Fans let go as
Paul McCartney amazes
Living legend charms young
and old alike
Winnipeg MTS Place ~ September
28, 2018
There are few artists in the world who can draw a crowd like
Sir Paul McCartney, and I’m not talking about numbers.
Bell MTS Place was buzzing Friday night with a multi-generational
army of fans; grey-haired couples held hands as they navigated the packed
hallways an hour before showtime, teens in Beatles tour T-shirts that were
older than they are trailed behind parents who paid a lot less than $50
for them many years ago.
And, shortly after 8:15 p.m., when the first chord of
the first song, A Hard Day’s Night, hummed through the dozens of
speakers dangling from the rafters, all those voices, young and old, merged
like rivers into one overwhelming ocean of sound, welcoming the Beatle
back to Winnipeg.
It hasn’t been as long a McCartney drought as the city
has experienced in the past; he was last in town in 2013, but he played
Investors Group Field then, with 31,200 people along for the ride. So in
the arena with 13,700 people, this experience was comparatively intimate.
"I get the feeling we’re going to have fun tonight," he
said, in the exact casual, friendly tone he said it in last time.
He told stories and did little dance-wiggles in his black
jacket and jeans; he mimicked throwing his body into the audience to crowd
surf; he implanted a trio of brass players in the crowd for Letting Go;
he licked his finger and pretended he burned it on the air because the
crowd was so hot after Hi, Hi, Hi. Everyone laughed. Turns out all it takes
for a dad joke to be funny is for Paul McCartney to deliver it.
Winnipeg is the third show of McCartney’s 26-date Freshen
Up tour, but already things are running like clockwork. Massive video screens
flanked both sides of the stage, with lighting/video panels displaying
old photos, and modern graphics filled the back of the stage between them.
Upping his ante a bit from 2013, some other fancy laser-esque lighting
tricks were implemented, though overall, his stage show remains a representation
of his music: classic.
McCartney knows his crowd and he knows they want the hits,
but he did release a new album earlier this month, Egypt Station, and dropped
a few tracks from that album in the mix — Who Cares, Come on to Me and
Fuh You. While they obviously didn’t result in the same boisterous reaction
as his work from the Beatles, Wings and his older solo material, they actually
blend in to his catalogue pretty seamlessly.
Passing off the guitar (and Hofner bass) he used
for the first third of the night, McCartney headed to a beautiful black
grand piano and knocked out a series of hits including Let ’Em In (which
also had a tremendous trombone solo, a comment not often made at a rock
show) and My Valentine, which he dedicated to his wife, Nancy Shevell,
who was in the building. "This one’s for you, baby," he adorably chirped.
And of course, no visit to the piano would be complete
without the love song of all love songs, Maybe I’m Amazed. At 76 years
old, McCartney’s voice has its limits; he was, on occasion, a bit strained
in certain parts of his upper register, but those moments were few and
far between and when he needed to, he really came through.
"Maybe I’m a man, maybe I’m a lonely man who’s in the
middle of something," he hollered, just as powerfully as he did when the
song was first released in 1970.
Mid-set, McCartney and the four core members of his incredible
band gathered centre stage for a bit of a jam session, featuring some of
the oldest tracks of the night, such as In Spite of All Danger, From Me
To You and Michelle; as fun as the more rock-rooted sections of the night
were, it was the quieter times such as this one that warmed the soul.
And then came Blackbird.
Plucking away at that unforgettable opening riff on his
acoustic guitar, a completely solo McCartney rose up into the air on a
platform, voice soaring through the room. It was the sweetest of moments;
even those singing along were doing so in a whisper, careful not to overpower
him. And though the same thing happened the last time he performed that
song in this city, it still felt special.
As the main set came to a close, it was heavy-hitter after
heavy-hitter; the crowd bopped along to Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da; Band on the
Run proved to be a stand-out vocal performance; and the final trio of Let
It Be, Live and Let Die (with an impressive amount of pyrotechnics) and
Hey Jude, were simply perfect.
McCartney returned for an encore brandishing three flags
— Canadian, British and Pride — starting things of slow and sweet with
solo acoustic rendition ofYesterday before ramping back up with I Saw Her
Standing There, a reprise of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and
a frenetic Helter Skelter.
Wrapping up the last of his 39-song set, McCartney finished
with Golden Slumbers, Carry that Weight, and The End, an absolutely mind-blowing
finale.
There are many music stars one-third of McCartney’s age
who would struggle to keep up with a three-hour show that moves at the
pace his does; he’s on guitar, he’s on piano, he’s at the mike charming
the crowd; he’s alone, he’s with the band; he is warm and calm yet full
of boyish energy. He does everything and he does it well, making it look
easy in the process. He’s an icon for a reason.
This could well be the last time Sir Paul plays a show
in Winnipeg, and if that is to be the case, he couldn’t have left on a
better note.
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