When I saw Macca at Anfield in 2008 I never thought I'd repeat the experience. It was so wonderful and definitive I just couldn't see the point, plus Brian Wilson wasn't half as awesome the second time around so I figured it would be best to quit while I was ahead. However when he announced this show and I spotted it was the very same weekend I was already intending to head down to London to catch some Wimbledon I knew this couldn't be missed, plus it gave me something amazing to look forwards to after using so much of my holiday leave in visiting Australia. Also I half expected not to get into Wimbledon so having something even more amazing lined up for the Sunday would ensure my trip wasn't wasted, plus I was hopeful there'd be good support acts and wanted a big summer music event in my diary. It just ticked so many boxes my pen ran out of ink! Unlike last time, Macca was embarking on a proper world tour too, although I had no idea if that would make this a better or worse performance. We'd rushed to get tickets as I'd expected it would sell out immediately. Quite simply the figures don't add up as a 20,000 capacity show at the Millennium Dome sold out in literally seconds whereas a 50,000 show on a Sunday night in Hyde Park, in the height of summer, not clashing with Wimbledon, with a full afternoon of music and only a slightly more expensive ticket price didn't sell out for months, if at all. It is truly baffling, unless everyone was keeping their diaries free in case England played, but more likely people are just retarded and the Millennium Dome show generated a "buzz" and was considered a "fashionable" thing to do so lots of sheep went. Fools!
I listened to as much Macca music as I could on my spanking new iPod beforehand and considered myself well prepared. The one downer was misreading when Wimbledon return tickets would go on sale by 24 hours then wondering why they weren't available. However I headed down to London after work on Friday in a confident mood. I enjoyed a rather pricey fish and chips at Euston then arrived in perfect time for Wimbledon tickets to go on sale. From our part it had been immaculately planned, with my insistence on eating before meeting Matt ensuring we would be free to try until we got Wimbledon tickets. We were therefore shocked and disappointed that after a whole 30 minutes of clicking we never once got a successful hit. Our dreams of spending a civilised day on Centre Court were destroyed for another year so it would have to be our back-up plan of getting ground tickets. We went out for the evening and I enjoyed several German beers in a top pub in Clapham, especially nice considering we got a seat there on a Friday night, even if the loud music was distracting. It wasn't a big night though: we'd agreed to wake up exceptionally early the next day, which took no effort as it was too hot to sleep properly anyway. In the morning I grabbed some rip-off food for breakfast from M&S then we made our way to Wimbledon via Southfields on the District Line. We were highly optimistic considering it was only 8am but my jaw dropped upon seeing the queue and being informed that it would be a NINE HOUR wait to get in. What the hell? Obviously we turned back round and left in disgust, but it's frightening that people would happily queue that length of time, especially when you can waltz straight in in some years. It truly doesn't make any sense at all.
However I still declare that I've been to Wimbledon four years in a row, it's not my fault that people are random and a Scottish loser had presumably made everyone want to attend on that day! I think the clincher is whether it's the first or second weekend as everyone wants to go on the middle Saturday but still, I'm deeply annoyed with the Wimbledon organisers that they don't utilise a potential first weekend or the middle Sunday. It seems like they're determined to discriminate against people with jobs! However it was a case of my extreme pessimism coming in handy. I was 99.9% sure we'd easily get into Wimbledon but still had put in place a back-up plan to visit Windsor. As it was something I genuinely wanted to do we approached this baffling shock with good spirits and headed back to the train station. Shockingly it was announced that the Wimbledon queue was now "full" and had been closed (at 8:30ish!) but we headed back to Clapham Junction and jumped on a train to Windsor. It was a hot day but I avoided sunburn and we got to enjoy the castle, river, big wheel and Eton! Just to rub it in a bit further there was a worrying queue outside Windsor Castle (before we were told to skip it as we weren't in a tour group) and we weren't allowed to take photos inside the castle or St. George's Chapel. Also some selfish couple were getting married so we couldn't get a glimpse inside the amazing-looking Eton Chapel so the Eton tour was massively undermined. I may also have set a personal record for the volume of ice cream breaks I had as I kept going for chocolate ones which made me thirsty and then had little choice but to go back for more refreshment! However it was still a good day and I was confident that Macca's show would make such issues seem trifling by comparison, plus sure that he'd overshadow the Queen's band playing Dancing Queen during the changing of the guard! The one genuine slice of luck that day was our decision to head to Richmond for tea where we stumbled upon a Belgian bar! Sadly I could only manage a couple of drinks but I enjoyed their high quality plus a particularly expensive meal. After a walk to the river where there seemed to be a massive party taking place in defiance of drinking laws we headed back, and I even was allowed to take out a couple of beer bottles from the Belgian bar to enjoy back at the house.
I suppose this is the point when I should start talking about the show? Perhaps, but I am determined to write down all the detail I can, which will especially come in should I ever catch Alzheimer's. However I'd now reached Sunday morning and enjoyed a huge breakfast, wanting enough food to keep me going indefinitely so we wouldn't need to leave a good position at the show for the sake of staying alive. I couldn't face sitting down and doing nothing all morning so insisted we head out to Trocadero, which I'd never visited before. I was tempted to walk straight out in disgust upon realising it cost £1 just to use the toilets but we persevered. In fact there were some bargains to be had, namely some 2p coin games which I thought they'd stopped having years ago. Also I was pleased to win at ringing the bell and air hockey, but less impressed to lose at pool and to suffer a broken gun on the Rambo III game. Nevertheless we were still sufficiently outraged by the charge for the toilets that we didn't stay too long and made our way towards Hyde Park stopping at a few choice pubs. At the first one I randomly got ID'd, but fortunately just had to plead common sense to get an Austrian Scotch Whisky bottle of beer in my hands, which was an unusual tipple. And I think this is the time when I should mention that England were playing Germany today. Due to our typical bad English luck we'd just avoided topping the group and playing on the Saturday night (which would have been easier for our footballers and much more convenient for me) so the match would be kicking off at 3pm. Of course this hadn't stopped me from enjoying German beers, I just enjoy them too much and it certainly has helped soften my attitude towards their country. I'd kept a very close eye on the Hard Rock Calling website and was pleased to see their "no World Cup matches on site" policy had been overruled and that they'd be showing the match on the big screen. As well as being a victory for common sense it would have been insane for the organisers to have said no and missed out on God knows how many food/drink sales from football fans inside. As it was around 2pm the pubs were already filling up with the football crowd but we enjoyed another cracking bit of luck as we located a huge pub right by Marble Arch and I randomly selected a bottle which turned out to be more top quality Belgian beer!
And I suppose this is when I should start reviewing the show itself? Nearly, I've got to review the football too of course! The gates had opened at 12:45 and we quite quickly got inside the arena. There were some gay searches but they didn't confiscate anything. I usually hate carrying stuff around but I'd had a big plastic bag with me today, mainly so I could carry a sun hat, sun cream and camera more easily. It was an insanely hot day but as I kept reapplying the cream and never took off my hat I avoided sun stroke. Heaven knows how some people can stroll around wearing so little and not die in temperatures like that! My mind was firmly focused on the England game and I deduced that the big monitor behind the sound desk would be the best place to view the match. The number of people in England shirts all around us implied others had the same plan as us and that the match was definitely to be shown. We found a place to sit after a bit of thought with a decent view of the screen plus we could just about see the stage. I had a hunch that the game would only be shown on the central monitor and that the two to the sides of the main stage would continue to stream the show and was glad to be proved right. It was also the logical choice as if you solely wanted to see the bands you can just stand further forwards and completely ignore the footy. We stayed put and had a couple of bottles of soft drinks to keep us going. It's rare when it's so hot I actually lose my desire to drink completely! The first support band was Joshua Radin who was completely inoffensive but has left no impact on me whatsoever. Perhaps that's just as we were sitting quite far back but his set just completely drifted past me with no points of note. He finished ten minutes before kick-off and we had an anxious moment as they didn't turn the screen onto the football until a couple of minutes before 3pm, leading to a huge cheer from the crowd.
Everybody got to their feet and there was quite a crowd despite the complete lack of sound. People were being hassled by the stewards and told to keep the pathways clear but this was a pretty nice place for watching the game. It's funny how England fans have to make out that everything is either a wonderful triumph or a devastating failure. The fact is we were the better side in the first half but the Germans flukily nabbed the ball off us twice after we'd put sustained pressure on them, went down the other end and scored! It was nice when we got a goal back and when we scored our equaliser the place went wild. It's telling that despite the lack of sound/commentary not a single person had the slightest doubt that the ball had crossed the line. When the goal was ruled out there was absolute bewilderment followed by a cry of anguish after the replay showed the ball was even more blatantly over the line than we'd thought! England kept up the pressure but the Germans nabbed the ball off us a third time and got yet another flukey goal, by which time it was clear that the squad were completely gutted and knew they stood no chance against the luckiest team in the world. By the time the fourth goal went in it had just become ridiculous, but despite all the whining about how bad we were I have no doubt that if our equaliser had been allowed to stand and we had a fraction of that German flukiness we'd have won and gone on God knows how far! The fact remains that Germany pulled off the same trick against Argentina, amazingly winning 4-0 despite Argentina giving off the aura of being a better side who just couldn't get into the swing of things. Whine whine whine say the England fans about how bad we were, but for me it was just us being robbed cruelly yet again! And I don't know why we all do it, but it always amuses me how we always refer to Germany as the Germans!
But anyway, while this typical English story of anguish and being cruelly robbed was going on Elvis Costello was in fact playing for the bulk of the first half. He started with a truly awful cheesy song about a train and cleverly could only improve from there. He completely ignored the fact the football was on and although I wasn't paying much attention he just seemed indifferent and boring. Perhaps he's a massive footy fan and was a bit miffed to be missing the match, but he just didn't seem very interested or interesting at all. He was wearing a hat throughout and the high point of his set was an opportunistic Beatles cover version of You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. However we were firmly gripped on the tragedy taking place on the video screens at this point. We turned our attention more firmly towards him during half time and I'd really been looking forwards to hearing him play She. I thought it was his biggest hit and his only tune I had any interest in hearing. I'd taken it for granted that it would be his big final moment so was shocked and appalled when he left the stage without bothering to play it! I've looked into it a bit more since and I think the truth is rather sadder, in fact Costello has had absolutely no big hits of any merit. She is just a cover version he did I was semi-aware of as it was in Notting Hill. So perhaps I was the only fan who just wanted to hear She but still, it was a pretty disappointing set and I have no regrets in prioritising the football over it, as disappointing as that may have been too!
SETLIST Mystery Train/Blame It On Cain/Good Year For The Roses/New Amsterdam/You've Got To Hide Your Love Away/(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes/Friend Of The Devil/Everyday I Write The Book/Don't Lie To Me/(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding/Alison/Suspicious Minds
By the time Crowded House took to the stage many of us had given up hope of justice prevailing and England getting a sniff of some good luck but as patriots we felt duty-bound to see the match out. Nevertheless we took a much keener interest in Crowded House and pretended to ourselves that we were all here to see them, not to watch England win. It was pretty lovely to be at a festival and to have something as wonderful as a Macca live show to make up for such disappointment. I'd joked beforehand that maybe England would lose and Macca would be so crushed by a defeat that he'd shoot himself and ruin my whole weekend! The sun was still very uncomfortable but Crowded House had a sunny attitude themselves. Whereas Elvis had just ignored the football, CH acknowledged the unusual circumstance and the difficult etiquette for how they and the audience should behave when a live show isn't the main thing on everyone's minds. They also played some reasonably compelling songs and as the footy had just become too depressing our focus gradually shifted to them. After the full time whistle we moved closer to the stage and decided to grab our food as soon as there was a bad song. However they played Don't Dream It's Over which is rather soppy but it was the highlight and the only one I'd really learned beforehand then followed it up with Weather With You, which was either amazingly catchy or I'd heard it before. It was quite a shock that I was reluctant to draw myself away from Crowded House but eventually we did and I grabbed a hefty/expensive fish and chips plus more soft drinks.
Despite using the free water by the gents I simply didn't get enough and was running extremely low by the time Macca came on. I guess I was just in shock at how cruelly England had been robbed, a shock which was later exceeded when I read the papers the next day and they made out that the Germans had ran rings around us when they'd just been very lucky! After the meal we made our way back into the crowd for the tail end of Crowded House. Hyde Park Calling was basically exactly the same set-up as it had been for Blur. Again there was a panning camera to capture shots swooping over the crowd plus there were the expensive unnecessary seats for morons who wanted to pay for a bad view. But anyway, apparently their last song was a Talking Heads cover version and I'm shocked to report that Crowded House had comfortably been the best support band of the evening. When the line-up was first announced in full I was disappointed that there was no-one else I loved but decided to embrace the opportunity to see some massive acts for probably the only time in my life. Crowded House were the only support who rose to the occasion which is impressive as I'd expected them to have been the weak links of the evening! In fact there were two other stages, although one of them was apparently just a bandstand. However there were no names of note playing elsewhere and in fact these other stages closed in time for Macca as they understood who we'd paid our money for. I had wanted to check out what was going on elsewhere but with the football and my desire to get a good spot there simply was no time!
SETLIST World Where You Live/Fall At Your Feet/Saturday Sun/Either Side Of The World/Private Universe/Archer's Arrows/Don't Dream It's Over/Weather With You/Four Seasons In One Day/Distant Sun/Better Be Home Soon/Road To Nowhere
We tried hard to get into a decent position for when Crosby, Stills & Nash came on at around 6pm but obviously our focus was firmly on getting in there to watch Macca! Nevertheless I had high hopes for the main support and was quite excited when they took to the stage, exclaiming at how luxuriant their beards were! I then looked a little harder and spotted that none of them actually had any beards, although David Crosby had an impressive moustache and head of hair, so this was not the start I'd hoped for! My focus was somewhat disrupted as there was a weird guy in front of us wearing very dark clothes completely unsuitable for the weather who bobbed his head around unpredictably. Naturally he was freakishly tall too so his presence was hugely frustrating. I thought he could had been retarded and the fact he left the crowd after this show rather than hanging around for the main act pretty much proved it! Unfortunately I haven't managed to locate their setlist but Crosby, Stills & Nash committed the worst possible crime by not playing Marrakesh Express! All I had in my C, S & N collection was a live CD and this came across as the outstanding track on it. Also it was about the only tune I heard people shouting for so I was rather disappointed when they didn't play it. And just to rub it in I've found lots of other setlists where they did do it! Apart from this outrage they played a couple of tunes which I half-knew from my live compilation but their set mostly drifted by me. It's a shame as I tried incredibly hard to enjoy and get into it, but almost every song was long and self-indulgent with unnecessary guitar solos. The band themselves were dull to look at apart from David Crosby who has a legendary look about him and he sung a couple of songs. He was also introduced as the one who wrote the weird stuff. Nevertheless this was another poor support with a criminal omission, and I'm just glad that my focus was so firmly on Macca!
Sir Paul was advertised as coming onstage at 7:30pm and finishing early at 10:15pm. I was delighted by the thought of such a long set so was slightly worried when he didn't start promptly. Instead a very long career montage of pictures was played on the video screens which I believe was the same as that used at Anfield. We also tried our damndest to move further forwards but there simply wasn't much opportunity. Fortunately we found a spot just out of the way of endless people pushing past us (when there was nowhere further to go anyway) and encountered a final group of individuals who were determined to sit down despite everyone else. As usual there were big heads blocking my view but the time went by quite nicely as they were playing some Macca classics over the speakers such as Say Say Say, I Want To Hold Your Hand and Maybe I'm Amazed. The crowd were in a positive mood but not going as mad as they might for a younger band, and I correctly predicted that Macca had selected some of his greatest hits which wouldn't be making it into tonight's main set to ensure we got to hear them. Interestingly the drum kit proclaimed Macca as being "P Mc", but I don't think that's likely to catch on in the same way as J Lo! Also there was a huge video screen just like there'd been last time around although the colours didn't sync up properly for the first few songs. After some fake starts and testing of the smoke machine Macca emerged onstage to massive applause and kicked off with a song I barely knew which turned out to be Venus And Mars/Rock Show. The opening lines "sitting in the stand of the sports arena, waiting for the show to begin" seemed very appropriate and like a vague reference to the football, although in fact this is now his regular opener. It went down a storm as it burst into life and this was a much better way to start than Hippy Hippy Shake had been! Macca then announced he was just going to take a second to take this all in and took a step back to admire the size of the crowd to huge applause. It was the same trick as before but so was launching straight into Jet and now I was fully prepared for its early spot I enjoyed it much more as we pointed our fingers to the sky!
Macca was wearing very simple but smart black and white clothes and when he took off his jacket he expressed his relief at getting the big costume change out of the way! Normally when I attend gigs I leave the proper camera at home but this time around I decided to go crazy with it and see how the shots turned out. Sadly most of them were mediocre but it's nice to have something to remember the show by, and some of the best photos appear on this page so you can always judge for yourself. All My Loving was another surprise and was an early highlight although was a bit of a tease at picking up the momentum which was stifled by the quantity of songs I didn't know. However I had complete faith in Macca's ability to pick it up towards the end and play the stuff we really wanted (as he had done last time) so I did my best to get into it. Got To Get You Into My Life was another early classic and I made the most of it as it had caught me completely off guard last time. Paul then announced they'd be covering a song by The Fireman and the backdrop switched to a lovely piece of art but Highway passed me by, and I understand The Fireman is basically just Macca anyway? Let Me Roll It on the other hand was a Wings song which Macca hammered the life out of and it rocked supremely heavily and I fell in love with it for the first time. The obscurity then set in again as my information tells me he covered Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix followed by Tequila by The Champs, both of which passed me by without a hint of recognition. Just like before, The Long And Winding Road came across as lovely but still hardly Macca's best and Let 'Em In by Wings was an unexpected delight. Paul mentioned that My Love had been written for Linda but didn't specifically dedicate it to her whereas I barely registered that I'm Looking Through You was in fact a Beatles song. It was an unexpected but perfectly pleasant choice from Sir Paul's hefty back catalogue.
Two Of Us also took me by surprise and accompanied with the powerful I've Got A Feeling later on was a reminder that the Let It Be album was actually pretty darned good! Blackbird was as beautiful as it had been the last time whereas Here Today was a touching but overly sentimental tribute to John. Dance Tonight was dispatched with a little less ceremony than it had been given last time but seems to have earned its place among the greats in the set. However perhaps the unexpected delight of the evening was an absurdly catchy ditty which seemingly was based around the line "up, ey up!" My research afterwards confirmed it was Mrs Vandebilt from the Band On The Run album which had been introduced to Macca's setlist due to fan pressure. Also Paul's impression of a Ukrainian audience singing along to it was highly amusing, but in fact the lyrics are supposed to be the somewhat duller "ho, hey ho". Nevertheless it was a truly delightful moment and I was amazed that such a catchy song could have been overlooked for so long in anybody's back catalogue. Sir Paul came across as perhaps the nicest guy in the world and he happily told us an anecdote (possibly untrue) of how a Russian told him he "learned English from listening to The Beatles records, hello goodbye!" Just like it had been performed last time, Eleanor Rigby was slowed down to a snails pace but its underlying magnificence was never in doubt and it was at this point where I hit upon the idea of using the video facility on my camera to record bits of the show for posterity, capturing some of this song. After another unknown tune (Ram On), Macca played Something which was just as lovely and as touching a tribute to George as it had been the last time around. Sing The Changes by The Fireman was the final unknown song, as from here on in there was wall to wall brilliance and nothing else!
I'd been expecting Band On The Run to be a highlight and wasn't disappointed, and I also took the opportunity to record most of the introduction on my camera for future reference. Arguably that distracted my attention slightly, plus it wasn't quite as dynamic without Dave Grohl to beef it up, but it is still equal to all the greatest Beatles classics! The audience were as enthusiastic as they could be without creating a proper moshpit, quashing the stereotype that London crowds don't know how to enjoy themselves. Annoyingly there were a few people with flags, including a highly annoying Danish flag in front of me and a Brazilian flag further forwards. They kept obstructing my view, especially when the cameras switched to the crowd and they were waved even more, and Macca commented politely on them, saying how easy it was for him to get distracted by reading all the banners, in particular one request to "sign my bum and I'll get it tattooed" which he gently declined! However no-one seemed to take the hint and put them away when he finished his comment by remarking that on the whole they were a bad thing, and it was pretty rude to be waving foreign flags around when England had just been unfairly knocked out of the World Cup yet again! Macca then announced a song he'd recently started playing again which to the delight of everyone turned out to be Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da! It led to a mass sing-along at the end and I caught this on video, as I did some of the next track. Back In The U.S.S.R. was stunning and the video screen was decidedly red, featuring images from Russia and clearly the early visual problems had all been sorted out. Another delightful surprise was the inclusion of Paperback Writer. It's one I've never loved as it's a bit too stop-start for me but Macca proudly played it on the actual guitar he wrote the song with and made me appreciate it that bit more.
I knew exactly what was coming with A Day In The Life and how it would segue into Give Peace A Chance. I was slightly disappointed that it hadn't been a one-off inclusion at Anfield as I'd been led to believe but no doubt it went down such a storm that Macca decided he couldn't bear to drop it. I recorded much of it on my camera and was expecting Give Peace A Chance to kick in with so much anticipation that I actually came in early! Still it was nice to know what was coming as it completely caught me off guard the first time around, and the sing-along to Give Peace A Chance was truly moving. However this paled in insignificance next to the awesome trilogy of piano classics which followed it. Let It Be was fantastic but was overshadowed by the pyrotechnic extravaganza that is Live And Let Die! I was proud to catch the start on camera and we were practically screaming with joy by the time it finished! We were standing slightly further back than last time so couldn't feel the heat of the fireworks but this truly is an overwhelming moment of the Macca experience! A psychedelically patterned box was then carried out so Macca could be closer to his adoring fans as he launched into Hey Jude, which was incredible but still overshadowed by the songs around it. It was an honour to have a second chance in my life to sing along at the end and to capture that moment on camera but not everyone was singing this on the way out in the same way the Blur fans had been singing Tender this time last year. And this classic brought the main set to its climax and the band vacated the stage. I really don't know if Paul McCartney put on a better show than Blur, but they were both truly awesome experiences and proof that Britain is a lot better at music than it is at sports!
Paul returned waving a Union Jack in the air, leaving me baffled at how he could be waving the wrong flag, especially on a day like this! This also reminds me that there were loads of world flags flying around the arena but not a single St George's flag! However he could have got away with anything, even a swastika, considering what song he played next. Day Tripper was probably the set highlight and was so booming and exciting that it just left us all whooping with joy. I knew it was a classic but had no idea it was that fantastic. At several points in the evening, including I think around this moment, he made some noises, starting off with "oh yeah" and "alright" before saying increasingly silly things, and asking us to copy him. However when he tried to bring it to an end by saying "right that's it!" we simply repeated it back to him and the look on his face as he realised what we'd done was priceless, especially considering this must have happened to him many times before! When he told us to shut up we gleefully bellowed it back at him but he finally broke the cycle by saying "I'm stupid!" Putting aside this hilarious silliness he followed up Day Tripper with Lady Madonna, which is good but hopelessly overshadowed by the songs around it, and Get Back, which I'll never love but it was nice to see him play it and to get to tick that box! These three Beatles classics signalled the end of the first encore and considering it was around the advertised end time we had serious doubts whether he'd be coming back for more! However there was a roar of approval as Macca returned by himself for a beautiful take on Yesterday before making up for the biggest disappointment of the Anfield show by playing Helter Skelter!
By this point it was just too much amazement to take in but it was lovely to hear Helter Skelter and the rollercoaster video and rock-out at the end was insanely exciting. When Macca asked if we wanted to watch him all night and sleep in the park he was astonished at how enthusiastically we greeted the idea and he politely pointed out it wasn't allowed. I doubted I could take any more excitement anyway though and when the band launched into Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) I guess my brain just overloaded, and following it up with The End from Abbey Road was a fantastic way to finish, even if I was barely familiar with the song at the time. It was one of the longest sets I'd ever experienced with little regard for the advertised curfew but the band took their final bow and left the stage to a fantastic glitter storm. I was deeply grateful that music and castles are so much more important and exciting than football and tennis, or else this could have ended up as a pretty miserable weekend! With a setlist like that it's hard to complain, but a bit of analysis is in order. I was acutely aware that Drive My Car, C Moon and even Penny Lane had been omitted but considering all the classics which replaced them you can't be too critical, although certainly Sir Paul could put a stronger first half together if he wanted, but could we take that much excitement? Hippy Hippy Shake and I Saw Her Standing There were less significant omissions and there are still quite a few songs I'd love to hear. I'm staggered not to have heard Hello, Goodbye yet, which could be his definitive set opener, and When I'm Sixty-Four would be nice to hear but the moment for that had passed anyway? There are so many Beatles classics it would be lovely to hear it would make this page too big for your internet connections to cope with if I listed them all, but strangely enough it's mostly the later stuff which I really want to hear.
Maybe I'm Amazed, Pipes Of Peace, Tug Of War, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Say Say Say, and Wonderful Christmas Time would all be welcomed warmly into the set and it's interesting to wonder why Macca chose not to play some of these? The effort he puts into Band On The Run and Live And Let Die implies he'd relish the chance to further prove he could do better without The Beatles! Perhaps the most intriguing could have been if he'd done a live link-up with Stevie Wonder who was playing Glasto this very night to perform Ebony And Ivory? Perhaps that would have been too technical and also would have been a bit cruel on the Glasto fans to see a glimpse of the much more exciting show they could have attended instead! However this wonderful event was over and I scraped my change together to purchase a hugely satisfying blue slush puppy to slake my considerable thirst with and we walked to Victoria along with many thousands of others. The route was controlled by the police who rudely considered the right of way of the traffic to be more important than ours. Who knows why, there's just no need to drive around central London anyway! I resisted the urge to buy an ice cream and tried hard to get a decent photo of Wellington Arch and you can see my best attempt above. Once I got back I had little regard for going to bed, knowing I'd have to wait for the rush hour fares to finish in the morning anyway them commute back to Wolverhampton and reach work at around midday. I spent some time that night watching the videos I'd shot on my camera and reliving the excitement and once I got home and saw them on my PC I was pleased to see the quality was rather good despite my reasonable distance from the stage and the silly flags and big heads blocking the view.
Would I see Sir Paul again? I think the answer is a resounding yes, but I'm aware he'd be very expensive so I should pick my moment carefully. Seeing a huge summer show is a fantastic substitute to a festival which drains all your energy and takes weeks to recover from. I'd love one day to go to Glastonbury but no doubt would be frustrated by the line-up being so amazing that I'd have to miss loads of bands I love, and be even more annoyed by the idiotic hippies who'd spend the whole festival sitting around absorbing the "atmosphere". Not that that's a negative attitude, I consider it a statement of common sense. Also it was gratifying to see that by "being negative" and bracing myself for disappointment and heartache on this weekend that nothing got me down and I had a fantastic time. This is despite Wimbledon being harder to get into than I'd ever have dreamed, the frustration of Eton chapel being closed and the cruelty/extent of the England defeat, which was beyond my worst and most pessimistic nightmares! Also I could never have imagined that Marrakesh Express (Crosby, Stills & Nash) and She (Elvis Costello) would have been omitted, and if you'd had told me beforehand the songs that Macca didn't play I just wouldn't have believed you. It was interesting to learn afterwards that the Manics had supported him in Cardiff, and I think that would have been much better! Nevertheless I was braced for disappointments, I got them and I overcame them thanks to the wonderful heights that Sir Paul McCartney hit in this show. I've classed the event as a festival but if it was a gig I think a resounding 9.5/10 would have been the only fair mark to award it. Now even I'm starting to wonder if The Beatles were better than The Beach Boys after all, or if perhaps Wings upstage them both?
SETLIST Venus And Mars/Rock Show/Jet/All My Loving/Letting Go/Got To Get You Into My Life/Highway/Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady/Tequila/The Long And Winding Road/Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five/Let 'Em In/My Love/I'm Looking Through You/Two Of Us/Blackbird/Here Today/Dance Tonight/Mrs Vandebilt/Eleanor Rigby/Ram On/Something/Sing The Changes/Band On The Run/Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/Back In The U.S.S.R./I've Got A Feeling/Paperback Writer/A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance/Let It Be/Live And Let Die/Hey Jude/Day Tripper/Lady Madonna/Get Back/Yesterday/Helter Skelter/Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)/The End
SONG OF THE DAY: Sir Paul McCartney - Day Tripper
London Hyde Park
27th June 2010
£62.50
