At 75, 60 Years Since Meeting John Lennon, Paul McCartney Continues to Dazzle, This Time in Tinley Park -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Paul McCartney
Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Tinley Park, IL
July 25, 2017 (also playing July 26)
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I've now had the pleasure of seeing Sir Paul McCartney live in concert a dozen times, including 8 shows across the last 8 years.

Beyond my hometown of Chicago--where his previous performance, at Lollapalooza 2015, I only saw projected on my living room wall--I have caught Macca in such disparate places as Tulsa, Paris, Milwaukee and St. Louis (just last August).

This is the 5th McCartney show I've reviewed on Seth Saith, and have bestowed @@@@@ on each.

Even across 28 years--I first saw Paul at the Rosemont Horizon in December 1989, but not again until 2002--his concerts have been rather similar.

SPOILER ALERT for anyone who has yet to see Sir Paul live but is planning to, and wants to be completely surprised, but you can pretty much bet the house on a "Hey Jude" singalong, "Live and Let Die" pyrotechnics, "Let It Be," "Yesterday," "Blackbird," "Band on the Run" and several other staples mixed with a variety of other Beatles classics, Wings album tracks and new(ish) solo songs that may rotate somewhat from tour to tour, but quite little from show to show in the same year.

He even tells many of the same stories, about John Lennon, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix & Eric Clapton, meeting Russian diplomats in Moscow and his impetus & aim in writing "Blackbird."

Amazingly, at the age of 75, accompanied by four musicians who he has played with longer than the Beatles or Wings--I happened to notice Denny Laine will be at Evanston's SPACE Thursday night--McCartney continues to perform 40 songs (if one counts an instrumental romp through much of Hendrix' "Foxy Lady") over nearly 3 hours.

So I really don't have a lot to say about Paul McCartney's show Tuesday night at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park that I haven't said before, especially as in terms of setlist, video graphics and anecdotes, it was nearly exact to the Busch Stadium gig I reviewed last year.

But although I've been a devout Beatles fan for as long as I've had conscious thought--which unfortunately came a few years after their supernatural run had ended--I can promise you that I do not keep seeing, and raving about, Paul McCartney strictly for sentimental reasons.

Sure, most of the songs are like scripture for me, but Paul and his stellar, stalwart bandmates--Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Paul Wickens and Abe Laboriel, Jr.--continue to deliver them sensationally.

Perhaps he's finally allowed some gray hair to appear, and to some ears isn't quite as crisp of voice, but 11  years down the road from when he was 64, I still need him more than ever.

My mom, sister Allison and I spent a good amount of money for pavilion tickets at the coldly utilitarian shed of many names over the years, and the drive there from Skokie took 2-1/2 hours, with nearly another 2 to get out of the parking lot and home.

But I believe I speak for all three of us--and presumably the majority of the 28,000 fans in attendance--when I say it was completely worth it, even though there was rather little truly new in the experience for me. (Though clearly not adverse to a McCartney double-shot, as I went both nights at Wrigley in 2012, and enticed by $20 lawn seats, I'm not going again tonight.)

Though it's certainly possible to watch full Paul McCartney concerts on DVD or even YouTube, and far cheaper and more convenient--and also nostalgically enjoyable--to see Beatles cover bands like American English, Cavern Beat, BritBeat, etc. at a local park, let alone just listen to the original albums on Spotify, any day that ends singing along to "Hey Jude" (and then a few more songs) with the man who wrote it is one to be cherished.

Clearly, even as Paul McCartney--along with the rest of us--has gotten older, seeing him on a concert stage, again and again, still has yet to get old.

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Unless you want to be surprised, you can see Paul McCartney's Tuesday setlist here. Based on precedent, it seems 3 different songs will be played Wednesday night. Along with obvious choices and ones I won't divulge, I really enjoyed him reaching back for The Quarrymen's first recording "In Spite of All The Danger" and the Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do," especially as Paul met John 60 years ago this month.

A Good Day's Knight: In Rocking St. Louis' Busch Stadium, Paul McCartney Provides a Magical History Tour -- St. Louis Concert Review

Concert Review

Paul McCartney
Busch Stadium, St. Louis
August 13, 2016
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Other than family, friends and a few other people I've personally known, I don't think it's too rash or hyperbolic to suggest that Paul McCartney has positively affected my life more than anyone else alive (save perhaps for Bruce Springsteen, and like many, his musical career descended from the Beatles' arrival in America and appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964).

Given my lifelong love of rock 'n roll--including quite specifically and deeply The Beatles--and my appreciation for just how broadly four lads from Liverpool forever changed the world, the above thought would probably have validity based solely on what Paul did (alongside John, George and Ringo) before he turned 22--and prior to my being born.

It would be hard for me to overstate my regard and reverence for the Beatles' recorded output that--with due deference to Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and other rock pioneers who influenced the band--I consider the Holy Grail of popular music, and among the very greatest artistic achievements in history.

With Paul just 21 when the Beatles performed on Ed Sullivan to the largest TV audience to date--having already written (with John Lennon) and recorded "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "All My Loving," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Please Please Me," and other classics--and only 28 when the Beatles disbanded in 1970, he was integral in creating a discography that has provided me with immeasurable enjoyment, enrichment and emotional nourishment.

But Sir Paul--he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1997--has also tremendously entertained me live & in-person via 11 concerts I've attended since 1989, the last 10 coming in this millennium.

Certainly, his legacy and songbook--including from the Beatles, Wings and lengthy solo career--were enough to draw me the first few times.

But I keep coming back--and since 2009 have seen him in such disparate places as Tulsa, Paris, Milwaukee, Chicago's Wrigley Field and now St. Louis--for reasons that extend far beyond nostalgia, sentimentality and historical appreciation.

Even at the age of 74, Paul McCartney and his band--of four others (Brian Ray, Rusty Anderson, Abe Laboriel Jr. and Wix Wickens) who have played with him for nearly 15 years--still put on one of the best concerts you're liable to see or hear.

To the point that although I expected him to be great at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, I repeatedly found myself rather awestruck at how awestruck I was yet again.

Or maybe, amazed.

McCartney isn't playing Chicago this year--and I skipped seeing him in 2015 at Lollapalooza--so I decided to take an Amtrak down to St. Louis with my friend Paolo.

Over the course of about 25 hours in the city, we also enjoyed great BBQ at Pappy's Smokehouse, went to two superb museums, rode to the top of the Gateway Arch, enjoyed famous frozen custard at Ted Drewes and more. I will try to write a bit of a travelogue in coming days, but the clear impetus and highlight of the trip was the opportunity to see "Macca."

Certainly, I could sufficiently justify the excursion, effort and expense simply by saying that Sir Paul sang 38 songs over the course of nearly 3 hours, that his voice sounded strong on a beautiful night and his band typically robust, and that it was a treat for a pair of Beatlemaniacs to sing along heartily to some of the greatest tunes ever written.

That probably won't convince the skeptics, and even fellow fans couldn't be blamed for going, "Yeah, of course he's great, but you've seen him 10 times before, how different or special could it be?"

But while I would certainly concur that 21st century Paul McCartney concerts have largely followed a similar outline, with several of the same staples showing up each time out, thanks to Setlist.fm I can tell you that I've heard him play 115 different songs over the years, most of them rather terrific.

And even though a humid summer night in a NL Central ballpark with Paolo alongside in roughly comparable upper-deck-behind-home-plate seats might make this Busch Stadium gig seem congruent to a July 2013 show at Milwaukee's Miller Park, 15 of the 38 songs varied. (See Saturday's St. Louis setlist here.)

Especially given the train ride down--all that was missing was Paul's "grandfather"--it was sublime to hear McCartney open with "A Hard Day's Night," a song he's never played on previous tours.

From there, he mixed in several Beatles songs that haven't been regular concert selections--"Can't Buy Me Love," "Here, There and Everywhere," "You Won't See Me," "The Fool on the Hill," "Birthday"--while omitting several that have been ("The Long and Winding Road," "Paperback Writer," "Get Back," "Day Tripper," among others).

It was fun to hear him include the Beatles' debut single, "Love Me Do," from 1962 and an even older song--"In Spite of All The Danger," which was the first original composition McCartney, Lennon and Harrison recorded as The Quarrymen in 1958--while also performing "FourFiveSeconds," his 2015 collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna. (Before you scoff, note that it has been played on Spotify over 325 million times, tenfold that of any Beatles' song.)

Even the somewhat odd inclusion of 1980's electro-pop "Temporary Secretary" served to illustrate just how much rock's greatest living legend still enjoys making things fun for himself...and his audience.

I used to criticize Sir Paul for too much sameness in his shows, but while he prefers to keep his setlists static on each tour--and regularly play "Back in the USSR," "Let It Be," "Live and Let Die" (complete with mega pyrotechnics) and "Hey Jude" to round out the main set--I've come to appreciate the way he switches things up from tour-to-tour or year-to-year.

And I will never tire of hearing "Blackbird," "Eleanor Rigby," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "We Can Work It Out," "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Band on the Run" and the songs cited in the paragraph above.

Honestly, that would be enough for a rather spectacular and delightful concert.

But what made it even better was the inclusion of enough disparate Beatles songs to blow my mind anew at just how supernaturally great they were--and reiterate my belief that Paul was John's equal from a songwriting standpoint.

This--along with Wings songs like "Letting Go," "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" and "Hi, Hi, Hi," as well as worthwhile recent tracks ("Save Me," "My Valentine," "Queenie Eye," "New") that demonstrate that Paul McCartney still loves to make music and perform it for people--made the concert a religious experience for me. (More so than most actual religious experiences, truth be told.)

Sure, I've long heard many of the same stories Paul has shared from the stage--about how he saw Jimi Hendrix play "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in London on the Sunday after the album was released on a Friday, and Jimi cheekily asked Eric Clapton to tune his guitar; about performing in Russia and having government officials tell him they learned to speak English from Beatles records--but he seemed to clearly get that some devoted fans may have heard them before.

And yes, I've heard him pay tribute to departed mates John (with McCartney's "Here Today" being about a conversation he wished they'd had) and George (with the Harrison penned "Something" begun with Paul playing ukelele) in much the same way several times.

And for the 11th time in my life, I sang the "na-na-na-na" part of "Hey Jude" with all the men in the audience, before Paul beckoned "now just the ladies" to do likewise.

But once again, I loved it all.

And especially in a year that has shown the mortality of rock 'n roll superstars perhaps more than any other, it greatly warmed my soul to see Paul McCartney playing a phenomenal, energetic, often hard-rocking show in a packed stadium.

...that stands just feet away from where, at the former Busch Stadium, the Beatles performed one of their last concerts 50 years earlier, on August 21, 1966.

I can't really say it was a hard day's night, as only frustrating delays at the Gateway Arch just prior to the show brought any hint of stress to an otherwise pretty enjoyable day in the life. 

But for the 11th time live--plus countless evenings enlivened by vinyl, Memorex, radio, CD, MP3s, Spotify, Beatles' movies and more--the magnificent, then & now, Sir Paul McCartney made for a truly unforgettable knight.