Macca Nation

The wife and I went to the Paul McCartney show at the Anaheim Pond last night (the picture at left was taken from her cell phone). My sister had purchased two tickets to the show several months ago. Unfortunately, she needed to be home with her 9-month old (Chub-chubs) and couldn't make it. So, we bought the tickets from her.

The show started around 8:15 p.m. with a DJ playing house mixes that blended a number of McCartney tunes. About 20 minutes later, the large TV monitors began playing a short biography narrated by Paul, which was really cool. The bio ended with a montage of images playing faster and faster until the climax--Macca and the band appearing onstage, kicking off with Magical Mystery Tour! The sound was great and our seats were excellent. Paul played a good variety of old songs with a few new ones sprinkled in. The band appeared to be having a good time together. One of the funny moments occurred duing I'll Follow The Sun. It's such a short, happy tune and once it ended, Paul evidently wanted to hear it again. So he ended it again...and again...and again. Actually, he ended it five times.

We also learned a new word: "peradventure." Paul talked about how proud he was to fit that word into one of his new songs (I don't recall which one). Headmaster McCartney instructed us that this word meant "perhaps" or "maybe" and joked that he may rename one of his hit songs Peradventure I'm Amazed.

I was surprised that one of my favorite songs of the evening was Too Many People. I love that song anyways, but Rusty Anderson's guitar solos took it off the charts. The band was amazing as always, superbly executing the instrumentation. The background vocals were impeccable.

Jet, Band On The Run, and Helter Skelter kicked butt, as did Live and Let Die, which featured exploding cannons and fire walls. Of course, he played old standards such as Yesterday, Let It Be, Hey Jude, Blackbird, Long and Winding Road, and Eleanor Rigby. Fixing a Hole was a nice addition, as well; but, I missed She's Leaving Home from the last tour (obviously, he's written so many amazing songs that some had to be left out). After a couple of encores, Paul ended with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) and The End. Fantastic.