![Пресса пишет о концерте Маккартни в Торонто]( "Пресса пишет о концерте Маккартни в Торонто")
Пресса пишет о концерте Маккартни в Торонто
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McCartney reaches into the past to feature Beatle tunes
By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
Expect two-and-a-half-hours of classic rock 'n' roll tonight when Paul McCartney and his band take the stage for a sold-out show at the Air Canada Centre.
The 63-year-old one-time Beatle is ostensibly touring in support of his critically acclaimed new solo album, Chaos And Creation In The Backyard. But a peek at his set list, which has basically remained unchanged since Macca launched his latest trek on Sept. 16 in Miami, shows that 27 of 37 songs are Beatles tunes. It seems in his advancing years, McCartney is embracing the Fab Four's songbook more than ever before.
"It's been going really well," says McCartney's lead guitarist Rusty Anderson, down the line from New York City recently where Macca played four shows at Madison Square Garden.
"It feels very loose, in a good way. There's a very large comfort level with the band because we've been doing it for a while now. There's just a lot of trust between everybody."
Leading the charge, of course, is Macca whose energy levels are those of a man half his age.
"It's great," agreed Anderson. "It's supercool. He's got a lot of energy, it's mind-blowing. I think he's just gifted. God sort of said, 'I'm going to throw about 50 people's talents into this one person.' He's just blessed with a lot of things."
Not to mention that McCartney's in an extra good mood given Chaos' overwhelmingly positive reviews.
"He's thrilled that it's doing well and I think that definitely makes him excited about the whole touring thing," said Anderson. "But at the same time, it's just such a great buzz being on stage, and having those great vibes come back at you. It's just all positive."
Anderson, a native of La Hambra, CA, who formed his first band when he was 13 years old, has been playing with McCartney for the last four years.
A veteran studio musician with 20 years experience -- that's his guitar solo you hear on Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca -- he got his big break when he was brought in for the recording of McCartney's 2001 release, Driving Rain.
"A producer I had worked with (David Kahne) got the gig with Paul and brought me in and then, that was that," said Anderson, who couldn't quite believe it. "I was a big Beatles fan when I was young and they were the reason I started playing music."
An initial case of nerves might have been in order, then?
"It was pretty bizarre," admitted Anderson, whose parents bought him his first record ever, The Beatles' 1965 classic Help!, when he was five years old.
"It's just being in proximity to someone who, all your life, you have heard about and seen hs pictures and movies and heard his records and, all of a sudden, I'm with (him). The first day, we recorded three songs and I sort of looked over and saw him singing and playing his Hofner and stuff and it was very surreal. It took a while to kind of get used to it. You can't stay there, you get nothing done. You get stuff done but it's too stressful. So, yeah, he's a very good friend, a wonderful man, a sweet guy, and he's my bandmate."
Not that McCartney isn't also the boss too.
"Well, yeah, of course," said Anderson. "He's the top of the pinnacle. But ... he's open for ideas and things and it's a working situation. Everybody brings in their bit."
In other words, the old Beatles chestnuts are being given a bit of a new twist.
"I think the hooks are important in songs," said Anderson. "I'm very respectful. (The Beatles) were like a very huge influence on me, along with a lot of other musicians. But at the same time, I'm a living, breathing musician, and I have my own take on it and my own English that I spin on the bits. This band definitely has a personality to it that's different from The Beatles, or whatever."
Still, when it came time to record Chaos with producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck), McCartney originally brought his touring band into the studio, including Anderson. But after two weeks, Godrich ordered them to leave and McCartney ended up playing almost all of the instruments on the record, a la his 1970 solo debut, McCartney.
"(Nigel) basically, right or wrong, felt like the band was very close to Paul and we're good friends and we're very much a team and he felt he couldn't challenge Paul on things with the band there," said Anderson. "I think it's sort of his own crazy insecurities."
Anderson said there were no hard feelings, especially since there's still another unfinished McCartney album that the touring band was involved in recording at Abbey Road studios.
"We're all big boys," said Anderson. "We actually did another record with Paul, with David Kahne producing, that's probably about half done, and then Paul decided to finish (Chaos). It was sort of worked on Chaos, worked on the other record. There's a lot of good music on that (one). It's definitely a very different kind of thing."
McCartney also played on one song, Hurt Myself, on Anderson's solo debut album, Undressing Underwater, which came out Sept. 27.
"We were touring and he heard some of my music and wanted to play on it and I said, 'Well, let's see, maybe we should do a brand new song for it?'" said Anderson. "So I pulled it all together really quick and we got in the studio and David Kahne produced and the band played and Paul played bass on it and sang some background vocals.
"It was really fun," continued Anderson. "(Paul) was very endearing when he would make a mistake when I was teaching him the song and stuff and he was cursing himself. It was really, really cool. Very surreal. Just fun. He's so musical, it was a really great experience. It was just fun doing it together."
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2005/10/10/1256206.html
