Entertainment For Lively Minds
Paul McCartney
Posted by kidpresentable on 5 January 2012 - 2:22pm.
When:
19/12/11
Where:
Manchester Evening News Arena
Comments:
Over eight years since his last performance in Manchester, Paul McCartney finally returned to the city for a pre-Christmas visit on his 'On The Run' tour. Selling out venues is business-as-usual for McCartney, but the scrum to enter the venue via Victoria Station was the busiest I've seen it. With no support act, Sir Paul took the stage a little after 8pm and treated us to a faultless 3 hour performance. I'm delighted to note that he is changing his set with each show and tour: many of the obvious Beatles songs were there, but gems like 'Mrs Vandebilt', '1985' and 'Ram On' were also among the highlights. He has always been underrated as a singer and I'm please to say that his voice is still as powerful as ever. A great night and I didn't want it to end. We even got 'Wonderful Christmastime'.
The Audience:
To my right sat a punk/goth couple, whilst to my left sat a middle-aged couple who had brought their own opera glasses.
Food & Drink:
Almost impossible to access due to the lack of space to leave our seats (we were mid-row). Bought one pint of standard beer for £4+ before the show started and made do with that.
It Made Me Think...:
The Paul McCartney Band have now been together for longer than The Beatles.
Setlist / Clip
SETLIST:
Magical Mystery Tour
Junior's Farm
All My Loving
Jet
Got to Get You Into My Life
Sing The Changes
The Night Before
Let Me Roll It / Foxy Lady
Paperback Writer
The Long and Winding Road
Come and Get It
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Maybe I'm Amazed
I'm Looking Through You
And I Love Her
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vandebilt
Eleanor Rigby
Ram On
Something
Band On The Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back In The U.S.S.R.
I've Got A Feeling
A Day In The Life / Give Peace A Chance
Let It Be
Live And Let Die
Hey Jude
-
The Word/All You Need Is Love/She Loves You
Wonderful Christmastime
Day Tripper
Get Back
-
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End
And here's a little video clip I took:
Good grief, just look at that list of songs
Can anybody - Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart or Hammerstein, anybody from the Brill Building, or anyone at all, really - come close to competing with that?
Tens of millions of Brits and hundreds of millions of people the world over could instantly hum not just the hooks but the entire melodies of at least a dozen of those, and I'm sure most of us here could manage twenty or more.
An astonishing achievement - so astonishing that we've come to take it far too much for granted, I think.
Completely agree
I don't think anyone comes close.
Also, so many other great songs that he didn't play that night. I looked at the set for his show at Liverpool Arena the following day and he swapped a few around, adding Drive My Car, I've Just Seen A Face, I Will, Penny Lane and Mull Of Kintyre!