Paul McCartney - Comerica Park - July 24, 2011

I finally got the pleasure of seeing Paul McCartney in person, and thought I'd share my thoughts on the evening.

The concert was held Sunday July 24, 2011 at Detroit's Comerica Park (home of the Detroit Tigers).   After attending a 2009 U2 concert at Soldier Field in Chicago, I had pretty much sworn off these "stadium" concerts with crowds of 40,000 or more.     But, this was Sir Paul - someone who could be considered one of the best songwriters ever.   Not to mention the cultural impact his music has had around the world.   I would bet most people have at least one song Paul either wrote or cowrote - especially with that little band from Liverpool.

My companions included my wife, and our friends Gary and his son Spencer (two friends who frequently go to concerts with us).    Our seats were in the standard ballpark seats, in the lower bowl, along the 3rd base line.    There was seating in the outfield closer to the stage, but no seating in the "in field" area.

We arrived at the ballpark around 7pm local time, and found crowds all over the outter ballpark area.    It turned out to mostly be people just hanging outside before the show (a Beatle tribute band was performing outside one of the bars).  Getting into the park wasn't nearly as slow as I'd expected.    Once we got into the concourse, things became much more congested.    Between crowded merchandise areas and concessions, there were many points where movement came to a standstill.    First thing we did was connect up with my friend Adam Talley, who came over from Lansing.    We met him near the carousel, and exchanged comments about the massive crowd and our mutual excitement for the evening (Adam always has interesting insight into Beatle stuff).    We then went our separate ways (Adam had seats on the field).     Our 4 person group found the way to our seats around 7:30pm, waiting for the scheduled 8pm start.

Just before 8pm, a thunderstorm moved close to the ballpark.   Although the show was listed as "rain or shine", there was concern about close lightning strikes and the various high metal rigging (with spotlight people on some of the rigging).    We checked weather radar on our phones, and saw it was a small storm moving over the area.   It appeared the technical crew were also watching, and the show was delayed.    There was light rain and a few bolts of lightning in the distance, but the storm only came close to the park (never directly overhead).    After almost a 30 minute delay, Paul McCartney finally came out to joyous welcome from the anxious crowd.

Sir Paul and his 4 supporting musicians launched into The Beatles "Hello/Goodbye", with Paul on a version of his legendary Hofner bass.    The band consisted of Paul "Wix" Wickens on keyboards, Rusty Anderson on guitar, Abe Laboriel Jr on drums, and Brian Ray on guitar/bass.  The mix was a little "uneven" from our seats, but it improved over the evening.     Paul and the band all appeared to be in great spirits, and having a good time. 

For almost 3 hours, we were treated to songs from throughout Paul's entire career, with plenty of focus on his Beatle catalog.    Beatles favorites for me were "All My Loving", "Drive My Car", "Hey Jude", "Lady Madonna", and "Eleanor Rigby".     From his Wings/solo catalog, my favorites were "Let 'Em In", "Band On The Run", and "Live and Let Die".    Newer songs like "Dance Tonight" sat fine alongside the older material.   Paul spent probably 40% of the night on bass, but also performed on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, and ukulele.  His voice sounded fine, although he did avoid some of the higher scream parts in "Helter Skelter" and "Hey Jude").     A solo section during the evening with just Paul and an acoustic guitar was very nice, when he played "Blackbird" and "Here Today".

As expected for a stadium show, the stage and lighting were massive, as well as the live video screens.    An LED type background provided very clear and appropriate visuals for the set.    For me, the ambient and atmospheric backgrounds worked better than the historical photo/video clips.    Most of the live camera work was good during the show, but I seem to recall it was "Helter Skelter" which had some constant camera changes which made it annoying (I know it was planned, but still annoying).    The pyro (fire and fireworks) were impressive during "Live and Let Die" (something that isn't easy to accomplish in a stadium show) - even Paul was "coughing" afterward, acknowledging the large amount of smoke left over.

Paul and the band all appeared to be having a great time all night.   He made a couple references to his age/history, and also referenced the influence Motown had on his musical upbringing.   He mentioned taking a tour of the Motown museum, and performed the 1962 Marvin Gaye song "Hitchhike" for us.    Not sure this would have been my Motown song of choice, but it obviously was important to Paul.    To me, it was just nice to have the special moment just for Detroit.

At the start of the evening, I wasn't sure how things would go with the 69 year old.    By the end I was surprised how fast the almost 3 hours went by, and rarely had a moment where I was looking at my watch.    Sure, there were a couple tunes I didn't know, but those didn't slow down the evening.     By the time he reached the final encore of "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End", I was beyond impressed with Paul and his band.    It truly is a special moment to be able to sing along on the "Na-Na" part of "Hey Jude", actually singing with the guy who wrote the song!!   That isn't something you get to do regularly, and is a memory of a lifetime.

I'd rate the show a 9 out of 10 - taking off a star for the headaches of a stadium show, and the somewhat inconsistent sound mix (at least, from our seats).

I'm still not a be fan of these "mega-concerts" at stadiums, but sometimes it is the only option available for seeing legendary performers that still have huge popularity.

Here is another picture from our seats:

According to Paul's website, here is the setlist from Sunday nights Detroit show:

Hello Goodbye

Juniors Farm
All My Loving
Jet
Drive My Car
Sing The Changes
Hitchhike
The Night Before
Let Me Roll It
Paperback Writer
The Long and Winding Road
1985
Let 'Em In
Maybe I'm Amazed
I've Just Seen A Face
I Will
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Band on the Run
Ob-la-di Ob-la-da
Back In The USSR
I Got A Feeling
A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance
Let It Be
Live And Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:

Lady Madonna

Day Tripper
Get Back

2nd Encore set:

Yesterday

Helter Skelter

Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End