Paul McCartney @ Hollywood Bowl, Tue Mar 30th

normandi · #1 03-31-2010, 04:47 PM

Wow... what a stunning show that was on a beautiful albeit slightly chilly night with the moon continually rising from the dark silhouette of trees along the east side of the Bowl. I must say that if you ever get a chance to experience a favorite artist in this environment you must do it!

Paul and the band played for almost three hours and covered a wide variety of material. It was very cool to hear songs I have not heard live and even though I loved the entire show I was also struck by how much material he did not play. They could have easily played another 2 hours of material and we still would have wanted more songs!! It certainly is the same problem we have all discussed about TPaTH in having entirely too many hits or fan favorites to really make us happy.

But what an amazing show. In the 3 tours I have seen him THIS is the loosest I have seen him performance-wise. He has always been such a perfectionist in performance that it was really fantastic to see him feeling more human up there. And that has not been easy for this particular Beatle I must say...

The set list was:

Venus and Mars/Rock Show
Jet
All My Loving (great video background from Hard Days Night era)
Feel Like Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Highway (The Fireman) I really thought this one cooked! You could tell Paul and the band were excited about playing it!
Let Me Roll It / Foxey Lady (snippet)
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen-Hundred and Eighty Five So fun to hear this live!
Everything’s Fine Time for a pee break!
My Love I always get misty when he sings this for Linda
I’m Looking Through You
Two Of Us
Here Today I thought he was very emotional in his performance, beautiful..
Dance Tonight I really liked the bands performance on this one
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Something started out with Paul talking about George and his ukulele's and began the song on the ukulele only for the band to come in full half-way through with Paul playing some very strong lead guitar!! One of the top performances of the night for me!!!
Sing the Changes (Fireman) Love all the Fireman stuff...
Band on the Run Is this song ever not great?! Ray started the song playing the most beautiful black Deuesenberg Double Cat!!! OMG that is a purty geeetaarrr!!!
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Loved... LOVED hearing this live...
Back In the USSR oh they were rocking now boy...
I’ve Got a Feeling Paul takes a breath and then rips out the opening riff to the song and it just cooks all the way through! man... can he really be 67?!
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance surprised by the mash-up but ended up loving it!
Let It Be it is still very humorous to me that Paul initially hated the Spector treatment to this song, yet that is how he plays it...
Live and Let Die Huge pyrotechnic display, the Hollywood Bowl.... amazing!
Hey Jude there are no words here... amazing...thank you and good night... but we know it is not over!

encore:
Day Tripper Paul really is a great guitarist
Lady Madonna not bad on the piano either
Get Back

encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter really thought they brought it on this one, oh yeah!
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise/The End wow...

I know it is not much of a description... but all I can say is I that I think this band that Paul put together really gives him energy... I dare say that I think they added at least 5 years to his performing career... Brian Ray and Rusty Anderson are amazing players and you can tell Paul really enjoys playing with them... but I really sense a very strong connection on stage between Paul and the drummer, Abe Laboriel Jr. Abe is my favorite and I just love watching him play and sing with Paul. Really fun to watch those two interact on stage.

Refugee · #2 03-31-2010, 05:14 PM

I'm so happy you had such a great time, Normandi!! Are you going again tonight?

Here is a picture that Nathan Fawley from Duesenberg Guitars USA took last night at the Bowl.

Brian Ray, Steven Tyler and Don Kirkpatrick

LizzieB · #3 03-31-2010, 05:22 PM

Wow, thanks for that review! Sounds like a really great show and a beautiful night and I love all your song commentary on the setlist.

I never had a desire to see Paul live until I saw him join Neil Young at Hard Rock Calling last summer. He really is an energetic and captivating performer!

Marion · #4 03-31-2010, 07:34 PM

Very nice review, Normandi. I'm glad you had a great time. The bowl is a very special place.

Great picture, Ref! I still love Steven even if he is such a mess. Cute picture of Brian too.

normandi · #5 03-31-2010, 08:44 PM

Sadly I do not get to go! It sure is turning out to be an amazing evening here! Sun is out and any rain seems to have pushed up into Antelope Valley.

But I forgot to tell you about my Dave Grohl experience! I was rushing to the bathroom just before the show was about to kick-off... as I ran by the Wine/Food store none other than Dave Grohl and his wife walk out and I almost run into him! I just said, "hey" and he smiled back at me. But always so cool to see Mr Grohl. You could tell he was very excited to see the show with his number one girl!

Refugee · #6 03-31-2010, 09:05 PM

WOW! Dave Grohl??? That would have made my night!

Glad you and your wife are enjoying LA!

Magnolia · #7 03-31-2010, 09:58 PM

OMG, Normandi! This just keeps getting better and better! I am totally freaking out over that set list. You must have been on top of the world to hear all those songs live. WOWOWOWOW!!!
Then, to run into Mr. Dave Grohl - well what could possibly beat that??
And that full moon (or nearly so at least) must have been exquisite over the Bowl.
Thanks so much for sharing!!!

NightDriver · #8 04-01-2010, 03:35 AM

Thanks for the review, Normandi!
It's been 17 years since I've seen Paul live...I would have loved to see that show!
Thinking about it, I've got to get that "Good Evening NY City"-DVD...

weird monkey · #9 04-01-2010, 08:32 AM

Great review Normandi - what a memorable night for you and terrific performance it must have been.

Thanks for sharing the picture too, Linda.

wild1forever · #10 04-01-2010, 10:45 AM

WOW, what a great show! I saw Paul at the Bridge School benefit a few years back, and he is just an amazing performer. And running into Dave Grohl too?! Does it get any better than that?

Echosoftom · #11 04-02-2010, 02:42 AM

Great review, Normandi! I'm so glad you had such a great time. One of the things I love about the bowl is all the celebrity sightings. Thanks for sharing your evening.