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I saw a Beatle!

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Sir Paul played the Key Arena last night. And I was there.

 

At the risk of revealing my manifest nerdiness, I've been a huge Beatles fan since I was a kid, so this was a big deal for me. I've been looking forward to the show for months, and I'm happy to say that it totally delivered.  While Paul and the band whipped through their 36-song set of Beatles, Wings, and solo tunes, I was struck by the surreal nature of actually hearing these songs performed live by the guy who wrote them! The band sounded great, and the vocals were spot-on; 63-year-old Paul can still hit the high notes and the guys in the band even did a quality job with the John Lennon parts of the Beatles songs.

 

Although I injured my left shoulder in a nasty way playing basketball last weekend, I couldn't let that stop me from making the concert. I spent a small fortune on floor level seats and who knows when or if there will be another opportunity? Searing shoulder pain would not dampen my enthusiasm, although it did stop me from applauding through most of the show -- Paul had to settle for my "woo-woos" instead of claps.

 

My wife, Helen, and I are pretty avid concert goers. We have made it a point to try to get out and see old school rockers live before they croak. In the past few years alone, we've seen The Who twice (awesome), The Stones (sounded like a bad garage band), Journey (still sound almost as good as they did with Steve Perry), Jefferson Starship (Grace Slick-less and sucky as sucky can be), Eddie Money (great!), Greg Kihn (still rockin'), The Steve Miller Band (not terribly sharp, unfortunately), Boston (good, but the guitarist is a bit musically pedantic), Lynard Skynard (rebelliously good!), Paul Rodgers (ego the size of all outdoors, but he can sing), The Doobie Brothers (decent, but too many parts replaced over the years), Billy Joel & Elton John (super, and - surprisingly - Billy is the superior showman), B.B. King (okay, not a rocker, but he's getting up there in years), and probably others I'm not remembering offhand. We're also big Parrotheads and have seen Jimmy Buffett at least a dozen times -- his shows are fin-tastic!

 

So, anyway, I've seen a lot of rock shows, and I have to say that this was hands-down the best. It's not uncommon to admire a musicians' talent while they perform and appreciate the music, but Paul has whatever it is that comes after talent on the continuum. He goes to eleven. And there's just something magical about the being in the audience and singing the "na na na nah" part of Hey Jude with the guy who wrote it.

UPDATE: Helen reminded me of a couple of other old school rockers we've seen recently: Fleetwood Mac (they still got it), Styx (also good, and Tommy Shaw still looks 17), and REO Speedwagon (heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another...)

Comments

  • Anonymous
    November 05, 2005
    You mean Paul McCartney was in a band BEFORE Wings? :-)

    I'm a Microsoft consultant in Los Angeles, and I "get" to work many great rock-shows (webcasts & backstage desktop support) -- I've been fortunate to mix my two loves Microsoft AND music!

    Glad you and Helen still rock!
  • Anonymous
    November 05, 2005
    Wow, that's a cool gig, Blake! I'm sure you have lots "Brown M&M" stories to tell -- we'll have to get together sometime when I'm in LA. :)
  • Anonymous
    November 05, 2005
    Yea, but when I call people a “Beetle love’n parrothead”, it usually isn’t a compliment.

    Blake's job is a tad bit too cool.

    -Bill