Paul McCartney at the O2 London - What a Night!
Last night was a once in a lifetime evening for the Art of the Movies Team. We were lucky enough to see Paul McCartney live, at the O2 in London.
What can we say? A M A Z I N G does not do it justice.
With a career of well over fifty years (and his latest album 'Egypt Station' riding high in the charts), he has an astonishing catalogue to choose from and he didn't disappoint. Opening with "A Hard Day's Night", "Junior's Farm" and "All My Loving", a set of over 3 hours included 40 songs from The Beatles, Wings and McCartney's solo career.
Not at all bad for a rocker in his 70s (even a legendary one)!
Particular highlights for us, in the order they were played, were...
"A Hard Day's Night" is a great way to start a show, especially with clips from the movie playing on a huge screen behind the band.
"Maybe I'm Amazed" has always been an astonishingly powerful song written to Linda McCartney in the throes of the Beatles' break-up.
"Blackbird" is a beautiful, deceptively simple song played superbly last night on acoustic guitar.
"Something" brought tears to our eyes. Frank Sinatra (who covered the song) allegedly called it the "the greatest love song of the last 50 years". Last night, the opening was played on a ukulele given to McCartney by George Harrison (who wrote the song) before the full band joined him, all with images of Harrison floating behind them. Astonishingly good.
"Band On The Run". The band on the stage were really hitting their stride at this point and this one really took us back to our youth and summer holidays in the 1970s.
"Live and Let Die" exploded (quite literally) on the stage with some of the most amazing pyrotechnics we've seen at a gig. (Probably better than the ones used in the Bond films!)
"Hey Jude" saw the entire auditorium singing "Na, Na Na, NaNaNaNaaaa"!
"Get Back" was a very special moment. With Ringo Starr joining McCartney to play a song they played together at the last Beatles gig, on the Apple Corp roof top at Saville Row. This musical reunion appeared to be a genuinely spontaneous event with both ex-Beatles appearing moved by the experience.
"Wonderful Christmas Time" was a seasonal addition to the tour set-list, complete with a youth choir to sing along and fake snow falling from the sky. :-)
"Golden Slumbers" / "Carry The Weight" / "The End" brought an incredible night's entertainment to a close. A night that we will never forget.
We hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas Time.
Adam and the Art of the Movies Team.
P.S. For fans of the fab four, we have a fantastic blog post on The Films of The Beatles out at the end of January. Check back then, we think it's a great read!
