul McCartney Was In A Band? by Mike , posted Oct 26 2011 1:37PM
I have to say, I went into Fenway Park with a lackadaisical attitude about seeing Sir Paul McCartney. I had actually won a video pass and Flip Camera through an on-line contest. I was rolling through Twitter and there it was, "Win A Flip Camera And Film Paul McCartney At Fenway!" Sure, why not. Hours later I was informed by the Flip people I had a pass, a camera, and access to all areas in front of the stage to kill 60 minutes of video space to be used for a DVD. Shit man! I never win anything! But it was Paul McCartney. Wrinkled sexagenarian that was screwed over by a one legged groupie. Had the publishing rights to all his biggest hits commandeered by a nose-less morphine addict who may have been murdered and allegedly touched many underage boys while being watched by a monkey. A failed vegetarian frozen meal entrepreneur. It seems I had put Paul McCartney the Musician at the back of the line. I can't remember the last time I got excited about the "Latest" McCartney release. I did spend the summer of 1980 listening to "Back To The Egg" by Wings because my two best friend Beatle freaks played it non-stop.... and that's about it. So while this was a bit of good luck I found myself only slightly excited about it. After getting my credentials and camera for the 8/5/09 show I proceeded to test the bounds of my "Video Working Pass". The two young ladies in charge of the project said Paul was directly involved and would be viewing the footage himself. Really? I counted that as a motivational tool to inspire us to be more creative with our documentation. Sir Paul wasn't going to rummage through hours of footage shot by on-line contest nerds. But my pass seemed to get me anywhere I wanted to go, except back stage. I soon found myself up front with the beutiful people who payed somewhere around 300+ dollars for their seats. Lovely healthy looking people with wonderful Ralph Lauren and Izod Summer Wear. Some with their teenage children wearing faux vintage Beatles t-shirts and Jonas Brothers hair-doos. The security would look at my pass and without a word wave me by. It was pretty sweet. When I reached the barrier between the stage and the upper-crust, a stage security person informed me I could film from that spot for the first three songs but then would have to move along as not to crowd the people next to me. That would be Red Sox owner John Henry and his extremely attractive young wife. I'm sure they were wondering who the sweaty hairy fat guy was that smelled like street meat. When show time arrived, Sir Paul hit the stage with his band, waving and smiling. He strapped on that classic Hofner Bass and they ripped into "Drive My Car". Then it hit me. HOLY SHIT! That's Paul MCartney! He's a FUCKIN' Beatle! He wrote this song and several dozen others that came streaming into my mind like an enema. All of which I knew the words to. I'm standing 10 feet away from a legend. A man who helped not only change the way popular music was made, but also how it was sold, played live, perceived, and sounded. There he was, singing and smiling like he was playing a backyard family picnic without a shred of angst or lethargy. I am such an asshole for being a jaded prick about going to this show. And now I get to film it? CRIPES! From there the band jumped right into the Wings classic "Jet". I remember hearing it on WRKO back in the 70's. Sitting in the back seat of my parents Datsun. He sounded great. His voice was a little worn, but still very smooth. Through the night he revisited his Wings catalogue with "My Love" and the epic "Band On The Run". But it was the Beatles songs that were the feature attractions of the night. He didn't pull the old "I'm an artist and this is what I'm all about right now" bit. He rolled out the hits with authority. "Eleanor Rigby", "Let It Be", "Long And Winding Road", "Paperback Writer", "I've Got A Feeling"(My Favorite), "Get Back", "Hey Jude", "Back In The U.S.S.R.". There was a blatant plug for the upcoming Beatles Rock Band during "Got To Get You Into My Life". Showing the Rock Band images of the Fab Four on the screen behind the band. There was a massive pyro climax at the end of "Live And Let Die" complete with ten foot shooting flames and full-on fireworks display. His in between song banter was classic cutsey Paul McCartney, with many self-effacing jokes about his age. The crowd ate it all up. He was nothing but friendly and charming. I'm so used to hearing bands getting pumped by yelling fuck alot and threatening the crowd into action. This was way more laid back. To me the most moving parts of the evening were when his tributes to his two former band mates George Harrison and John Lennon. He never mentioned their last names. He pulled out a Ukulele and said, "My friend George gave me this Ukulele so I'm going to do one of his songs with it". He then started the coolest version of "Something" ever. It's usually a velvety, sexy arrangement, but this was just voice and a goofeyUkulele and it was beautiful. The rest of the band soon joined in and played it true. Later, after playing "Blackbird" he talked about writing "Here Today" after "his friend John" died. It was about an imaginary conversation he wished he'd had with his estranged writing partner. As he played it the crowd was so quiet you could hear Brad Penny sucking all the way in Tampa Bay. It was a great show. On top of all that I got to explore every nook and cranny of Fenway Park and touch the infield dirt. I just wished they would of covered the Standings board on the Green Monster. Even the Greatness of Sir Paul could not ease the pain of the Sox being 2 1/2 games out of 1st place. Tags : Social : Beatles, Fenway Park, Paul McCartney, Wings Locations : Boston Back To Blog
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