(Thanks for links to Claudio Dirani.)

Bear disaster tonight towards the end of the show. Paul caught up in a rock and roll moment hurls his 40 year old hoffner bass into the air for an unsuspecting guitar tech to catch. complete silence fell across the entire building as the wide-eyed technician barely caught the instrument between his elbows and knees. Even Paul seemed unnerved at what he had done. Unbelievable show. 3 hours +

New reviews added for Atlanta, Cleveland and Los Angeles.

The U.S. TV network ABC will air a two-hour TV special on the Paul McCartney "Driving Rain" tour in the new TV season that starts this fall. The network made the announcement Tuesday as part of its announcement of new fall season shows.

And more interesting news from Bill King of Beatlefan:

Hi Steve,

Macca wasn't finished entertaining when he left the stage Sunday night at Atlanta's Philips Arena. When he got back to his suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, he decided to pop into the hotel lounge, where he spied a baby grand piano. Sir Paul promptly began performing an intimate show for the astonished but grateful late-night crowd.
Cheers,
Bill

And here's an interview with Paul done by our friend Jody Denberg of KGSR Radio in Austin, Texas. (Thanks, Jody!)

INTERVIEW WITH PAUL McCARTNEY BY JODY DENBERG (Not to be posted elsewhere without permission of Abbeyrd's Beatles Page) Paul McCartney and Jody Denberg Jody: Paul, it's good to see you. Paul: Hey, lovely to see you, Jody. Jody: I've got to tell you, congratulations on the gold record for Driving Rain. Paul: Oh, thank you, man. Yeah, that's nice, isn't it? Jody: It's a good record. Paul: Great. Yeah, thank you. I like it. It's picking up some interest from the tour. Jody: I want to welcome you back to Texas. If I'm not mistaken, like, in '76, when you did the Wings Over America tour, didn't you start in Texas and kind of keep a house for a while? Paul: Yeah, because Showco were here. So we rehearsed here. We started the whole thing off here. Tried out all the systems, you know. So, yeah, we were here for a little while. Dallas, yeah. Nice. Jody: Kind of hot. Paul: It was very hot, yeah. But we bought a horse, actually. We used to rehearse, I think, in Fort Worth. So we'd kind of go from Dallas to Fort Worth. And on the way one day, Linda spotted this Appaloosa. We ended up buying it and bringing him back to England. And he's like the father of many of our horses. She loved those horses. Jody: You have so many songs to choose from for your set list, I was wondering how you physically came up with it. Do you have a place where you took out all your albums and looked for songs or -- Paul: No. You know, it's -- it was much easier than that. What I do is, I just see how much I can remember. You know, just like instant. I just get out a bit of paper and a pencil and just think, "Okay. Now, if I was going to this show, what would I like to hear." You know, just put myself in a seat kind of thing out there. "Oh, I'd probably like Maybe I'm Amazed." That's okay. I just write a list out in no particular order. Until you get that list, your main must-sees kind of thing. And you figure, well, some of the tours the end of the show you might just do Let it Be. And you know, you just get -- find out the ones you think you'll probably do. And then there's kind of like a second wave where I just start putting down what seems like sort of slightly madder ideas. You know, slightly different things. And I had decided, because I've been doing some poetry readings, to do a song that I've been doing in the readings, just reading it as a lyric, Here Today, which I wrote for John. So I wrote that down. And I ended up, you know, with a big list of ideas. And had too many. We had -- you know, we couldn't have done them all. But I sent that list to the band who were mainly in America. One of the guys was in London. And just sort of said, "Okay. This is the ballpark. This is what I'm thinking about. What do you think?" And they all got back and said, "Yeah, great." And Rusty, the guitar player said, "Hey, have you considered doing Getting Better," because he liked that song. I said, "No, I hadn't, actually." So add that to the list. So we just took a couple of suggestions. And that's it. We got into rehearsal. We didn't -- we just honed it down now. Jody: Did you think about doing anything from Flaming Pie or Run Devil Run? Paul: Yeah. You know, I was going to do -- I was going to open with Honey Hush. (Sings): "Come into this house. Stop all·" -- you know, sort of this "come into this house." Good welcoming song. But the idea changed on that and that sort of fell by the wayside. And I was going to do (from) Flaming Pie · I think I was going to do Calico Skies. But, you know, in rehearsals these things just change and certain numbers just oust others, if that's the word. Jody: There's been a Beatles Anthology, a Lennon Anthology, Wingspan. You've got so many rare songs and B-sides and unreleased material. Do you think you'll ever get around to making your own Anthology? Is your stuff organized to do that? Paul: You know (smiles), the bootleggers have got it. It's all out there anyway. I just have to arrest one of them and put it out! You know, it's one of those things I'll get around to. I do a lot of stuff that's really just what I've got time for. So this tour is taking up a lot of time now. People are starting to wonder whether we're going to do a live album from this tour. Seems to be a lot of demand for that. And I love the band. I love what we're doing on the tour. We're having some good shows. So they're thinking of doing a DVD or something and a live album. So that's starting to get interesting. So that will probably come up before an Anthology. But one of these days, I'll get around to all that. Jody: And after the tour, there's been talk that you might play in Cuba or China after your wedding. Is that just rumors or -- Paul: It's the first I've heard of it. Jody: I was reading in a book that 40 years ago today, the Beatles signed their first recording contract. There's always an anniversary· Paul: It couldn't be me, man. Jody: You're too young for that? Paul: Couldn't have been me. Yeah, I was in kindergarten, I think, at that time. Jody: Do you keep up with all these anniversaries or just when people tell you? Paul: No. It's nice when people tell you, you know. It's hard enough keeping up with my family's birthdays. That's hard enough, just anniversaries generally. So the Beatles' things. That's the nice thing about the Beatles. There's always someone who will tell you: "Did you know it's the 200th date since" -- and you go "Wow, is it?" Jody: You've been talking about plans for Let it Be. I just wanted to kind of get a clear idea. Do you envision a DVD with extra material and then a new version of the album that's sort of without the Phil Spector production? Paul: Yeah. What happened was, I met Michael Lindsay-Hogg on an airplane somewhere. And we got talking and he said that every time he goes into this certain shop, all the guys behind the counter say to him, "When are you going to have a DVD of Let it Be?" So I said, "Well, I think it's a great idea." And there's obviously a bit of demand there. So I talked to our guys at Apple. Talked to Neil (Aspinall). And he thought it was a good idea. What I like about it -- and I said, "If we do that, we can then issue the original version of all the songs," which is just us guys playing, before Phil got to it. Now, I don't blame Phil, but it was really -- I think it was really Allen Klein at the time who kind of made a musical judgment. He said, "I don't think it's good enough." And it's like, I just disagreed with him. I said, "I think it is." But he wanted to gussy it all up. So they called in Phil and they called it, what, Reproduced For Disc or something. And I just thought, you know, it's still a good record. But it had a lot of stuff on it that I wouldn't have put on there if I'd have been involved. But I was kind of backing out of the whole situation. It got too ugly for me. So I like the idea of doing the film. And it's soundtrack is virtually that bare album, because that's the music we were making during the making of that film. So I think that's going to happen. And yeah, I don't know about unreleased stuff. But they always look to try and find a bit of that stuff. Jody: I've seen the show last weekend, Saturday, at the Staples Center (in L.A.), Sunday in Anaheim. Very emotional concert that's going on. You know, happy·sad. And I know you're in a great place. Congratulations, by the way, on the forthcoming wedding. Paul: Oh, thank you. Jody: But it is emotional. I was just curious, do you believe in an afterlife, where you would be reunited with the loved ones that have left? Paul: I hope so, you know. I don't have like a very firm belief, like, "oh, I know that's going to happen." But I certainly hope so. Some people see life and beyond as kind of a big struggle and stuff. I'm kind of lucky enough to think of it as a bit of miracle. Sort of a wonderful thing. That sometimes gets really difficult, you know, and you have to cope. But it doesn't turn me off of it. I'm very optimistic. So I don't know. It would be great. Jody: Well, Paul, you're part of the miracle, you know. You give us a lot of love and we appreciate it. Paul: Aw, man. Jody: We want to send it back to you. Your birthday is June 18th. The big 6-0. Paul: That's right. Jody: Any plans·special plans to celebrate that day? Paul: No special ones, except, just -- for me it's like another birthday, which I always celebrate in good manner. So I actually don't have any special plans. It's not going to be like a great big one with everybody coming in from all ends of the earth. Fifty was the same for me. And like 40. Those big turnover ones don't seem to bother me too much, as long as I'm having a good time. And I certainly am this year. Touch wood, you know. You never know. But I'm -- like you say, I'm feeling happy. I've had a lot of troubles in the last few years. And even though the troubles don't just sort of go away, you still can get to a better place occasionally. I think I'm in that better place now. And the tour's going so great, the audiences are just beautiful and bananas. And I love them. They seem to love us. And the band is great. I'm really loving playing with the band. Just even soundchecks and stuff are like a bit of a buzz, just hearing the noise we make. I think we make a good little noise. And we like each other, which is a plus. So yeah, I'll just have a good birthday. Jody: Well, here's to another 60 birthdays, Paul. Paul: Well, that would be good. Jody: And have a great concert tonight. I'm looking forward to it, man. Paul: Cool, man. Thank you very much. Jody: Welcome back to Texas.

Update (5/14/02) New review page added for Atlanta and new reviews added for Dallas and Boston.

(Thanks for links to Bill King, EHartvigsen.)

Update (5/12/02) New reviews added for Dallas and Denver.

From our friend Jody Denberg:

Got to have a chat with Sir Paul before the first Dallas show Thursday night.

Our interview was supposed to be longer but soundcheck ran late and the Webcast was slated for 7 CST. We did have 10 minutes of interview which I will transcribe early next week...and then we chatted for 5 minutes and the tour photographer took pictures of myself, Paul and my guest Shawn Colvin all on one couch, and then a couple of me standing with Paul. Dunno when I'll get 'em but I bet I will. Thrill of a lifetime.

Saw the shows in L.A., Anaheim and Dallas ... Dallas was best (Paul was so happy he was walking on a cloud; didn't see Heather or George Martin as they were unbeknownst to me in the next room!). L.A. was also great. Anaheim was wonderful but my guess is the 2nd night of 2 night stands Paul is more tired...

A couple of questions elicited answers I hadn't heard (what would he have played from RDR &/or FP, how will he spend his 60th?, does he believe in an afterlife) in the reams of tours press so far. And Paul is very happy that DR has gone gold...

Jody

(Thanks for links to Alan Dean.)

Update (5/11/02) New review page added for Dallas.

From Charles Heard and Sherry Childress, a special note about Thursday's Dallas show:

Paul announced that George Martin was in the audience tonight! George Martin flew in just for the show! We'll be attending Friday's show as well and will report to you if George Martin is present for that one. Charles Heard & Sherry Childress

From Mark Potts, a note about the story we linked to about the reporter whose last assignment was attending a McCartney concert:

Steve:

Small point of order: Dale Solly, the TV news anchor who attended a McCartney concert just before his death, was Washington-based, not Cleveland-based (altho he was buried in Cleveland, which I guess was his home town). WJLA, the source of your story, is the TV station in DC that he worked for, and as such, my very strong guess is that the last McCartney concert he attended was in Washington, not Cleveland. In fact, I think the Cleveland concert may have taken place after he died! m

(Thanks for links to Brian Peterson, Timothy J. Holian.)

Despite the security checks, live audio and video recordings of the tour are in circulation. (Please don't ask us. We can't help you.)

I'm sure you're now aware of the fact that The Stones will be on tour soon. AND check out the ticket prices-in Toronto for the ACC (where Paul played) they range from $90-$300!!! See, we got off cheap! I suppose the media will have a new whipping boy(s). DY Hamilton, ON

(Thanks for links to YoungGerl, Henry Myers, Karen Dyson and Claudio Dirani.)

More celebs at the L.A. show: Tom Cruise with Penelope Cruz, both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss and Cameron Crowe. Also, Gwen Craig tells us that the concert montage shown on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Friday was from Detroit, identified by Paul's outfit and a small yellow sign down front, reading "Solo Macca Rocks!"

And Patti Murawski sends a reminder about the webchat: If you are a Mac OS user, Unix, or Windows NT or an older version of Windows, you'll be shut out of Paul's webchat on Thursday. These operating systems are (STILL) not compatible with MSN's chats.
(Thanks to Chris Carter of "Breakfast With the Beatles" and Patti Murawski of the Harrison Alliance.)

Celebrities who attended the L.A. show were Jack Nicholson, Ted Danson, Micky Dolenz, David Spade, Sylvester and Frank Stallone, Brian Wilson (who is releasing a live CD of his "Pet Sounds" tour from an England show), former Wings drummer Denny Seiwell and John Cusack, plus "Free As a Bird"/"Real Love" producer Jeff Lynne and Beatle recording engineer Geoff Emerick. Nicholson reportedly paid an usher a wad of bills to escort him to his seat. We're told Dolenz was reportedly quite friendly, and chatted with fans. Laurence Juber attended the Anaheim show. (Thanks to Lisa in Santa Monica, Alan Dean and Matt Hurwitz.)

While in Los Angeles, Paul did a phone interview with Chris Carter, host of "Breakfast With the Beatles" on KLSX. In Chris' words:

"Paul McCartney not only phoned into this Sunday's Breakfast w/ the Beatles, BUT was a quiz winner to boot! That's right Apple Scruffs...Paul knew the answer to yesterday's quiz question> (What Beach Boys song did Paul McCartney appear on eating a carrot?....answer > VEGETABLES )..and followed with a GRRREAT interview about everything from Driving Rain, The Tonight Show, to his favorite Beatle and Wings albums...and even how good looking fiancŽ Heather thinks his feet are! And ended by making a song request for his own "Here Today" written for John Lennon...WOW!!!!... FYI> Paul's show at The Staple Center was just about The BEST ROCK SHOW I've ever witnessed......RAM ON"

And a reminder: Paul's MSN chat is Thursday through this link.

(Thanks to Bill Crane.)

GreymatterTV1999 wrote us, "Last night on LA's UPN 13 at the end of the news, they played Paul playing Getting Better live from Staples Center. They played that whole performance at the end of the newscast. It was great. I wish I was there!"

And if you missed it, Carl Savich reviews Paul's appearance Friday night on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno":

5/4/02 Paul and Heather were the only guests on a special Friday night edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 3. Paul did not perform any live songs on the show with the exception of "Let it Be", which he was shown performing after a commercial break. Paul sang the final chorus in a duet with a member of The Tonight Show band. The reason given for not performing any songs was that he was resting his voice for the concert tour. This was a big disappointment.

Instead, there was a lengthy interview with Paul and Heather with the previewing of a music video for a song from the DRIVING RAIN album. Jay also held up a copy of the new album cover for DRIVING RAIN which shows Paul jumping in the car with his Hofner bass. Recall how in a review of the album last year I said that the album cover SUCKS bigtime and needs to be replaced. The original photo was grainy, b & w, and out of focus and showed Paul raising his hand. What were they thinking? Duh? The new cover is much better.

Also, "Freedom" probably should have stayed a bonus CD single track and not been dumped on the album at the last minute. It is amateurish and it shows...it really SHOWS.

Paul hit it off with the audience and with Jay. Paul talked about "The Beatles sandwich", a time when a window was blown out of their touring van in cold weather when they had to sleep on top of each other to keep warm. He also talked about the early days of Wings, when he would drop in on college campuses in Britain to play concerts. He explained that they only had 11 songs and had to stretch them. Heather talked about the first meeting with Paul and about their campaigns against landmines. Heather wore a T-shirt that advocated the abolition of landmines. Paul received a huge ovation during his announcement and appearance. Leno quipped that it was"Lenomania" but then admitted it was not really for him. Paul looked and sounded great. Macca is definitely having a renaissaince and renascence musically and personally. It is great to see.

Paul sounded great in the snippet of "Let it Be" that he performed with The Tonight Show band. The Band also performed "Live and Let Die" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" during the commercial breaks.

The only disappointment was that Paul did not perform live or read from his poetry book. The music video was amazing though.

Another review of the show from James Poe:

Haven't seen any reviews for Macca on Leno. Since it's the closest I'll get to a concert, let me put in my humble opinion. He was great. You never know in a situation like that what might happen. When he walked out from behind the curtain, I couldn't believe I was seeing him walkn out like every other guest. Except this is Paul F.... McCartney. He was loose, spontaneous, sharp, funny and fit. The audience went nuts , duh.

Didn't sing but they showed some video, one an over edited concert vid the other a video of Your Loving Flame, which was very trippy. Heather came out and used the moment to promote the campagn to get rid of land minds. There was also some banter back and forth between the two of them that was quite charming. The man has an energy that is very infectious. It's always positive.

From Maria Ofelia-Croes:

Here is an up-date of Billboard.com Boxscore Concert Grosses Top Concert Reported The Week Ending 5-11-2002:

Paul McCartney-Continental Airlines Arena-East Rutherford NJ- April 17 - $ 1.961,431

Paul McCartney-Fleet Center-Boston Mass- April 19 - $ 1.952.755

Paul says the song that gets the biggest reaction is "Here Today" and his tribute to John Lennon. ãThe one that has emerged as the one theyâre reacting to most is a little-known song that I wrote after John died, called 'Here Today.' Itâs in my poetry book, "Blackbird Singing," and I had been reading it as a lyric at poetry readings, and so it worked as just the words, and then I decided to reinstate the song and try it in this acoustic set. Itâs kind of cool. They hear it for the first time, a lot of them. Iâm rediscovering it. I havenât sung it live, ever, until this tour. Itâs quite poignant. I tell Îem itâs for John, and it gets us. It gets emotional, but in a good way. Itâs just a reaffirmation of how much we loved him, and still do,ä reports Launch.

(Thanks for links to Karen Dyson, E. Hartvigsen, Alan Dean and Claudio Dirani.)

Update (5/4/02) New reviews added for New York and Washington D.C. (We received a lot of reviews while we were on vacation. We'll add these in days to come.)

The major news, and it's really no surprise since he seems to do it every time he goes out for live performances, is that Paul is filming the tour for eventual video release. In a press conference before the Madison Square Garden show, he told reporters, ""We're just starting to think of what we might do, but a few people have requested that we kind of get it down, the show, and the tour is going so well that we're starting to think that it's nice to capture it," reports Launch.

From Claudio Dirani:

Steve: Here are some songs I got to know that Paul has played at the sound checks (besides the ones he rehearses and is playing live):

1) "A Song To Us - or the Cabaret Song" (funny song Macca played at Parkinson show in 1999)
2) Take This Hammer
3) Yellow Submarine
4) Calico Skies
5) Midnight Special
6)Matchbox

Billboard.com Boxscore Concert Grosses Top Concert Grosses Reported The Week Ending 05-04-2002 1) Paul McCartney -- MGM Grand Garden-Las Vegas- 5-6 april Gross Sales $ 5,591,700

2) Paul McCartney -- United Center - Chicago 10-11 April Gross Sales $ 4,066,030

3) Paul McCartney -- First Union Center -Philadephia 16 April Gross Sales $ 1,600,995

And some other Paul McCartney concerts:

Paul McCartney -- Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA. - 1 April $ 1,725,754

Paul McCartney -- Compaq Center, San Jose, CA. - 3 April $ 1,672,915

Update (4/28/02) More reviews added for New York.

A correction from yesterday: Paul's next appearance on "Access: Hollywood" is Monday, not Thursday.

Thanks today for links and info to Claudio Dirani, Keith Badman, lori, Patti Murawski and Alan Dean.

And just a word: We couldn't keep up the coverage of this tour without the great help of you, you, you and you. Thanks again to everyone, whether you send reviews or just stop in and read us every day.)

In Paul news, Paul had a press conference prior to the Madison Square Garden show, Matt Hurwitz tells us. (Reuters has a report on it.) Some quotes from the Reuters report:

"I'm at a better point in my life than I've been in a while. I have a new band, which I really like playing with. I realized how much I like playing music. I'm due to be married to a very lovely girl. So the combination of all those things has made me very happy. With Linda's passing, we had some terrible times. So to come out of that long dark tunnel, it makes you much happier than when you were in it."

"I consider myself to be very lucky to be out here playing for the folks, particularly at this time of American history. It's a very interesting time to be out doing an upbeat healing sort of show."

Paul is to appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" May 3. Steve Schindler says he's to be the only guest.
The San Francisco Chronicle also reported that Paul's been asked by Fidel Castro to play Cuba.

Also, from Carol Tasset:

"Access Hollywood" announced that Paul would sing two songs next Friday on Leno; Paul will discuss "Lord of the Rings" on "Access Hollywood" this Monday. Carol Tasset

Also from nunki:

Access Hollywood ran a piece on Paul's tour Thursday night. It included a brief interview with Paul. The most interesting bit of information is that Paul will play two songs on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on Friday, May 3 (the night before the Los Angeles show). My guess is "Lonely Road" and a Beatles song.

And Lori says "Access Hollywood" is also supposed to be airing a follow-up to their Thursday show this coming week.

(Thanks to today's links to Wendy Starr, Claudio Dirani, Adrian Holovaty, Carol Tasset, Steve Schindler, nunki, Joe Caldwell and all who sent in reviews.)

(Thanks to Maria Morriss, Adrian Holovaty, Real Love64 and everyone who sent reviews.)

One of the Philly newspapers mentioned that Paul and Heather had spent 2-3 hours at a day spa in the Philly area the afternoon of the show, where both had haircuts, micropore facials, manicures and pedicures, Thai massage, and yogic deep breathing sessions. Apparently the owner of the spa is someone they know that worked on the Concert for New York and who is a regular on the charity benefit circuit in New York.

Also, a note from Ron Cranston. We'd usually put this in newslinks, but it's more appropriate here:

Just wanted to let you know that Paul McCartney will be on Access Hollywood, Thursday, April 24th. It comes on at 7:30 PM in Washington, DC, on channel 4, NBC.
Thanks,
Ron Cranston

And here's more Q. and A. with David Kahne by Claudio Dirani (thanks, Claudio!): Q: How was working on tour with Paul McCartney after recording DR? Tell me about your feelings. A: It's great working with paul on anything. he's a consumate musician. Q: Which songs did you enjoy the most hearing live and which moment you treasured the mosts on the gigs you were present? A:The whole show is amazing. I loved hearing him do "Getting Better", as he's never performed it live. "The Long and Winding Road" is one of my favorites, and "Back in the USSR". But everything sounds wonderful. Best show i've ever seen. Q:Which were your exact roles during the live gigs? A: I helped out at rehearsals with sound and some arrangement details. on the road I just made sure it sounded good to me. And I didn't have to do much, because the band is great, the house mixer is great, and Paul is great. Q: Which songs Paul played in the sound check ? A: He plays songs from the show, different ones everyday. Sometimes he does folk songs like "Midnight Special". Q: Are you working with Paul again in the near future? A: I think so. as everyone knows, he's going to get married. I think he might want to record again sometime after that. Q: Comparing with the sound Paul's band were doing in the past, which difference you can quickly spot on his current combo? A: Tight as a swiss watch. Everyone sings, so the backgrounds are perfect. It's a small band with a huge sound, a rock band, not a show band. Q: What are you currently doing in the studio? A: Working with several artists. Leslie Mills, Lamya, Ill Kidd, - all new artists. That's what I do mostly. I have a record out with a band called Earshot that's starting to do well. Kind of like Tool.

(Thanks to Claudio Dirani, Patti Murawski and Kevin O'Hare for the links and thanks again to everyone who sent reviews.)

Update (4/21/02) New reviews added for the Philadelphia and Boston shows.
(Thanks to David Harper, Bob in Boston, NC in Rhode Island and Stephen Moss for some of the links.)

Update (4/20/02) New reviews added for the Rutherford and Oakland shows.

Update (4/19/02) Today, we've added reviews for Paul's Rutherford, N.J. show.

In Thursday's New York Daily News, Yoko replied through a spokesman to Paul's recent comments that she wouldn't be invited to his New York show. "Bless him. He is still family. I wish him great success on his concert," the paper quoted her.
(Thanks to Claudio Dirani, Dorothy Lohmann, raph, Ingrid McNamara and Anders Alfelt for the links.)

Update (4/18/02) Added a review from the Philadelphia show. (Thanks to Claudio Dirani for the link below.)

Update (4/17/02) There are new reviews for Toronto and Chicago. (And there are others on our message board.) And here's a note from Beetulz:

During last night's televised Mets - Braves game on Fox Sports New York, the Mets were conducting a charity auction for Cheering For Children. In addition to the baseball items being auctioned there was a luxury suite for 12 people to McCartney's April 27th show at Madison Square Garden. During the game they also added a visit to the suite, during the concert, from Keith Hernandez. All the auctions closed at the end of the telecast and I believe the McCartney item went for $18,000.00

(Thanks to Adrian Hadvatoy, Eloise Costello and Eric Hartvigsen for the links.)

Update (4/16/02) Debbie Glienke tells us Paul just added "Mull" as an extra song in Toronto. There was no song deleted from the set list. She said the video screens displayed pastel Tartan patterns during the song. Paul did a press conference before the Toronto show. And she said the "roadie" that Paul flung the Hofner at was (Paul's assitant) John Hammel (of course). She said he's done that to John before so John knows how to catch it.

Also, we apologize for the bad link to the Toronto reviews (we had it linked to the Chicago reviews). That has now been fixed. And we added one new review from the San Jose show by Bryan Barrow and a review of the second Chicago show by Patrick McDonald. (See the YOUR REVIEWS links for each show.)

Finally, our friend Claudio Dirani is writing about the tour daily in Portugese at http://www.blackbird.com.br/dirani.php. You can translate the text through babelfish.

Update (4/15/02) We've added more reviews from Chicago and new ones from Toronto. As reported earlier, Paul performed "Mull of Kintyre" in the encore at Toronto. (Thanks to Philip Tinianov for the links. Also, thanks to all the contributors of the tour reviews we've received.)

Update (4/14/02) From Michael Valihora:

Steve,

Read in this morning's Toronto Globe and Mail (a Canadian paper) that Paul will be doing "Mull of Kintyre" tonight at his show in Toronto. He apparently did it here on the '93 tour and was accompanied by the Peel Regional Police band. The story indicated that they were contacted a few days ago and asked to reprise their performance. So it looks like tonight might be the first deviation from the set list. I'll send in my review tomorrow.

 

Cheers

The Globe article says 14 pipers and eight drummers from the 27-member Peel Regional Police Pipe Band will back Paul onstage at the Air Canada Centre when he performs "Mull of Kintyre." Pipe major John Elliott told the paper he received a call last Thursday from "McCartney's people," who said Mr. McCartney specifically requested their band. "We're all set. We've basically been practising off of the recording," since Sunday, said Elliott.

(Thanks to Michael for alerting us. We're were hoping he'd do it when we saw him, but at least someone will get to hear it on this tour.)

Update (4/13/02) We've added some reviews for Oakland and San Jose. Thanks to everyone and we'll be looking forward to hearing about the Toronto show.

Update (4/12/02) First, we've added links in the table above to fan reviews, plus our own review of the San Jose show. We're trying to keep as much detail of the show off this page as we can to keep from ruining it for those who haven't seen it yet. We're missing reviews for Oakland, so if you went to that show, please send in your review.

George's sister, Louise Harrison, saw Paul's show in Chicago. A brief report from Tom Ryan:

George's sister, Louise Harrison, attended Paul's concert last night in Chicago. She was sitting with WXRT radio personality Terri Hemmert (also MC of the annual Chicago Beatlefest). Paul mentioned Louise in his introductions to his tribute to George.

 

The concert was excellent, and the set list was identical to what has previously been posted.

 

Keep up the great job you are doing on this site. I enjoy reading it every day.

 

Tom Ryan

Next, an April 10 review from Paul Schneider.

(Thanks to Adrian Holovaty, Debbie Glienke, Philip Tinianov and Claudio Dirani for some of the links.)

Update (4/11/01) First, a Chicago report from Debbie Glienke:

Hi guys...no time for super-minute details tonight nor for the next few days, as I've got 3 shows coming up in fast succession!!!! ;) so more later but just FYI that I saw Paul and Heather arrive for the Center for International Rehabilitation awards dinner on Monday night. William Kennedy Smith is the founder. They have a website whose URL of course I don't have handy at the moment. Duh. Sorry about that.

In any case, the hotel where the dinner was being held is just a couple of blocks from my office, so I wandered over in the rain to check out the scene. Ted Turner was another honoree and he arrived along with William Kennedy Smith at around 6 pm. Paul and Heather did not arrive until about 6:30 pm. They got stopped at the door by the news media for some short interviews..mostly Chicago TV stations but also ET, that footage ran tonight.

Paul looked great, light jacket, shirt, tie (!) and looked a lot better than the last time I saw him (2 years ago?).While Heather was being interviewed he looked around the lobby, gave out a few winks and nods, and also answered some questions from the various tv crews. Then he and Heather were led up some small stairs into the cocktail reception for the dinner. He didnt stay in the lobby very long, but it was long enough for me to get a nice look. ;)

More after the Chicago, Chicago and Toronto gigs!

Debbie

In an interview with Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune (registration required), Paul McCartney said the expensive ticket prices were basically set by others, not by him. "I understand that's what you charge for these shows. I always say to my promoter: What does Madonna charge? Ding! What does Elton [John] charge? Ding! What does U2 charge? Ding! And they always give me the ballpark figure. And that's what I charge. I try to get it on the cheap side. This ain't Streisand. We're not trying to take advantage. I hate to tell you, but I thought tickets were still at about $40. But I'm from the prehistoric ages. I just let the promoters do that."

He told Kot he was disappointed that the "Driving Rain" album didn't get more radio play. "It was a bit of a mystery to me. I thought it was a good record. I still think so. Programming has gotten pretty strict. Not many people are allowed to play stuff that doesn't hit an exact groove. People are making mechanical records to fit exact slots. A lot of boy band stuff isn't made by boys, it's made by commercial men who know exactly what slot it has to fit in. ... I'm not just easy listening, or country or rock. I think I have my own category, and that becomes difficult when radio is so formatted. I certainly wouldn't want to do formula records. I certainly wouldn't want to be in a boy band. Well, actually, I am in a boy band." Kot: "Yeah. Except you play your instruments and don't lip-sync." Paul: "[Laughs] Yes, you almost have to apologize these days for singing live and playing your own instruments."

He also said he had no plans to invite Yoko Ono to his New York concert. "We're not massive friends. We're not friends, man. Everyone has a family, and sometimes your Uncle Eddie is not your greatest friend. It's like that with us. Things have gone down in the past for that to happen. I don't hold a grudge. I must say, I don't intend to invite her. I don't mean it as a snub. You invite who you wanna have there. That's what you do in life, man."

From Sylvia Giustina:

Steve,

The April 6th issue of Billboard carried an interview with Mark Prows, the VP of the MGM Grand Garden Arena. When asked "What determines prices?", he replied: "....It's what the act will command in the marketplace, and it's benchmarked on the history of pricing before, many times on the same act. If we've had the Rolling Stones in the marketplace three times and we know that's an A-list artist and they got X-Y-Z in the marketplace, when Madonna rolls around, you benchmark it off the Rolling Stones. It doesn't matter what they're doing on the other parts of the tour.

"Paul McCartney tickets are $350, $250 and $125. Two nights--never see him again in Las Vegas. Against some of our other shows, like "O", now at $110-$125, you start to say, 'This isn't really all that bad.' You justify it in a different way."

Sylvia M. Giustina
Portland

Thanks, Sylvia. He's right, of course, but we feel sorry for people who want to see him and can't. (Thanks to Claudio Dirani, Eric Harvigsen, Adrian Holovaty and Edward Fields for the links.)

Update (4/9/02) Some news: Plastic Mac tells us Paul will tour Europe in October. And Macca's staff says Paul created the pre-show choreography and opening.

More news: More tickets were released Monday for the Madison Square Garden shows. (Thanks to Bob Dunn.)

Next, a report from Eric Hartvigsen:

I was lucky enough to attend both Bay Area shows last week (driving all the way from Boise!), and thought I'd send you a link or two that I hadn't seen on your page yet. I also thought I'd mention that as I was leaving the Bay Area, I was listening to KFOG radio and they told a good story about the Oakland show that I haven't heard/seen anywhere else. Apparently, four fans were sitting in their seats--which were virtually among the worst in the venue--prior to the show last Monday. Up walked a man who began chatting with them, asking them if they were "big fans" of Paul's. Of course they replied "yes." The guy told them that Paul really liked to see his fans up close in concert and asked if they'd like "upgraded" seats. So they saw the concert from ... the front row. Ahh, if only I were so lucky...

Anyway, here's a link or two for you to explore:
SF Examiner review: http://www.examiner.com/ex_files/default.jsp?story=X0403PAULw
and a nice "opinion" letter on the concert
http://www.examiner.com/opinion/default.jsp?story=op.letters.0405w
SF Chronicle review: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/03/DD218463.DTL
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat review: http://64.42.5.135/local/news/03mccartney_b3.html

 

I don't know if you want to mention it or not, but I've observed that there are a lot of listings on ebay for "tour shirts" that are NOT official merchandise. It seems that someone printed up a bunch of their own tour shirts and is selling them (rather deceptively) to those who'd like a souvenir. Granted, at both the Oakland & San Jose shows, there were guys outside selling their "homemade" tour shirts, but to me there's a big difference between selling a shirt for $10 outside the stadium and selling them for big bucks on auction sites to folks who don't know they're buying illegitimate items. It would be nice to get "the word" out on this so some fans don't get (unknowingly) ripped off...

 

Looking forward, as always, to your upcoming tour coverage!

 

Thanks, Eric. While you bring up the subject, we were quite surprised to see the $10 bootleg shirts being sold so openly outside the arena at the San Jose show. Although the $30-$85 and more shirts inside didn't please us, these ripoffs outside were more disturbing. We hope someone from the tour will put a stop to these ripoffs.

Next, here's a linked report (because it has spoilers) by Peter Kierst on one of the Vegas shows.

Update (4/8/02) Ringo did not show up at either Vegas show, according to reports we've heard. The video system reportedly conked out during most of the second Vegas show. Alice Cooper (in the front row), Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, Tony Curtis, Roger Daltrey, Tony Orlando, CNN's Larry King and Heather Mills were among those in attendance. And during the first show, he reportedly made a reference to Mike Tyson. (Thanks to Genwalk83, Dennis, Stacy and Jenny for the info and Alan Dean and Tony Hicks for some of the links.)

Jeff Smuylan pointed us to a New York Post story by writer Neil Travis, who suspects that the tributes to John and George in his show are in hopes of getting Yoko and George's family to his upcoming wedding to Heather Mills. As we pointed out in our review of the San Jose show, one thing you'll notice is there are no solo pics of John during Paul's tribute to him, but plenty of George during Paul's George tribute. Hopefully, it all means nothing.

And please send your show reviews, not only for the most recent, but older ones, too.

And catching up on some old mail, here's something from Karen Pederson on the Oakland rehearsal:

My friend was at the rehearsal the day before the Oakland show. He went to high school with Rusty. He's in the musical instrument biz. Rusty got him in backstage as part of the piano tuning crew. The rehearsal was a full run through complete with explosion ala James Bond and finale confetti. He said there was about 30 people in the Arena. He also said that the guy who did the video screen got paid millions.My friend said Paul was very warm and friendly during the rehearsal and seemed to be having fun.On opening night he didn't go back stage because as soon as the show ended the band was out of there. That's all the gossip I have right now. If I hear anything else I'll pass it on.

From Bill King:

Steve,

The "flub" in "You Never Give Me Your Money" is rehearsed. Paul even did it in the dress rehearsal the Sunday before the tour opener in Oakland, and in Oakland he joked about people spotting the "deliberate" mistake.
Cheers, Bill

Earlier in the week, we also heard a local radio sports talk show host (Gary Radnich, for those of you in the Bay Area) say that during his interview with Eric Chavez of the Oakland A's baseball team that Chavez said he didn't know who Paul McCartney was. They don't call the American League the "Junior Circuit" for nothing, I guess. :)

And someone posted on our message board an unconfirmed report that Paul rehearsed "Yellow Submarine" and "Take This Hammer" in Las Vegas.

Update (4/6/02) The big news is the report that Ringo will reportedly join Paul onstage in Las Vegas this weekend. The story was first reported by ABCNews.com. We've heard that this may be more than a rumor, though we have to admit it's over the top. Funny thing ... we were thinking this just the other night while seeing Paul in San Jose. (Thanks to Gary Leftwich, Alan Luber, Jennifer Campbell and Karen Pederson for the info.)

Also, Fort Lauderdale has been added to the tour on May 18th. Tickets are now on sale. (Thanks to Karen Bridgeman.)

By the way, referring to the San Jose show, here's our extensive review, which we posted the next morning (hence, the groggy reference) on our message board. (Note: the review has spoilers.)

Also, we hear Graham Nash attended the San Jose show, as did Greg ("Our Love's In Jeopardy") Kihn. (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were playing the same venue later in the week.) Heather Mills was also there, in a bright yellow outfit. She and a female friend waved at Paul often, and he smiled at her, too.

Update (4/4/02) We’ve just returned from the San Jose show. All we can say is ….wow! The San Jose set list was the same as the one in Oakland. Paul looked absolutely tremendous and got an incredible ovation from the audience all night long. He waved at all sides of the arena several times. We’ll do a longer review tomorrow night. Hope we can get some sleep…J

Update (4/3/02) We’ve talked to several people who attended the Oakland show and they raved about it. Even one newspaper music critic we know was quite impressed! One of our friends found themselves sitting right across the aisle from Heather Mills. She was escorted to her seat just before the show started and our friend told us Paul and Heather were making eyes at each other during the show.  The Oakland set list is here. If you want to be surprised, don’t click on it.

Also, a local radio station (KFOG-FM, for those in the Bay Area) put out info out that Paul had played a free show the weekend before the Oakland concert on Monday. Just an April Fool’s joke, nothing more than that.

From Karen Dyson:

ETS is now offering Platinum Party Tickets for $350............for Las
Vegas....if you recall, they were priced at over $1000.

And there’s a screensaver for “Driving Rain” now up on Paul’s website.

(Thanks to Chris Radcliff, Adrian Holovaty, Bob Dunn, Karen Dyson, David Harper and Mary Ellen Barbarito.)

(Note: The newspaper links below may contain spoilers.)

->->->$125 ; 100 LEVEL $250, $125, and $85; 200 LEVEL $125 and $85; 300 LEVEL $85 and $50. How depressing! In 1989 I lucked into fourteenth row center at the Rosemont Horizon, and I doubt I paid more than $30. The times, they are-a getting greedier...

Indeed they are. Again, you can thank people like CSNY and the Eagles for a lot of this, though there's no doubt tickets would have been high anyway given the fact Paul hasn't toured in almost a decade.

And we're just posting this note from paulmccartney.com, though all of this is old news:

THE WAIT IS OVER - THE TRIP IS ON

The wait is over, The tour is on and tickets are now on sale.

DRIVING USA - Paul's first tour in almost 10 years - starts up in Oakland California, on April 1st and motors on until the final stop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida , on May 18th. Tickets for the gigs in Chicago, Toronto, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington go on sale on Saturday March 9th

The tour will also drive into San Jose, Rutherford, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta and Tampa Tickets for the two much-mentioned Las Vegas shows went on sale on March 4th and the inside word there is that there's not a lot left; so don't gamble on waiting to buy there.

If you want information on any of the 20 shows on the tour - or details of how to buy tickets - visit our new DRIVING USA microsite, open from today at : www.paulmccartney.com. We will be adding all the news bits to the site over the coming weeks as the countdown ticks to the opening night of the tour that's becoming a trip.

Thanks,
www.paulmccartney.com

TOUR DATES: April 1st Oakland The Oakland Arena April 3rd San Jose The San Jose Arena April 5th, 6th Las Vegas MGM Grand April 10th Chicago The United Center April 13th Toronto Air Canada Center April 16th Philadelphia First Union Center April 17th Rutherford Continental Arena April 19th Boston Fleet Center April 23rd Washington MCI Center April 26th New York Madison Square Garden April 29th Cleveland Gund Arena May 1st Detroit Palace at Auburn Hills May 4th Los Angeles The Staples Center May 5th Anaheim The Pond May 7th Denver Pepsi Arena May 9th Dallas Reunion Arena May 12th Atlanta Phillips Arena May 15th Tampa Ice Palace May 18th Ft. Lauderdale National Center

Update (3/8/02) There's been no official word, but we've received emails indicating Paul is to play the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. April 21. Maria Moriss told us it was announced on the radio in her area and said the show, as well as two others in the area, go on sale 3/11. The show may have also been listed on Ticketmaster's web site earlier Thursday, but we didn't see it early this evening. We're listing this as unconfirmed in our master schedule above. We're checking with sources to see if we can learn more definite info. (Thanks also to Hey Jude for his note.)

And this should be no surprise: Tickets from the Vegas show are already on ebay. (...as if they weren't expensive enough.) Also, we saw one listing for $10 that offered secrets on how to get better seats. (A bit of free advice from us: Save your $10 toward the tickets you want to buy, and don't spend it on stuff like this.)

Update (3/7/02) The San Jose tickets went on sale online Wednesday at ticketmaster.com, according to a couple of emails we received. Some kind of authorization code is needed. (The password for Vegas was "mcartney.") Oakland tickets are available through www.tickets.com. Karen Dyson says American Express gold credit card holders may have an advantage in getting good seats. (Thanks to Eric Hartvigsen, Karen Dyson and Karen Pederson.)

Update (3/5/02) We talked to the tour publicity office today and asked if more dates would be added to the schedule. We were told, "That's all the information we have right now," not an outright "no." To those of you whose cities weren't mentioned in the initial announcement, we suggest you keep your fingers crossed.

Also, through the banner above, you can get information on tour packages to selected McCartney concerts. The program is set up by ETS/Escape Routes, the official tour and travel operator for the tour appointed by Clear Channel. Use of the link (and purchase of the package) supports the work of this site. Thanks very much in advance for your support. It's much appreciated in our efforts to give you the most up-to-date Beatle news on the Internet.

Also, we've seen wording on other websites that implies these tour packages are being "exclusively" offered through "chosen" websites, implying some sort of official sanction by Paul McCartney. That's absolutely not true. Many websites were offered the chance to offer links to these packages. We aren't an official representative and neither are they. Don't be misled.

Update (3/4/02) From Plastic Mac:

David Kahne will be in charge of all Paul McCartney's rehearsals and gigs production. He also will be attending most of the shows of the North American leg.

From Jack Suslak in Boston:

Hi Steve, I really like your site and it seems to be very up to date, so I figured I might pass on some info on the Boston Shows straight from Fleetcenter.com.

Dear JACK, Things are heating up at the FleetCenter with the addition of Paul McCartney's "Drivin' USA" Tour which has been booked for April 19, 2002 at 7:30pm "Drivin' USA" will be Paul McCartney's first concert tour of America since his New World Tour of 1993 and promises to be unlike anything he has staged before. Tickets are $250, $125, $85 and $45, and go on sale March 9 at 11:00am

So thanks for the site and have a nice day

And from Matthew Elblonk:

Newsflash!!! Ok, fellow Macca junkies, I need to vent and have a feeling some of you will agree. How many times have we all heard the story that Paul had to scrape up enough dough to go see Bill Hailey and the Comets. Well, after checking around the net for floor seats at the new Macca tour, I have discovered that not only will I have to scrape up the cash, but use a gigantic shovel to do the scraping (it's that or sell body organs). The floor seats were listing for anywhere between $599.00- $800.00 to see him in Tampa. Good God! Granted these are ticket brokers, but that is simply ridiculous. These companies are guarenteeing floor seats when the tickets are not even on sale yet! This leads us to believe that the general public is getting screwed and that we have no shot at getting these seats. PAUL, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I AM A HUGE FAN...WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? No problem though, I'm young and I bet I could live with only one kidney. Thank you for listening......................

We can't say we're really surprised at the prices being charged. Since the Eagles and Crosby, Stills and Nash led the way for the concert ticket price raise, it seemed inevitable that a tour by McCartney wouldn't come cheap. The answer, obviously, is not to go through the brokers. Unfortunately, it would seem there's always someone who'll pay what the market will bear.

Update (3/2/02) From Karen Hennigan:

Hi Steve,

I just noticed that the Ticketmaster site says that there is an online "presale" starting March 2, for the Las Vegas Macca tix, for which you need a password. According to Jorie Gracen's site, the password is "mccartney." I can't verify this, but just thought I'd pass it along.

From Ray Kelly:

FYI From the Ticketmaster web site: MGM Grand Hotel
  Las Vegas, NV Friday, April 05, 2002 8:00PM $125.00 - $350.00
  Charge by Phone: 702-474-4000 

And from Sylvia M. Giustina:

Steve,
Another item for the sundry correspondence file:

Hey! I live in the Pacific Northwest. Don't talk to me about getting left out. Not even a Seattle gig on this schedule. On top of these high ticket prices, I will have to shell out for airfare.

Thanks for keeping us up to date, Steve.

Sylvia M. Giustina
Portland, Oregon

And from Joshua Noyes:

Steve,

Hello my name is Joshua Noyes and I am an avid reader of your Beatles webpage. I just wanted to send this email to correct one thing about the tour dates. I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and see a lot of concerts in Denver. All of the websites list Paul as playing in Denver on May 7, 2002 at The Pepsi Arena. Well in reality it is actually The Pepsi Center. I just wanted to let you know, so if people were confused when looking for this place on the Net, so that they could find it. The webpage for the Pepsi Center Is: www.pepsicenter.com. Now believe it or not, there is a Pepsi Arena, I think it is in New York or something though.

Thank You,
Joshua Noyes

Ananova: Paul McCartney replaces Mike Tyson in Las Vegas

Update (3/1/02) First, the tour press release was updated later in the day. Here's the new last paragraph of the release:

Joining Paul on stage will be guitarist Rusty Anderson and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. - who were featured on the recording of McCartney's recent album Driving Rain. Wix Wickens, from McCartney's band of his 1990 and 1993 tours, will play keyboards newcomer Brian Ray will play guitar and bass when necessary. While details surrounding the song selection are still under wraps, McCartney is expected to perform songs from his recently released album entitled, "Driving Rain," as well as music from The Beatles, Wings and his solo career.

Next, from Tim Holion:

Hi Steve:

File this one in the sundry correspondence department:

Regarding the proposed McCartney tour (as much as has been announced so far, anyway), has anyone else noticed that the vast majority of shows are scheduled for the extreme north/south/east/west of the nation, with a huge gap in the middle of the country?

"Driving USA" tour? only if you refuse to believe that the quickest distance between two points is a straight line. Looks like I'll call this one the "Donut Tour" instead ...

As always, thanks for the excellent work you do in maintaining your site and sharing it with the rest of us.

Regards,

Tim Holian,
St. Joseph, MO

Tim: We don't know for sure, but we suspect more dates will be added.

Next, from Reayx5 on the Las Vegas stop:

I e-mailed the MGM Grand earlier today, asking about any room and concert deals they might have for Paul's concerts - here's the e-mail reply I just received:

Paul McCartney , April 5 & April 6, 2002, 8:00PM
  350.00 / 250.00 / 125.00 Tickets on sale Monday March 4, 2002
  at 10AM Pacific. IN PERSON: MGM Grand Garden Ticket Office or
  Las Vegas Ticketmaster outlets. BY PHONE: Ticketmaster 702-474-4000
  (Tickets only) MGM Grand 1-877-880-9374 (Room and Ticket Packages)
  VIA INTERNET:  www.ticketmaster.com
  or  www.mgmgrand.com There will be a
  wristband distribution at the MGM Grand beginning 10PM Sunday,
  March 3, 2002 through 9:00AM Monday, March 4, 2002. Line up begins
  at 9:30AM. A RANDOM number will be drawn at the Grand Garden
  Ticket Office and the line up will begin in chronological order
  beginning with the random number selected. A WRISTBAND DOES NOT
  GUARANTEE THE PURCHASE OF A TICKET. 

Update (2/28/02) The tour schedule is in. Here's the press release:

The Wait is Over; McCartney's 'DRIVING USA' Tour Dates
  Set Paul Adds More Stops to Make Tour a Trip; Kick-off Set for
  April 1st At the Oakland Arena Paul McCartney today announced
  dates for DRIVING USA, a two-month concert tour of America and
  his first in almost 10 years. Due to an overwhelming response
  from fans, promoters and venue representatives, McCartney is
  extending Driving USA, which was originally slated for 12 performances
  before a series of European dates in May, to 20 performances
  in 19 North American cities. Further international dates are
  currently being considered. DRIVING USA will open on April 1st
  at the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California, and will run through
  to May 18th at the National Car Rental Center in Fort Lauderdale,
  Florida. DRIVING USA will also motor through New York, Los Angeles,
  Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit,
  Denver, Dallas and other stops. The tour will include a performance
  north of the border at the Air Canada Center in Toronto and a
  two-night stand at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Tickets for the
  DRIVING USA will go on-sale beginning on March 4th, with additional
  on-sale dates set for the weekend of March 9th (see list below).
  A spokesman for the tour's USA promoters said today, "There
  has been such overwhelming excitement from all over the States
  to see Paul play we felt it was fairer to the fans to ask him
  to extend the DRIVING USA schedule. Now much more of America
  will get the chance to see what is set to be one of the rock
  & roll events of all time." "I'm chuffed to be
  asked to stay longer on the road," said Paul. "Hopefully
  this will make the tour more of a trip." Joining Paul on
  stage will be guitarist Rusty Anderson and drummer Abe Laboriel,
  Jr. - who were featured on the recording of McCartney's recent
  album Driving Rain. Wix newcomer Brian Ray will play guitar and
  bass when necessary. While details surrounding the song selection
  are still under wraps, McCartney is expected to perform songs
  from his recently released album entitled, "Driving Rain,"
  as well as music from The Beatles, Wings and his solo career.
  -0-_ _ PAUL McCARTNEY'S "DRIVING USA" TOUR_ _ April
  1 Oakland The Oakland Arena on sale 3/10_ April 3 San Jose The
  San Jose Arena on sale 3/10_ April 5,6 Las Vegas MGM Grand on
  sale 3/4_ April 10 Chicago The United Center on sale 3/9_ April
  13 Toronto Air Canada Center on sale 3/9_ April 16 Philadelphia
  First Union Center on sale 3/9_ April 17 Rutherford Continental
  Arena on sale 3/11_ April 19 Boston Fleet Center on sale 3/9_
  April 23 Washington MCI Center on sale 3/9_ April 26 New York
  Madison Square Garden on sale 3/11_ April 29 Cleveland Gund Arena
  on sale 3/16 May 1 Detroit Palace at Auburn Hills onSale 3/11
  May 4 Los Angeles The Staples Center onSale 3/24_ May 5 Anaheim
  The Pond onSale 3/23_ May 7 Denver Pepsi Arena onSale 3/23_ May
  9 Dallas Reunion Arena onSale 3/16_ May 12 Atlanta Phillips Arena
  onSale 3/23_ May 15 Tampa Ice Palace onSale 3/16_ May 18 Ft.
  Lauderdale National Center onSale 3/23_ _ 

Update (2/27/02) For those who are wondering (like we are) when the heck the tour schedule will be announced, we hear today may be the day.

And it could be an interesting evening in Oakland if that April 1 date is correct: It's also the opening night for the Oakland A's baseball team, who play next door in the outdoor stadium next to the indoor one where Paul will play. Update II (2/26/02) Billboard.com reports that the tour will begin April 1 at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA. , with other shows tentatively set for Dallas, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. The 27-show tour will include some stops with more than one show. A full schedule and tour dates will be announced soon, Billboard.com says. (Thanks to Bill King of Beatlefan.)

Update (2/21/02) Paul McCartney has denied reports in the (UK) Sun and on Ananova that he has cancelled his European tour in order to extend what he expected would be a much more lucrative U.S. tour. In its report Wednesday, the Sun had quoted what they said was a "senior EMI source" as saying, "The phrase money-grabber is being used. He would still have made a profit in Europe, though nowhere near what he will make in the US. We think money shouldnít be a concern ó not least because of his wealth, but also because his last album needs more support here because it hasnít done well. Fans are desperate to see him and they could end up turning away.î But on NME.com and Ananova, he said, "We are looking at European dates now. And it's not like this is my last tour." A McCartney spokesperson also said he had been a little premature in announcing plans for European shows before they were finalized, but insisted: "We are looking at a longer tour in America and dates in Europe. We're trying to put together two large tours." (Thanks to David Bryce, raph, Karen Dyson and Bill King.)

Update (2/19/02) A tour date announcement is expected very soon.

Update (2/17/02) Paul has been offered $4 million US or £2.79 million UK to play the MGM Grand in Las Vegas April 6, reports the Times of London, the BBC and Ananova. The hotel is hoping to get back some of the money they would have earned from the now-cancelled Mike Tyson bout. (You'll need to register to read it.) Also, The "Breakfast With the Beatles" show in Los Angeles Sunday reported two dates for the tour, but both were taken from the list called "completely bogus" by the Macca press office. (Thanks to Joseph Cepin, J Movick, gaylene, Ed, Rubbersole, Eric Sheffel, Karen Dyson.)

Update (2/16/02) We've heard that some tickets will go on sale next weekend. And if you're in the SF Bay Area, we've heard that there may be two shows there, one in San Jose, the other in Oakland.

Update (2/15/02) More reports of rumored dates are coming in. Jeff Pryer tells us columnist Sid Hartman in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (see "Jottings) wrote, "Dana Warg, who runs the Target Center, said the arena was a candidate for the heavyweight championship fight between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, but the guarantee of $8 million was something Warg couldn't gamble on. Incidentally, Warg is trying hard to get Paul McCartney to appear at the Target Center, but McCartney is playing a limited number of dates and so far this area is not on the list."

And as several have pointed out to us, we made a mistake in saying the "Blue's Clues" show was at MSG, when it is really at Radio City Music Hall. (Thanks to YoungGerl, Brian Cancemi, Karen Bridgeman, Dan Cormier.)

Update (2/13/02) Bill King of Beatlefan contacted the McCartney Press Office about the rumored tour dates we mentioned last night. Here's Bill's note:

Paul's press office says those dates posted on Jorie's site are "completely bogus."
Bill

Also interesting, Debbie Glienke tells us the April 26-27 dates we have listed above are now listed on the Madison Square Garden website ... as live "Blue's Clues" shows.

Update (2/12/02) Jorie Gracen, whose website features photos of Paul she has taken over the years, has a list of what are described as tentative tour dates. None have been confirmed. You can find them here. (Scroll to the middle of the page.) And start saving that money. The website has the rumored ticket prices as from $95 to $185. (Thanks to Karen Pederson and sgtpep87.)

Update (2/8/02) Karen Pederson tells us that the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is trying to get Paul to play April 6. (Thanks, Karen.) Also, from Greg Swan in Australia:

Hi Steve,

In yesterday's Sydney Telegraph newspaper, it was reported from Pauls NY office that Paul will be touring Australia later this year. They confirmed that he was supposed to start the tour here (as we had heard), but rehearsal delays pushed the whole thing back. They went on to say that Paul can't wait to get back to Australia and that although he wished to be here now, it was better late than never.

Greg Swan (Australia)

Update (2/7/02) From Matt Hurwitz:

Get used to seeing Wix back onstage with Paul again. (Wix played with Paul at the Super Bowl.) He'll likely be the keyboardist for the tour, as Gabe Dixon has a new album coming out around that time and may have some commitments with his own band then.

Also, the only rumored date we've heard about so far is April 26-27 at New York City's Madison Square Garden. (Thanks to sgtpep87.)

Update (2/6/02) The American tour will consist of 14 stops in the U.S. and one in Canada. A European tour will follow. If dates are announced in your area, let us know and we'll pass them on. (Thanks to Adam Powell.)
E! online: McCartney gets back to touring
Pollstar: McCartney goes drivin'
Live Daily: McCartney plotting North American and European tour outings

Update (2/5/02) From Richard Porter:

Hi Steve:

Did anyone spot the 'deliberate mistake' that was made in the McCartney Tour press release - It originally read:

Update (2/4/02) Here's the press release for Paul's tour, from the Paul McCartney website:

Monday February 4th

MAC GETS BACK ON THE ROAD
PAUL DRIVING TOUR ACROSS THE USA

PAUL McCARTNEY is getting back on the road for a rare run of concerts. Today he announced his first tour in almost ten years.

Paul's DRIVIN' USA tour will truck through principal cites coast-to-coast, revving up to start at the beginning of April.

DRIVIN' USA will be Paul McCartney's first concert tour of America since his New World Tour of 1993, and organisers say the concerts - launched to promote Paul McCartney's acclaimed latest album Driving Rain - will be unlike anything he has staged before.

Said Paul: "I'm very excited to be getting back on the road, playing with a new band and including in the show some songs that I haven't played live before."

The DRIVIN' USA tour will start in California at the beginning of April and will climax in New York at the end of the month. The tour will total 14 concerts in the USA, plus one show in Canada.

Ticket details, venues and dates will be announced shortly.

Immediately following DRIVIN' USA, Paul McCartney will motor on with a May tour of Europe, performing in at least five countries. The European dates will be announced in coming weeks.

DRIVIN' USA will take Paul McCartney's lifelong tally of live concerts to more than 600. He has performed 252 concerts with The Beatles, 142 with Wings and 195 as a solo artist - the most recent being The Concert For New York at Madison Square Garden last October.

Ananova: McCartney to embark on coast-to-coast US tour

Update (1/31/02) In a story Fox News.com labeled "Exclusive" (though we told you months ago!), Paul said told reporter Roger Friedman, "We're going out on tour this spring and summer to arenas." Such as Madison Square Garden, Paul was asked? "In fact, exactly like that. We'll even do two shows there. And I may include some poetry." While the indications are that this will perhaps a lengthy tour, it's our gut feeling...and only that...that it'll be a limited one. We hope we're wrong. (Thanks to Mark Kennedy and others who alerted us.)

Update (12/16/01) From Matt Hurwitz:

Hi, all--

I've been getting a few hints that Paul will be touring early next year in support of "Driving Rain." In recent interviews in France and Spain this week, he's made mention of the idea, and I'm hearing that if it takes place it will begin towards the end of February. Let's wait and see about the details - hopefully in the beginning of the year.

By the way, at this point, the Spring tour will likely be in the U.S.

Matt Hurwitz

Our comment: Paul apparently made some comments about touring in a recent BBC interview as well.

Update (11/9/01)
NME.com and Ananova reports that Paul will be play a live concert at a yet-unnamed spot in London before the end of the month. The report says the concert will take place at "an intimate venue such as the Astoria." Location to come. NME.com also says that Paul will play a number of small venues - around 1,500 capacity - in several major European cities that may or may not end up being benefits for the Sept. 11 attacks. (Thanks to John Tobin.)

Update (9/11/01) The Belfast Telegraph reported negotiations will begin soon to line up a concert in Belfast on Paul's upcoming tour. (Thanks to DonnaY.)

Update (7/20/01) Someone who claims to have talked to Spero since says Spero had "no idea about the 72 hour thing." Frankly, we don't place much stock in this whole thing.

Update (7/17/01) We've received at least one email with information that would indicate the "72 hour" information is false.

Update (7/16/01) Some interesting (and unconfirmed) info from Sandon5: :

While at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday I was talking with David Spero (used to be Ringo's manager) who is a VP in charge of promotion and live entertainment at Hall-anyhow I said, "Hey when are you gonna get my boyfriend Paul MacCartney to come here?" He responded with, ÷h I just got a voice mail from him today, he was laughing about something I put together about him. Anyhow, he gave me the list of cities that he is planning on doing shows in and Cleveland was on that list of cities - however, of the cities listed he will decide on a 72 hour notice as to where he will show up and then announce the city and date. I am trying to convince him to come here."

Comment: Personally, this is going to be a logistical nightmare. I hope that, if this is true, Paul comes up with another plan. (Thanks to the Macca-L mailing list.)

Update (7/4/01) There's no itinerary, but here's a rumored plan: The UK in October UK, probably Europe after, then Australia in November, possibly Japan and South America in December, then the U.S. from Feb.-April 2002.

Update (6/23/01) A quote from The (UK) Daily Record: "The benefit of a vegetarian diet is that it gives you more energy and that's the case with me. I recorded 18 songs for my new album in two weeks. I'm now going out on tour at an age when most people think of retiring."

Update (5/19/01) We're told that Paul's band for his forthcoming world tour will be made up of four students from LIPA (Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts). There will be three guys and one girl to accompany Paul on his world trek. He will catapult unknowns to instant fame.

Update (5/18/01) Australia's Herald Sun newspaper and also that country's "Today" show reported that Paul will play the Land Down Under late this year or early in 2002. When you think about it, though, that's no stretch since Paul has said he's going to begin touring in September. (Thanks to Darren Moss and Scott Cooper.)
AP: Paul McCartney aide: Wings soars
Launch.com: 'Wingspan' Makes Impressive Debut, McCartney Talks Tour
Hollywood Reporter: Wings flies into 2nd spot in bow; Child still on top

Update (5/17/01)

Reuters: Paul McCartney mulls world tour

Update (5/16/01) Paul says he's ready to tour again and is looking to do years with a string of impromptu shows around the world, reports Reuters. ``That would be good. I do fancy that actually,'' he said Wednesday. He earlier had said he'd was targeting September as the month to perform. But he has ruled out reforming Wings for the same reason he has said the Beatles can't reform: a member is missing. ``You can't reform Wings for the same reason that you can't reform The Beatles, because a very important member of each band wouldn't be there. With the Beatles, it is John and with Wings it is Linda,'' he said.

(5/12/01) In the "Listen to What the Man Said" section on paulmccartney.com, Paul says he's planning to tour in September. Under "Paul To Tour? (Thought that would make you sit up...)," he says, "I've got a new album coming in September and I'm very excited with what we've done for it - we recently recorded 18 tracks in two weeks. I think it's very likely that I might tour; doing new stuff makes you enthuse and want to get out and play it. I think you could look for me being out there around about September...." In a somewhat related comment, talking about being 58, he says, "I'm 58, but I feel 25 and I'm still very passionate about playing music. I don't know what is in store for me at the age of 100; it could be a sunshine rest home, but I feel that it could be a gig". (Thanks to David Moore.)
This news item copyright Abbeyrd's Beatles Page