Tuesday, March 30, 2010

OH MY GOD, HE CHANGED THE SETLIST!

PAUL!
Sorry, I just had to say it.
Let us begin our rundown.
Firstly, OH MY GOD, HE CHANGED THE SETLIST!
The mind-blowingness was as follows:
1.Venus and Mars/Rock Show
2.Jet
3.All My Loving
4.Got to Get You Into My Life
5.Highway
6.Let Me Roll It/Foxey Lady
7.The Long and Winding Road
8.Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
9.(I Want To) Come Home
10.My Love
11.I'm Looking Through You
12.Every Night
13.Two of Us
14.Blackbird
15.Here Today
16.Dance Tonight
17.Mrs. Vandebilt
18.Eleanor Rigby
19.Something
20.Letting Go
21.Sing the Changes
22.Band on the Run
23.Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
24.Back in the U.S.S.R.
25.I've Got a Feeling
26.Paperback Writer
27.A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance
28.Let it Be
29.Live and Let Die
30.Hey Jude

Encore:
31.Day Tripper
32.Lady Madonna
33.Get Back

Second Encore:
34.Yesterday
35.Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)/The End

Secondly, the man was ROCKIN' harder than I've ever seen him.
Thirdly, PAUL!
Fourthly, SOUNDCHECK!
Fifthly, no programmes?
Yep, no programmes. They ship out on April 5 (and yes, I've already pre-ordered... it's Paulie, how can you not?).
Sixthly, no Ou Est Le Soleil during the preshow music?
Nope. I actually kind of missed it (and it took a while, but they finally played Temporary Secretary right before he took the stage).
One of my favorite audience events of the night didn't have much to do with what was happening onstage, and I shall now bore you with that tale.
The tension mounts... Paul's "here he comes!" music was blaring, the video screens were all ready to be filled with live images, the house lights were down, the stage lights were up, and The Chosen One finally takes the stage. I, of course, in true 'OH MY GOD, THAT'S PAUL!' fashion, emit in ear-splitting scream of excitement (which, I must admit, it totally involuntary). The man next to me turned around, and looked me up and down as if to suggest he didn't know such a small person could produce that effective a scream. That's right, I think I blew the battery in his hearing aid.
Anyway... the concert itself was a beautiful thing.
We got some Venus and Mars action (about time, Babe!), we got Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five (in my top three "if I chose the setlist" songs), and we got precious Precious moments! The highlights:
1 - after the first of his two encores, someone tossed a stuffed Easter bunny on stage. Paul thanks the fan, and exits the stage. As he comes out for the second encore, he turns his back to the crowd to reveal the pink bunny stuffed into his belt! What's more, he keeps it there while he sings Yesterday, and as he handed his acoustic guitar to "the guitar man", he told him to keep the bunny, and it was lovingly placed near The Hofner.
2 - he got tangled in the Hofner's strap; lackies were onhand, but not required.
3 - Here Today had to be my favorite number of the evening (besides Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five, obviously)
4 - the soundcheck was gab fear and that; at first, we thought we'd missed Paul, because Brian, AKA The Burly Scottish Man, walked into the venue about five minutes after we got there. Fortunately, we didn't miss him, but we were a little worried for a minute there.
Paul came down a ramp from the street, and we watched him from what was almost a viewing deck, so we got shots from above the car instead of street level.
It was kind of an odd set up, but we're just glad we got to see it.
Somebody had a freshly polished GTO right by the door Paul went into, so we all sang Mull Of Kintyre, trying to lure him out to look at it (picture it, twenty fangirls screaming Mull Of Kintyre, shouting for him to come back... it was probably a right scene!)... alas, no soap.
5 - Paul was rockin' harder than ever. He danced, hopped, solo'd, and cuted his way through a heavy setlist for the whole three hours he was onstage. He was as energetic during the middle of the show as the beginning, and still going like he'd just started as he took the final bow. He'll be 68 in a few months, and he could have put any 20-something in his respective grave.
6 - I love to catch Paulie bloopers, and there were a couple, during (I Want To) Come Home, and Dance Tonight... it was adorable!
I suppose I went the long way about it, but the point is that this concert was MADE OF EFFING AWESOME. Don't believe me? Check out some of the reviews!
Second only to Tulsa, and that, my friends, is saying something (it's McCain's state, and I think it's rubbing off on me, my friends).
Pictures now!



I've said it a hundred times, and I must make it a hundred and one...
I LOVES THAT MAN!
In memory of the missing song...