McCartney Live In Oakland In April 1, 2002

[part 2]

I'd have to say the first song of the show was my favorite, both in terms of music and in terms of peformance/presentation, etc. It was neat to hear a song Paul has never done live before (apart from doing the ending coda at the end of "Put It There" on the 89/90 tour). In this live arrangement, Paul does the full song with the ending coda, and then goes back and does the end of the first part of the song again to end it. It was just a really neat way to open the show. More neat than hearing a new song from a new album (ie "Figure of Eight" in 89/90) or even a medley of hits or fairly recent hits (ie Venus and Mars/RockShow/Jet in '76). This was similar to "Drive My Car" in '93, only neat because it's a more interesting song to hear pulled off live, and all of the video screens and whatnot just made it more of an interesting opening. Rusty Anderson was on a white Gibson SG guitar, and Brian Ray played what I believe is a newer Danelectro model guitar (I'm not sure which one).
Without saying anything, the band then launched into "Jet". This was a really tight performance. Paul stayed with his Hofner bass on this one. By this point, I was struck by how much better the backing band sounded vocally. I think Brian Ray, believe it or not, is a key vocally and instrumentally, in filling out the sound of the band so they sound fuller than what we heard on the "Concert for New York City".
Paul then said a few words (you know, the sort of "good evening Oakland" sort of thing), and then made a rather strange change of pace going all the way back to "All My Loving." This sounded really similar to what we've heard in past performances, like the '93 tour and the Linda tribute show. Paul again stayed with his Hofner. Brian Ray switched over to a large Grestch guitar. It was similar to George's, but was a different model and was a powder-green color.
Paul then switched over to his sunburst 1960 Les Paul guitar (and Ray switched to playing a Guild bass), and announced that he was going to do a song from the '60's, and that this was the first time he had ever played it live. He then launched into the very familiar opening chords to "Getting Better." Once again, the band pulled this off vocally very well. This was a great treat to hear. As with "Hello Goodbye", Paul extended the ending to this, with the "getting so much better all the time" refrain being repeated several times.
Paul then switched back to bass (this show seemed to have a lot more constant guitar/bass switches than past tours, with switches on just about every song for Paul and/or the others in the band), and the band launched into "Coming Up." Again, this sounded similar to more recent performances like 1993, with Wix doing the keyboard horns. Although, there was no long drum into like in 89/90. This sounded snappy like the 89/90 and 93 live performances, but sounded more rounded and poppier while still keeping a rocking edge, like the 1979 live performances.
For the next song, Paul switched back to the Les Paul, and the band went into "Let Me Roll It." Paul and Rusty traded and shared guitar licks. Paul's voice sounded strong on this, and as I recall, he threw in an extra little quick guitar lick/solo at one point that sounded different. Also, I believe they extended this song as well at the end.
Paul went back to the bass again, and announced that they were going to do some songs from the new "Driving Rain" album. First up was "Lonely Road". This sounded markedly better than the "Concert for NY" show in terms of fullness with an additional guitar. The song was actually less snappy than the album version or the "Concert for NY" performance. It still sounded good. Paul flubbed the second line and sang the third line in its place, then repeating that line again. He sang "I tried to get over you, but all I could ever do, but all I could ever do is fill my time....."
Up next was "Driving Rain." Abe started it with a drum beat, and they launched into a version that for the most part stuck to the album version. Paul stayed on the Hofner, and Ray played acoustic guitar.
Paul then introduced Abe Laboriel, Jr., and let Abe say a few words. Paul used these intros for the band members to fill time while he switched from piano to the front of the stage and vice versa. Paul moved to piano for "Your Loving Flame", giving a performance similar to the Nobel Peace Prize show, but with better backing vocals. This piano was a normal piano, probably a baby grand, situated to the right (from the audience perspective) of Abe on drums. Basically, Linda's old spot on stage.
Then, the rest of the band left the stage and Paul announced he was going to some songs completely solo. First up was "Blackbird" on acoustic guitar, performed just about note perfect. I noted that Paul performed the song as it was orignally recorded. In past performances, for the guitar sequence after the first verse, he used to just play the intro again, but here he did the descending chords heard after the first verse on the original recording.
Then came "Every Night", again performed totally solo an acoustic guitar. This still worked well, and probably prevented this from sounding like a carbon copy of the '93 tour performances.
Next up was "We Can Work It Out." Same story as "Every Night" (in terms of performanc and of sounding different from the '93 tour), this worked well as a solo number.

[to be continued........]

[part 3]

Paul then brought Wix out to play accordion on "Mother Nature's Son." I found this odd since Wix used to play accordion during hte '93 tour on "We Can Work It Out", but Paul chose to do that one solo for some reason. Anyway, "Mother Nature's Son" sounded great and the accordion accompaniment was only minimal and sounded just fine.
Paul then switched to a classical guitar, Wix switched to keyboards, and Rusty came out on acoustic guitar and they performed "Vanilla Sky." I'm not a huge fan of this song, although it's not at all bad. This was probably my least favorite song of the show, but it was still nice. Wix performd the flute bits on his keyboard. The video accompaniment on this song appeared to be the same that was used on the Academy Awards show.
Then, two of the performers from the opening act carried Paul's "psychadelic" paint job piano on stage. It appears that it is now (if it wasn't before, which I'm not sure) an electric piano/organ that also has a piano setting, because the first song Paul played did not sound like piano, but more like something like a Fender Rhodes electric piano. Paul performed "You Never Give Me Your Money", melding it in with "Carry That Weight" because he decided to sing the verse of "...Money" that is found in "Carry That Weight". At one point, during the "out of college, money spent" section, Paul started singing something along the lines of "this is the part where I always forget the words, maybe I'll remember them by the end of the tour." It may have been off the cuff, I don't know. It sounded really fluid and fit good, so perhaps it was rehearsed. Anyway, it was different to hear this all performed just on electric piano. But Paul's goofiness made this performance work. While it may just be more rehearsed stage patter, Paul seems to be more loose on this tour and more apt to make little jokes. At the same time, Paul seems more straight-forward and serious while he's performing, looking a bit less giddy and goofy than he did, say, on the '93 tour.
Paul then continued with a solo performance, this time on what sounded more like normal piano, but still playing the same instrument, of "The Fool On the Hill." This was a really nice performance, and again worked well as a solo piece. Perhaps Paul is doing so many solo numbers simply because it means less rehearsal time needed for the other band members to learn those songs, but the solo numbers are a nice change of pace from past tours with such filler material as Chris Whitten's drum solo or Robbie McIntosh's guitar solo bit.
Paul, still solo, then switched to acoustic guitar again after the same characters carried off the piano. He explained that when you want to say something to somebody, it's sometimes hard to do and then it comes out in song. He said the folowing song was about John Lennon. He then performed "Here Today" which, while probably unfamiliar to some of the audience, was very moving for the entire audience. Paul did well performing the song on acoustic, although not doing quite as much intricate finger picking as what is on the original recording.
Then, Paul took off the acoustic guitar and came back, again still solo, with a ukulele. He explained how George was a great ukulele player, and when he would visit George, he would say that he could play a song and it goes like this. He then performed a complete version of "Something" on ukulele, playing it in a ukulele style like you would expect. Paul did the whole song flawlessly, not missing any words. Then, after he finished, he said "and then after I would finish, George would say 'No, it should go like this'", and then Paul proceeded to play a little bit of the song on ukulele in a different style, a bit faster. The crowd laughed and cheered.
Paul then put his acoustic guitar back on, and the band minus Brian Ray came back on stage. Only Wix and Paul played instruments, and the band performed "Eleanor Rigby." Once again, this was not to dissimilar from past live performances. All of them were in good vocal form, and Wix did well with the keyboard string parts.
Ray then joined the band on stage, with Abe bringing a snare drum out on stage, and they performed "Here, There, and Everywhere." Wix once again took to the accordion (as far as I can remember). Abe and Brian Ray sang together at the front of the stage on backing vocals. The backing vocals were done more like the original recording, as opposed to the way the '93 live version sounded.
Paul switched to bass, and the basic band lineup was back to normal, and the band launched into a great version of "Band on the Run." This might be the best live version I've heard in quite awhile. The middle rock section really rocked out. Rusty's slide guitar was pretty good, maybe not quite as good as past tours just on this particular number. But he still sounded just fine. Brian Ray switched from electric to acoustic guitar midway through the song.

[to be continued........]

[part 4]

Next up was "Back in the USSR." I believe Paul stuck to bass on this one as well. Rusty did a good job on this guitar solo, and the song rocked really well.
Paul then introduced Rusty Anderson to the crowd, and Rusty spoke to the crowd while Paul went to the back of the stage to man the piano for "Maybe I'm Amazed." After hearing reports of Paul dropping this by the '93 tour because his voice couldn't handle it, I was surprised by how well Paul did on the vocals this time. Perhaps not as good as the original recording or the '76 live version, but he probably sounded better on this show than he did on the song on many or most of the 89/90 shows I've heard. Rusty handled this guitar solo well also.
Paul stayed on the piano for "C Moon." The crowed would erupt on the opening notes of almost every song, but this one only got maybe 25% recognition from the audience at the beginning. This performance was nice, probably better than most of the past soundcheck performance I've heard. The crowed still ate it up despite maybe not being as immediatly familiar with the song. After the song, Paul explained the "c moon/L seven-square/circle" concept, which gave the crowd a chuckle.
Paul again stayed at the piano and dedicated the next song to "lovers everywhere", and did a nice job on "My Love", once again sounding better than he has on recent tours, probably the best since '76. Rusty once again brought the goods on lead guitar, and once again the backing vocals were well done. I think it's Brian Ray that provides the high end of the harmonies.
Then came a segue for an intro for Wix to talk to the audience. Wix jokingly told the audience that Rusty had taught him five chords on the acoustic guitar, and that he was going to use some of them for the next song. Obviously he was joking, since Wix played some acoustic guitar on past Paul tours. Paul was back to bass at the front of the stage for "Can't Buy Me Love." Beatles footage was used to good effect on the video screens here, and the crowd once again ate it up.
It was back to acoustic guitar for Paul as the band performed "Freedom" to a pretty enthusiastic audience. The yellow banner that was lowered during his performance at the Super Bowl was lowered above the stage here as well (I don't know if it's the exact same banner or a duplicate). As is my opinion of the song itself, this performance was great, the song is just okay. Not at all bad, but nothing amazing either.
Next up was "Live and Let Die", with Paul back on piano (after a segue with another band member, this time Brian Ray). The cannons/fireworks or whatever they're called were put into full use on this song. We got the two blasts that past tours got, as well as another at the end. This may be the best live version I've ever heard. The rocking parts just totally rocked out as good as I've ever heard it.
I'm having trouble remembering, but I think the psychadelic piano was brought back out for the next two numbers, "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude". (I know he played it for "Hey Jude", but he may have been on the grand piano for "Let It Be"). These were performed to the great standard that the show had set so far. Rusty did a pretty good guitar solo on "Let It Be." Paul did a nice extended sing-along for "Hey Jude." The band then left the stage, but an encore surely had to follow.
And it did, with a nice performanc of "The Long and Winding Road." Interestingly, in place of any horn or string parts, Rusty played the Phil Spector-scored parts during the song on his guitar. This was especially noticable on the bridge/middle/instrumental part of the song. Funny that Paul would want this part to be played in any fashion.
He then followed this with an energetic performance of "Lady Madonna", sounding much like past performances. As opposed to the ending Wings did back in '76, the ending was performed slightly different here. That's about the only major difference arrangement-wise. In general, Paul seemed to sticking very closely to the original arrangments during this show, probably more of an indication than anything that the other band members used those original recordings as references to learn and rehearse these songs.
Paul then switched to bass for "I Saw Her Standing There." A funny goof-up here was that the large video screen obviously was displaying a quick glimpse of a preparation video screen/slate that it wasn't supposed to before the show, as the screen clearly dislayed the song title before he did the song. This was probably the title of the next video sequence being displayed. After this song, the band went off again. Was a second encore coming?
Yes it was, first with Paul performing "Yesterday" on acoustic guitar with Wix on keyboards. This probably sounded even better than the solo acapella performance from the "Concert for New York."
Closing out the show was a great 1-2 punch. Paul switched back to his Les Paul as the band performed the reprise version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The band really rocked on this one. They then segued into "The End", with all three guitarists (apparently no bass guitar on this one) trading guitar licks. There's no doubt this is still a great song to close on.
With all of the parts of the opening act, and all of the different video screens showing different things during Paul's show, not to mention how the show is performed itself, it really does appear as though it might take an additional show attendance to soak it all in. I'm glad that I'm able to go to a second show as well (see the San Jose review, when it's done). While the ticket prices are still what I would consider extravagent, Paul does at least make you feel like you got your money's worth. A long set of 37 different songs, an obviously expensive stage setup, and a full show as an opening act.
Other details: For either the first or second encore, Paul came running out with a big American flag, and the drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. came out running with a California state flag.

[to be continued........]

[part 5]

The video screens were very elaborate. Closest to the sage, there are a series of small video screens on both sides that can either display individual images or video images, or can together form a large image. In front of those up higher, there is a main large video screen, and additional small video screens. Finally, there are two additional medium/small sized video screens that face the extreme left and right sections right next to the stage. While the other video screens shifted between live footage of the show and other video or images in various multi-media sort of presentations, to the two side screens stayed on the main performance video feed for the whole show. (In other words, if you're to the extreme side of the stage, you have a very clear and untainted screen to shoot a camcorder video on from a relatively isolated and out-of-the-way section of the arena!). It's too difficult to remember what images and video clips were shown during the various songs. Pictures of Soviet leaders and flags and whatnot were shown during "Back in the USSR." What looked like a high-tech clip from "Sesame Street" with counting numbers went along with "Driving Rain." Beatles footage accompanied many songs. Sometimes there wouldn't be pictures or footage, just designs and psychadelic things, etc. Perhaps I'll try to recall more of the specific video screen layouts for the songs later on. I will say that the main video screen that featured for the most part straight performance footage like you would see on a jumbo video screen at any show, was impressive as far as the camera work. If the camera was not stationary on Paul, then it was getting nice shots of the others from good angles and good shots on their guitars and whatnot.
The tour merchandise was rather extravagent (in terms of content, selection, and price). There were various shirts and sweatshirts and whatnot going from $30-$65 or so. There were all sorts of little items, from candles all the way down to "souvenir ticket stub display cases" for $35! There were posters, and I believe there were hats. There were many other items I'm forgetting, but I didn't spend that long looking at them because I was not going to spend money on anything but a program. I only bought a program, which was rather expensive at $30. But it is rather lavish for a program. It's 68 pages and goes fairly in-depth with bios on each player, and interview with Paul, and many other features. I paid $25 for a much smaller program for Brian Wilson last year, so $30 isn't that bad when you take that into consideration. But it's still pretty expensive compared to free (but surely not as lavish) programs given out on Paul's 89/90 tour.
All in all, one of my all-time favorite concerts easily. Apart from the "hey man, it's Paul McCartney" sort of reasons for liking the show, it's just good music (as in good song selection and good performance) and an impressive show in terms of execution with the stage set with video screens and whatnot. It's just an impressive and amazing show in every way. The crowd goes nuts after every song (and before every song, and during), and it's all good. Paul's voice is holding up well, all things considered. It's showing it's age and wear and tear, but he sounds better than he has in quite some time. Ultimately, the most amazing thing is that despite the hefty price tag on the ticket, Paul has convinced me without doubt that the money was more than well worth it. One of the highlights of my concert-going life (and perhaps it may end up being *the* highlight), just as I hoped and suspected it would be.

THE BAND:
Paul McCartney: Lead Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Piano, Ukulele
Paul "Wix" Wickens: Keyboards, Accordion, Guitar
Abe Laboriel, Jr: Drums, Vocals
Rusty Anderson: Guitar, Vocals
Brian Ray: Guitar, Bass, Vocals

[end]

http://www.geocities.com/heyjude160/conrevs.htm

Кажется, включение в set list Back in the USSR вселяет некоторую надежду! А зачем она там?
Нет, конечно понятно,что это просто отличная песня, но все же..?

winter rose - к сожалению, здесь нет никакого скрытого смысла, в USSR он не приедет..... ;-(

Corvin, ну хоть в Россию. Очень хочется верить!В USSR мы теперь и сами уже не приедем;)

На концерте в San Jose 3 апреля программа была точно такая же как в Oakland

Oakland and San Jose had the exact same set lists, in the same order, and there was NO third encore in San Jose.

San Jose review -
http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/news/sanjosereview.html

Oakland review -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/music/newsid_1906000/1906832.stm

http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/music/article/0,1375,VCS_156_1068697,00.html

http://www.examiner.com/ex_files/default.jsp?story=X0403PAULw

Paul McCartney "Driving USA" Tour - San Jose
FOTO -
http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls====9043

А ты чего ждал, я например уверен, что новых песен больше не будет. Хотя конечно жаль, я надеялся на " I'm Looking Through You"