Paul McCartney Review

I had the good fortune to win a pair of tickets to see Paul McCartney live in concert at FedEx Field in the Washington, DC, suburbs on August 1. It was an excellent concert, and not just because I'm a huge Beatles fan -- as far as I could tell, everyone at FedEx Field was knocked out by McCartney's performance.

First things first

FedEx Field is a big football stadium, normally home to the Washington Redskins football team. My seats were at the f-a-r end of the stadium from the stage (see photos) -- although I had a pretty good angle to see the stage, the closest I ever got to Paul McCartney was probably around 500 feet. He looked like an ant holding a tiny guitar.

The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30PM and I was in my seat by 7:15PM, which I thought was reasonable. McCartney hit the stage at 9:10PM after what seemed like an interminable delay that was never explained at the show. News stories later said that Paul held up the concert so that people could arrive from numerous traffic jams. However, nothing was announced during the wait, so I mostly stayed in my seat just in case the concert suddenly began.

In the meantime, a couple of DJs on the stage played some tuneless rhythmic music. The two were apparently an unannounced warm-up act, and were never introduced or explained. They were just there, playing music that would be okay for a dance club but not really appropriate for a stadium slowly filling with puzzled people expecting a Paul McCartney concert.

The lack of any announcements was a significant problem for me. Was it too much to ask for there to be an announcement introducing the DJs and saying that they would play for about an hour? That would have allowed me to get up, stretch, get a bite to eat and maybe explore the stadium a bit. Or would it have been a problem to announce that the concert was held up because of traffic problems? I drove though a lot of traffic (in both directions) and can easily understand that.

The concert

I have to say that once Paul took the stage, the long delay and lousy traffic were quickly forgotten. I've been to many concerts and am somewhat indifferent about them, mostly because the music sounds better from the CDs in my collection. However, McCartney was entertaining as soon as he bounded onto the stage and he didn't stop until 2.5 hours later. It is hard to believe that this guy is 67 years old... he doesn't look it, he doesn't act it and he certainly doesn't sound it.

McCartney was a virtuoso entertainer. He not only played and sang very well, he grimmaced, laughed, talked to the audience, joked and radiated a sense of fun. Sure, his voice has lost a bit of its sweetness in the past 40 years but it still sounds like Paul McCartney and he still hits the notes. And he doesn't just sing the soft songs, either... he did several screamers, including I'm Down and Helter Skelter.

Which brings up the songs. McCartney ran through most of his solo hits and many Beatles songs. Of course, most of the Beatles songs were those written by McCartney, but not exclusively. For example, he performed George Harrison's Something, and he brought tears to my eyes when he sang A Day In The Life, a song usually associated with John Lennon. (McCartney wrote the middle part of A Day In The Life, the part that begins with "Woke up, fell out of bed...") In fact, he segued from A Day In The Life to Lennon's antiwar anthem Give Peace a Chance, and it sounded completely natural coming from Paul McCartney.

Other Beatles songs that McCartney played include Hey Jude, Yesterday, Paperback Writer, I Saw Her Standing There, Get Back, Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road, Eleanor Rigby, Drive My Car, Blackbird and Michelle. (He dedicated Michelle to President Obama, suggesting that the president sing it for Mrs. Obama.) McCartney also performed many of his solo/Wings hits, including Jet, Band On The Run, Live And Let Die, My Love and Dance Tonight. Two songs that I wish he had performed were Maybe I'm Amazed and And I Love Her, but that's just the teeniest of quibbles on my part. I thought what McCartney played was excellent, right down to the last song: The End ("And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.") As perfect in concert as it was at the end of the Beatles' Abbey Road album.

Through the entire show, McCartney's playing and singing was excellent. He is considered one of the world's great bass players, but his guitar playing is highly under-rated. Paul showed that he is capable of going toe-to-toe with the best there is on lead guitar, and he is no slouch with folk-style acoustic. He plays piano beautifully as well. As for his voice... well, the Beatles weren't the premier musical act of the 20th century for nothing. The Beatles all played and sang well, as well as anyone else performing at the time. Paul still sounds like Paul, and that makes him an expressive singer with an excellent range.

Highlights for me were A Day In The Life (as I already mentioned) and Blackbird. Paul muffed the verses on Blackbird and sang one verse twice. That stretched the song out as he realized his mistake and sang the missing verse. This was fine with me, as Paul McCartney on stage solo with an acoustic guitar is as good as it gets for me. However, this was a concert with a lot of highlights -- it was one hell of a concert.

Summary

It's too bad that there was poor organization at the stadium for the concert. Even traffic was terrible, as people coming to the stadium got mixed messages about the correct exit for parking. I understand that parts of the stadium had no running water and that some toilets overflowed, and that concessions ran out of food and drinks. All of that is inexcusable for a concert that cost $52 each for the cheap seats and rose sharply from there.

However, Paul McCartney really made me forget about all that once he took the stage. It was simply an excellent show, appreciated by McCartney's fans and casual concert-goers alike, judging by the crowd around me.

If you get a chance to see Paul McCartney in concert, take it. The guy puts on a superb show, and he does it on the strength of his upbeat personality and world-class performing skills. There's no tricks or staging -- okay, a little but not much. It's almost all about the songs, the performance and Paul's outgoing personality. I highly recommend it.

I would give this concert five stars, but I'm notching it down one star because of the lack of announcements and parking/traffic snafus, all of which should have been handled better.