Paul McCartney's "One On One" Tour

If you're going to paraphrase what I said, you should work on your reading comprehension so you'll get it right.

 

ok johnny literal, or whatever your weak attempt at an insult was. My comprehension is fine. You're just wrong.

 

Mrs. Vandebilt and Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five sound like songs that almost made the cut on the Wings Over America tour. Either that or there would've been too many BOTR songs on the tour.

 

Ahh, love those people!!

I remember talking about a Simon & Garfunkel show with a co-worker (at my first job!) back in 83 (?). He loved the show but was so bummed they didn't do Sounds of Silence (his "favorite"). "But it was their final song," I remember telling him. "They came back for another encore?" he asked, sadly. Yup, they did. But that duo is ALWAYS playing the summer gigs, so no worries that he missed it, ya know...

Let's take vocal considerations and set them aside, for the moment. Looking at last night's set:

• Hard Days Night was perhaps the highlight for me. But to do that - more of a "John song", IMO - isn't as good a choice as She Loves You, which strikes me as more of a Paul song. It would be even YUGE-r than AHDN.
• About a dozen of these have been at every show I've seen, and I'm ok with that. The pyro song is great fun. Let It Be is usually still very moving to me. Yesterday, BOTR, USSR, Work It Out (likely my fave J&P collaboration), Blackbird, Rigby, Jude, Amazed, even Long & Winding (which I was thrilled to not hear) probably belong every night. Another one that he's done less frequently than expected - Penny Lane. That's up there with his most iconic tunes for me. Surprised it's been relatively underplayed. I'd add Coming Up to the every night list. The live version was one of his biggest US hits, and even cynical me likes the "peace and understanding" vibe. Plus he gets to tell a new story - about how Lennon thought it was cool. All My Loving/Saw Her Standing/Buy Me Love are close to that - pick any two as early pop/rockers. Later rockers: Got To Get, Paperback, Get Back, Helter - pick a couple. Middle-late stuff: Pepper is awkward to work in (but the 89-90 combo was great), and the others he's done have been fun (Hello Goodbye, Fool, other Pepper/White tunes). But stick to his stuff, because...
• Mr Kite is fun. Doing it for a leg - great idea. Doing it for FOUR YEARS RUNNING? No. Ditto Day Tripper (even tho I loved it). In Spite of All the Danger? No way. Fun once - no need for it to return. I love I've Got A Feeling, but it's had its run (it's not exactly well known). Lady Madonna? Is this ever done well? Every version from WOA on has sounded "hammy" to me. The song may be deserving, but IMO the performance ain't.
• Uncle Albert should be in. For sure, and I'm no Ram Lover (I'm a fighter - ha!). Perhaps With A Little Luck, Silly Love Songs. You know what he SHOULD do? Create a medley with about 8 forgotten Wings hits (maybe those, maybe add some of following: Getting Closer, Arrow Through, Goodnight Tonight, Helen Wheels, Take It Away, Jet, Listen To What, etc.). He's Mr. Medley - he can figure out a way! Seriously, blast through his 20 Beatle cuts a night, and then go, "some of this might be familiar" and roar through a bunch of semi-forgotten hits in five minutes. It would probably sell more copies of Pure McCartney than playing the tunes in full (at expense of other Beatle tunes). Let Me Roll It seriously needs to go. Let him bust his lead chops on something - anything - else. Tack Foxy Lady on the end of that song, if necessary. Note: no more C Moon - ever.
• Learn Here Comes The Sun on ukulele - it will be just as popular. In My Life will actually be more popular as a John/Martin tribute, too.
• Paul should pick a few solo songs he's REALLY proud of, and have Stuart Bell write up some heartfelt stories for them. Seriously, if he did "Somedays" after telling a story about dying Linda, it would generate as much rapt attention as Here Today's intro does, for a latter-day classic, and highlighting its inclusion on Pure McCartney. Oops, it's not on there?

Well, never mind. How about a P.S. From Me To You medley instead?

 

What's your favorite Beatles song? »
@knarf
[/FRIENDSHIP]

 

I admit to watching "The End" from the mezzanine at Citi Field. Slap me on the wrist.

You and @RayS on one day? Maybe this should be the first day of my retirement.

In my defense, if I may, I really like that song. I like the remix. But, tiering Beatles songs for casuals and kids, no casual or kid is deciding to go or not go based on songs at the We Can Work It Out tier.

 

First off, I want to thank you for taking the time to think about my questions and posting your thought out response .

OK , in Glenn World there are no "lesser Beatles songs", only lesser Beatles fans.
I think the public is at least vaguely aware of all the Beatles songs you might
yank,and would probably still prefer them to , say.. "My Brave Face" and...you have mistakenly posted " In Spite of All the Danger" in your Beatles song list. It's a Quarrymen song... but I forgive you . I'm a big hearted guy.

I think Paul doesn't play bass on " Something" because it's an extremely busy bass part and might be hard to sing and play at the same time . I'm surprised he can pull off doing both on "Mr. Kite" but the bass part rhythmically might be more in line with the vocal on that one.

You make a good point about "Temporary Secretary". I can't think of a way to weasel around your logic on that one.

As far as the solo songs you would substitute , hey, I love them all personally , but at this point in time I don't think most McCartney concert goers WANT to have Paul bring them along on a magical mystery song tour, they want the big songs . Paul's general crowd isn't like a Radiohead crowd, looking for new or hidden song gems , they want to tell the guys at the water cooler that they almost cried when they sang along to "Hey Jude"

Thanks again for your input though . I don't agree with all of it but I respect your reasoning, wrong headed as it is.
(I'm kidding! I'm kidding!)

Thanks to you also Jinksy for your input.
Unfortunately, I spilled coffee in my laptop last week so when I'm home I have to post with my iPhone , which gets really tedious so I've temporarily expended my posting energy answering Frank.

 

I wonder why he doesn't play Silly Love Songs! That or Let 'Em In would be crowd favorites I would think. LEI would be kind on his voice too

 

So cordial. Is this what it would be like to be part of the inner circle?

How about we just stipulate for the sake of all future discussion that no one is suggesting or expecting that he will ever remove Hey Jude or Yesterday?

I think what I was trying to say, in too many words as usual, is that, as an artist, you have to be willing to give the audience credit for being a little flexible. You have to - "have to" isn't right - should give them credit enough for being fans of YOU (not just some songs you wrote but YOU as an artist) to go on a ride with you even when they don't know exactly where that ride is going to wind up ("Na na na na na na na").

Paul is vain. Paul is addicted to the gushing accolades that playing Can't Buy Me Love for the 314th (literally, solo, 313 so far) time will get him. And the casuals and newbies are happy to gush. But it's not the performance in front of them that they're gushing over, it's an emotional reaction to the reflection of their own experiences hearing that song that they're gushing over. How about, instead of relying on the audience's own past experiences for cheap applause and easy tears, you give them - partially - a new experience? Not yanking their Hey Jude / Let It Be / Yesterday / Band on the Run security blanket out from under them, but augmenting it with some bursts from the other 50 years of your career that they might have been too busy raising kids or working for some jerk to notice the first time around.

Of course, this is all theoretical and, as I've said, I feel much less strongly about it now that it's clear he couldn't do justice to a Monkberry Moon Delight or even an Uncle Albert. It feels very academic now. But dissertations are what we do here.

 

Unfortunately, I have no idea what you mean by your line I have highlighted.
I don't know if I am being complimented or insulted .

I have no argument with you on any of this, because as you mention, you are talking theoretically , not expecting Paul to actually change his approach to concerts at this late date .

Heck, I'd be jazzed if he performed Wildlife and Electric Arguments in their entirety, but the reality is.. as you mention, Paul is vain, or at least a super pleaser, and wants the love and adoration of a crowd swooning over his old standards. Getting showered with adoration must be pretty addictive.

What gets forgotten in the hub bub here is...maybe he personally loves playing the Beatles songs he created with John and the others more than some solo songs. He may be more nostalgic about that era than most of the crowd is.

By the time Paul started touring again in 1989 John was long gone. Maybe Paul himself likes to head back to the 60's when his buddy John was still alive and they were the kings of the jungle.
Playing his Beatles songs he's a Beatle again for an evening.

He probably gets more warm and fuzzy about drifting back to the 60's working with the other Fabs than, say... missing working with Laurence Juber.

 

Complimented, of course. I respect you. It's rare for me, but there you go.

If it was me, I'd feel more that way about music I made with my dead wife over my dead on-again / off-again friend that spent the better part of two decades barely tolerating me. That's just me, though.

 

Paul comes from an entirely different generation of performers. Giving the broad audience what they want(with some deeper cuts included) it s part of that. Whether we-more hardcore fans-like it or not.
Last year I actually found Temporary Secretary and his rendition of Something to be some of the best parts of the show.
But even with the above said there are three songs that Im surprised he doesn t ever or rarely do. Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey, Silly Love songs and Coming up. All of those were huge hits and would draw a storm live.

 

Let 'Em In has been in soundchecks, so maybe it'll come back. Silly Love Songs has been one of my top songs to come back. It hasn't had a performance since Wings Over The World tour of I'm not mistaken.

 

And I guess C'mon People (the Hey Jude of the 90's) isn't a song that's going to come back. When Paul plays his deeper cuts show, this is a song that oughta come back

 

mr. kite was crazy to hear live.....the direct influence of ELP's karn evil 9 1st impression pt II

 

Indeed- "She Loves You" would not only be preferable to "A Hard Day's Night" but it would be a kickass opener- immediately take the audience back to 1964. Can't fail!

All the songs you mentioned are "McCartney Standards", they're not going anywhere and IMO should be the only Beatles songs represented at all. To hell with "Beatle deep cuts", Paul- give us some deep cuts from yer fourty plus year long solo career for a change!

I admit I've always had a big problem with him doing "Mr Kite". You think if Lennon was alive he'd be busting out "Lovely Rita"?

IMO he shouldn't be doing any of those solo songs you mentioned as a cheesy medley- just do the f--king songs in their entirety. I don't think there's a single song you mentioned there where people would be going "What song is this?". If they're any kind of McCartney fan at all -not simply Beatles fans- they'll know 'em.

Agree with both. I am surprised Paul hasn't busted out "In My Life" yet, in all these years of touring, considering it's one of the Beatles songs closely associated with John that Paul considers equally his own.

As I've said a few times, when I saw McCartney I knew we were gonna get a Beatles heavy setlist, but I went because I like Paul McCartney- I went to hear the smattering of solo material he deigned to actually perform that night in between the mothworn Beatles tunes. "Junior's Farm", "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five" and -yes- "Wonderful Christmastime" were the highlights of the show for me. I admit my wife and our friend and her kid were there for the Beatles songs but it's worth mentioning of the thirty odd songs he played that night it was still "Band On The Run" that got the biggest ovation, not "Hey Jude" or "Yesterday" (although "Blackbird" probably got the second biggest ovation). I saw McCartney once, and unless he seriously plans on revamping his setlists and giving the punters an equal balance of solo material and Beatles songs (preferably more solo material as far as I'm concerned), once was enough.

 

I throw out the medley idea, because most of Paul's solo work is forgotten by radio and the general public. But occasionally you hear a song you haven't heard in years - happened to me at the drug store yesterday - and you flash back to some memory from your past. To me, the appeal of doing a 5-6 minute medley of these past hits would be to go, "yeah, I wrote all those Beatle songs tonight, and you know what?, here's a bunch of other big hits I did..."

Shoot off about 8-10 of em and it would WOW an audience. I frankly think some of those Wings hits (Silly Love Songs, With A Little Luck) meander too much in the middle. Cut to the HOOKS, and line em up, and they'd sound better than their 45 times (5:52 and 5:45, respectively). The vast majority of folks there for the Beatle hits in their one and only Macca show wouldn't have to miss out on Birthday or Fool on the Hill or whatever, and they just might give his post-1970 career a gander at Amazon after the show...

Note: I'd love to hear more of that stuff, too, but at least it would shine a light on some of those songs, and it's semi-realistic, because we all know we're gonna get 20+ Beatle tunes at his shows. This wouldn't eat up a bunch of stage time, but would reference a bunch of songs worth mentioning. Plus he's shown a fondness for combining some songs in the past live (Put it There/Hello Goodbye, Lennon medley, Too Many People/Bathroom Window, Day in The Life/GPAC, Roll It/Foxy Lady).

 

The single version of "With A Little Luck" is at least 2 minutes shorter than that.

 

Last night's Seattle show was fantastic. What a setlist! Temporary Secretary and 4-5 Seconds were fabulous. You Won't See Me was a stunner. I avoided the setlist talk and was loving the new additions. His NEW cuts didn't go over well, and when he had two in a row, it was a buzzkill, but the set soon recovered. Also, great to see Krist on stage--wish they would have snuck in Long Tall Sally again.

Seeing and hearing Paul still able to crush a three hour set--he makes a pretty compelling case for vegetarianism.

Hearing Paul sing Maybe I'm Amazed live always makes my year. OoooooooooAaaaaaah.

 

Not the commercial version that people actually bought...

 

Interesting, only really remember hearing the shorter version, without all the unnecessary fluff in the middle.

 

Certainly the US All The Best and then Wingspan use the 3:13 edit.

 

On what planet is We Can Work It Out a lesser Beatles song?

 

My dream McCartney setlist would be a combination of the following solo songs, quite a few of which he has played live at some point or another (all but six, by my count), so he couldn't use that as an excuse not to do 'em:
Maybe I’m Amazed
Too Many People
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
Big Barn Bed
My Love
Band On The Run
Let Me Roll It
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Junior’s Farm
Venus And Mars>Rockshow
Let ‘Em In
Beware My Love
With A Little Luck
Goodnight Tonight
Arrow Through Me
Coming Up
One Of These Days
Take It Away
No More Lonely Nights
Figure Of Eight
Hope Of Deliverance
The World Tonight
Calico Skies
Dance Tonight
Highway
New
Early Days

...and the following Beatles songs:
Eleanor Rigby
Let It Be
Hey Jude
Yesterday
Can’t Buy Me Love
Get Back
I Saw Her Standing There
Golden Slumbers>Carry That Weight>The End
Penny Lane
Blackbird

Somebody contact MPL, stat!

 

What is a "lesser" song or not - whether it s from the Beatles. Wings or solo-work must be a very subjective opinion
Unless one only count if it was a big hit or not. Personally I would never consider songs like We can work it out or Love me do as being "lesser". In spite of all the danger ain t a great piece of work . The reason it s included is-I believe-is to have one example of a very early song.
When it comes to solo- work I think it s even more subjective. I guess if we-hard-core- fans constructed our own set-lists it would differ a lot.
Besides-only very few people - use their time to make- or follow statistics how often certain songs are played live or not. Also there is a minority who follow the gigs via Periscope or You Tube. Absolutely nothing wrong with that but I think that s the reason most concert-attendants seemingly are pleased with the experience.
In all honesty I see nothing wrong with that. Paul has already given me so much great musical experience and he doesn t owe me or other fans anything. He plays three-hour concerts to his and the audiences enjoyment. He won t change all that much in his formula. Thats the way it is.