Saturday, June 1, 2013
Paul McCartney "Out There!" Concert
It's been weeks now and I have been slacking. But I admit, until now I am still in clouds regarding Paul McCartney's concert in Orlando last May 18 and 19 at Amway Arena. It's kinda funny how this thing went on actually. My husband and I were watching TV and something came on about making wishes come true. I can't remember exactly what the show was but it has something to do with this kid having her wish come true by seeing and meeting her favorite artist perform live! And so my husband asked me who is the ultimate singer/artist that I wish to see all my life. And out of nowhere I said "Paul McCartney!". Well, it's given i know, it is almost everyone's ultimate dream. Specially my generation onwards who didn't get the chance to see them live!
I was born when The Beatles split up (1970) which is ironic, right? But having 4 older brothers and growing up listening to Beatles records all my life made a big influence on me. I thanked my brothers for influencing me about music. They are the ones who made me love 50s to 70s music. i remember we have those old Long Playing vinyls of the Beatles. As far as i know, we got almost all of their albums. But then, John Lennon was shot in 1980. Just as when they were thinking of getting back together and make another Beatles reunion album. Then, 2001, George Harrison passed away.
So, the idea of re-living the Beatles is out of the horizon. Although Paul McCartney has been very active and literally didn't stop making music. He did Wings after the Beatles and he was very successful with 10 years in the business. And even after Wings, he still continue making music. Ringo Starr on the other hand also made it on his own.
So back to when me and Steve were talking about the ultimate concert we want to see... After two days, here comes the news on TV saying a Rock Icon is landing his rocket in Orlando! At first, I thought of Elton John as he is the "Rocket Man", right? They made it so enticing that you have to wait for the whole news to the end until they revealed who this rock icon was! And so, that's it! Sir Paul McCartney of the legendary Beatles is launching his US tour in Orlando, Florida! So what's the first thing we did? Of course, go online and look for tickets, although it was two days after they announced it, the only time they started selling tickets. It took us about two weeks before we finally purchased our tickets. Steve is good in finding good deals and so we got good deals in very good seats!
The anticipation was great! We drove all the way to Orlando around 11pm to get the tickets from the seller. Originally the concert is only one day. May 18. But because of the demand, they extended it to 19th. And that's what we got, the 2nd day.
So here comes the day...since the title of the tour was "Out There" which is supposed to be his new album, we were thinking hmmm, maybe he will do a lot of new songs that we didn't know! But to our surprise, Paul did mostly old Beatles classics! in 3 hour performance, it was hit after hit! from Beatles to Wings to his song for John Lennon. It was amazing! i appreciate that he did mostly Beatles probably because he thought that most of the audience deserved to hear the Beatles Classics from an Original Beatle! He started out with Eight Days A Week. He said he decided to open the show with that song because that's only the 2nd time that he performed that song in United States. In 3 hours, I think he did more than 35 songs at least! We recorded video from our small compact camera and we got this 30 minute 9 songs in a row! Plus the other short videos we got. Normally, you play 10 songs in an hour but he did 9 in 30 minutes! So imagine how many he did for the whole 3 hours! Rare hits like Your Mother Should Know, Lady Madonna, Lovely Rita, And I love Her, All My Loving, Long and winding Road, Let It Be, Black Bird, etc etc...Wings hits like Maybe I'm Amazed, Mrs. Vanderbilt, and the song that got stuck in my mind until now....Another Day. It is actually now my ringtone, ha! He also paid tribute to John Lennon by the song he wrote after he died, "Here Today". Also played "Something" as tribute to George Harrison.
I got so emotional with this concert. I thought of my brothers back home. I wish they were with me watching this. I remember growing up, listening to their records, my brothers playing guitar and all of us singing the Beatles. I appreciate how Sir Paul McCartney's sincerity with his performance. By his performance, you can feel the sincerity he has. As if he's thinking, he's gonna make these people's money's worth. No rock star attitude, no snubbish rubbish whatsoever. My husband Steve had seen a lot of concerts(Rush, Kiss, Alice Cooper to name a few) and he said this was the BEST he had seen. Not only performance but because all songs are a HIT. You know all the songs and able to sing with it all along!
I dunno, I am just so happy, so forgive me and I'm still in awe until now that I was able to hear and see an Original Beatle performing Beatles's songs! It may sound crazy for some...but who cares what they think. Any baby boomers like me can surely relate.
Here are some photos I took from the concert. I'm lucky to sneak in my zoom lens by the way. Enjoy!
Labels:
concert,
paul mcccartney,
personal
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