This past week Jen and I got the opportunity to see one of our biggest musical heroes live and in person, Paul McCartney. For as long as I can remember he has been my favorite musician, and I have aspired to be as much like him as a chubby kid from northern Indiana can be. Not only has his music shaped my life, my lovely wife also shares the same affinity. Hell, she let me name our dog McCartney.

Anyways, back to the subject at hand. We were afforded the opportunity to attend two shows on this tour, Wrigley Field and The Great American Ballpark and this is is our “little” recap.

After spending a weekend in my hometown, we headed for Chicago with my Dad. I actually got to see Paul in 1990 at Market Square Arena with my dad, so it was quite important to me that he saw a show with us. Like the cliches about sons and dads talking about baseball, The Beatles is our baseball.

We arrived in Chicago and headed to Wrigleyville where we proceeded to head to Goose Island for dinner. I have to take a second to thank the Goose Island crew as if it weren’t for them ignoring us we’d never have walked out, headed to Rockit and got to sit outside and listen to Paul serenade our dinner with his soundcheck!

Once soundcheck was finished and the gates opened we headed for our seats. Our seats were actually on the hallowed ground at Wrigley. As we walked through the left-centerfield wall and out on to the field, my heart skipped a beat. Wrigley is as amazing as you’d think. We got to stand on the bullpen mounds and play with the dirt, and the concert hadn’t even started yet.

As night crept in, we got our first glimpse of Paul. He came out in what appeared to be a red version of the suit they wore on the Ed Sullivan show, holding that well loved Hofner Bass. Magical Mystery Tour was the opener and he fulfilled his promise of “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” For the next two and half hours he played hit after hit, and not once did we see him take a drink of water. He even played “And I Love Her,” “Birthday,” and “I Saw Her Standing There” for the first time this tour.

Fast forward to Thursday at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The weather was beautiful, our seats were in the fourth row behind the third base dugout, and the night couldn’t have been more perfect. Alternate opener “Hello, Goodbye” welcomed us with much of the same setlist to follow, below you will find the setlist with alternates. Though parts of the two nights paralleled a bit close, both nights seemed fresh and exciting, and for a 69 year old man he sure out-rocked any other concert we have ever attended. From the tributes to George, “Something,” John, “Here Today” and “A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance,” to new resurrections of Wings tunes “1985,” “Juniors Farm,” “Mrs. Vandebilt,” the night filled every McCartney fans wishlist almost to the tee.

Now that the week is over and the shows have finished, I am still in awe. How one man can carry a legacy bigger than any in music history, and do it with such dignity, class and style, I’ll never know. I just consider us lucky to have shared in a piece of that legacy, even if it was just for a couple of nights.

Like the title of our blog says, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to love you make.”

Set List:
1.Magical Mystery Tour (Chicago) 1.Hello Goodbye (Cincy)
2.Juniors Farm
3.All My Loving
4.Jet
5.Got To Get You Into My Life (Chicago) 5.Drive My Car (Cincy)
6.Sing The Changes
7.Night Before
8.Let Me Roll It
9.Paperback Writer
10.Long And Winding Road
11.1985
12.Let ‘Em In
13.Maybe I’m Amazed
14.I’m Looking Through You (Chicago) 14.I’ve Just Seen A Face (Cincy)
15.And I Love Her (Chicago) 15.I Will (Cincy)
16.Blackbird
17.Here Today
18.Dance Tonight
19.Mrs Vanderbilt
20.Eleanor Rigby
21.Something
22.Band On The Run
23.Obla Di Obla Da
24.Back In The USSR
25.I’ve Gotta Feeling
26.A Day In The Life
27.Let It Be
28.Live And Let Die
29.Hey Jude

Encore
30.Lady Madonna
31.Birthday (Chicago) 31. Day Tripper (Cincy)
32.I Saw Her Standing There (Chicago) 32. Get Back (Cincy)

Second Encore
33.Yesterday
34.Helter Skelter
35.Golden Slumbers

06 Aug This entry was published on Aug 6th at 10:03 pm and is filed under Concerts. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.