MCCARTNEYED

Last night was the Paul McCartney concert that I had been looking forward to. If you’d have asked me before yesterday my top 3 concerts that I’ve been to, it’d go like this:

Justin Timberlake
Kanye West
Elton John and Billy Joel

I’m sure if I’d made it to the Spice Girls or Beyoncé concerts in DC with my sister, that list would look a little different. Doesn't matter now -Sir Paul takes the top.

I am SO glad I went. You want me to be honest? I bought these tickets very much for my enjoyment and benefit, but was HOPING “someone” would come to his senses and we could enjoy Paul together. I won’t lie to you – I wanted to take him. But clearly, that’s not the way things shook out. Doesn’t mean I’M going to sit at home and skip out! The problem was finding someone equally as excited about Sir Paul to go with me who would pay what I was asking (Face Value!) for the ticket. It was tempting to give up and just sell them both for a profit, but I knew this would be one for the books and I wasn’t missing it. After lots of asking around, I finally found a coworker that wanted the ticket, so we were off!

There was no opening act, so after a quick bite to eat downtown, Rachel and I found our really good seats and settled in for a full three hours of music. It was UNbelievable. The Wings songs that I didn’t know, I still enjoyed. The Beatles songs that I knew, I LOVED. Come on – the man that wrote Blackbird singing it live? Other Beatles songs he sang “All My Loving”, “Gotta Get You Into My Life”, “Long and Winding Road”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Something” – which was a lovely tribute to George – “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, “Back in the USSR”, “Paperback Writer”, “A Day in the Life”, “Let it Be”, “Hey Jude”, “Day Tripper”, “Lady Madonna”, “Get Back”, “Yesterday”, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “The End.”

It was ALL just TOO cool. The overall experience was worth WAY more than I paid. He still plays just the same way all the Beatles videos and iconic performances show you: knees bent, chin tilted up, straightforward. He was in a great mood and commented several times about what a great crowd we were. “You like your music in this town!” "You little rock and rollers, you!" One of my favorite parts was when he made a joke about why he kept changing guitars (“Just to show off, really. Because we can. We have ‘em, why not?”) then mentioned that the guitar - an Epiphone Casino! - he was about to play was the very one he used in the 60s on the original recording. Cue “Paperback Writer .” Seriously?? THAT is just amazing to me.

He liked the posters people brought and ended up bringing two fans on stage per their poster's wishes, one to sing with him and one who wanted his signature to turn into a tattoo. I loved the musical tributes to his fallen Beatles, John and George, and the total swing in presence – him, a guitar and a spotlight for “Blackbird,” and the full band and pyrotechnics for “Live and Let Die.”

So, sorry Justin. Sorry Kanye. Sorry Elton and Billy. Sir Paul valiantly dethroned you all.

The other big announcement from this show is I FINALLY found the camera settings with which to take good concert photos. Compare these to photos from the concerts I linked to above, and you'll see what I mean.

Here’s some video and pictures from the show.

"Jet"

"All My Loving" - all Beatles footage

"Long and Winding Road"

"A Day in the Life"

"Let It Be"

"Something in the Way She Moves" - photo montage of George Harrison

"Band on the Run"

Hey, Tennessee! (beginning of second encore)

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make!"

"Live and Let Die"


"Blackbird" (yes I cried)


"Let It Be"