Paul in Manchester (thanks to Peter Hodgson)

Rather belatedly, here are my comments on the two Manchester shows.

Although a fan since first hearing Love Me Do on a juke box in a coffee bar in the Liverpool suburbs when it first came out, I had somehow never managed to see any of them live until last November when I managed to get a ticket for the Concert for George. So when I heard Macca was in my neighbourhood I decided it was time to break my duck properly.

Like many, I went to both nights, not that I had intended to do so. By mistake I got tickets on e-bay for the wrong day, and when I got to the venue I found that there were hundreds of spare tickets, and you couldn't give them away. So I decided to go in. Glad that I did too, because it was definitely good enough to see twice. The second night I had much better seats too.

Without wanting to spoil the show too much for those who haven't seen it yet here are some thoughts.

A few negative ones to start with, at the risk of sounding like a miserable git.

The pre-show reminded me a bit of Magical Mystery Tour - the worst bits! I thought it was a bit indulgent, but at least you knew that the real show would start soon. By the way, am I right in thinking that the music that accompanies the pre-show was recorded by Macca? It sounds like it to me.

Having seen the show twice, it was interesting to see how much of the ad-libbing is real: VERY LITTLE I'm afraid. Even little jumps, twirls and kicks were in exactly the same place both nights. There were some differences, notably in the little speeches made by the band members, but Paul's bits are pretty well scripted it seems to me, so full marks to him for making them seem impromptu.

I thought the New Orleans masseur story was pretty feeble, though the bit at the end about Japan was quite funny. Someone should tell him that when he introduces Rusty as a "fabuloso guitarrista" this will produce much mirth in Italy, Spain and Portugal, since "guitarrista" is feminine.

The first night there were a few croaks in the early songs which made us worry that he wasn't fully fit, after the Sheffield cancellation, but he soon warmed up. Someone at the front threw him a packet of LemSip at the end, which was quite funny. The second night, his acoustic guitar sounded a bit odd, like it wasn't set up properly (guitarists: you know if you set the action too low the strings catch against the higher frets and you get a buzz and/or a muddy sound?). And running on at the end with a big flag looked like a political statement what with the Iraq thing still in full flow.

But these are all minor quibbles. What counts is the music and the light show, which were superb almost without exception. I don't like the song he does as a Lennon tribute, nor the uke version of Something. But the new song (Lonely Road?) was already beginning to grow on me at the second hearing. The first night he mentioned that the guitar he used for Yesterday was the one he had used on the Ed Sullivan show. But as my colleague said however, every time he straps on that bass you know it's going to rock.

And it was the rockers that we thought the best. Unfair to single any of them out really. I specially liked USSR, Madonna, Live and Let Die, Let Me Roll It and the 3-guitar battle in The End (almost as good as the Bootleg Beatles' version ;-). Even Let 'Em In sounds good. No complaints about the balance between early and later stuff. A fantastic show all together, which you SHOULD go and see. It may be your last chance. He looks fantastically fit for a 60-year old, but when the big screens show a close up, those are old man's

(4/13/03) From Ayelet, back in Israel:

Hi Steve,

I got back from the UK yesterday. I was one of those who missed Paul in Sheffield...luckly, we'll always have Manchester. Here are more then a few words about it -

How happy we were, my sister & I, Feb 21st when we manage to score 2 tickets to the Sheffield concert. We've been dreaming about this for more then 10 years - to see Paul in concert (we knew he'll never come to Tel Aviv, so we waited for a European tour). Well, as the London's dates were a problem Sheffield looked like a good solution. I don't know why, the day after that, we decided to buy 2 tickets to the Manchester gig as well.

On April 4 we arrived to the Sheffield arena with all the other fans just to hear that Paul will not be appearing today. The excitement replaced with pure shock. The previous weeks we thought about everything going wrong (the tickets will not be arriving on time, the war was about to start and every foreign air-line canceled their flights) - canceling on the day of the event was not an option we considered. We spent so much money on plane tickets, hotels, booked the best seats, the trains from London to Sheffield and Manchester alone cost as much as one concert, was it possible that it's all for nothing? Our only - and probably last - chance down the drain? I won't deny it there were tears.

We spent the next 3 days praying for Paul's health. I wasn't sure it was going to happen until I saw him on that stage.

It was everything I read about and more. Excellent show! 37 songs (I would have loved more Wings and other solo works, but I guess you can't have them all). What can I say that others didn't say before me? There was the pre-show with the dancers, the fire works on "Live & Let Die" and the John and George tributes. Some people wrote you he don't mention Linda anymore. that's true there's no pics-tribute. But he did say before "My Love," "the next song - I wrote for Linda" and the crowd responded with a massive roar.

He said he wanted to add 2 more songs in Sheffield, but since there was no show, we'll be the first to hear them. I guess the crowd wasn't enthusiastic enough for Paul's liking and he said: "They're not new, you know". And came up with "Things We Said Today" and "I've Just Seen A Face."

I wanted to wake up the people on my block, thank God for the guy in the row in front of me who stood up in "Band On The Run."

I thought Paul sounded great. Two and a half hours of highs. Macca is truly a showman, who knows how to please his audience with hits, stories. He knows how to feed his fans. The part when he suggests to join him on the next song, and start some silly one, then remembers it was suppose to be "Hey Jude," seems to work every time for decades now. also the part-when-he-don't-know-the-words got lots of cheers. I was sorry he chose to do it on the best part of "You Never Give Me Your Money," and that "The Fool On The Hill" one of the best performance on "Trippin the Life Fantastic" got really short. Maybe his voice wasn't up to it as we also didn't get to hear "Maybe I'm Amazed." All in all a marvelous show, the band rocked, the guitar solo were brilliant I can go on and on...

I'm glad Paul got rid of his battle cries (Ooh-Ooh) and delighted he remembered forgotten jams like "Here Today" (John or not I always thought It's a beautiful song. Paul, if you're looking for others like that I got three words: "We Got Married!")

Before we left to England everybody said we're crazy spending £80 on a ticket, to see the same show twice. I don't know how I allowed my self but I thank God time and again I did. At least I got to see one. A great one.

The set-list, if anyone follows those things was slightly changed:

1. Hello Goodbye
2. Jet
3. All My Loving
4. Getting Better
5. Let Me Roll It 
6.  Lonely Road
7. Your Loving Flame
8. Blackbird
9. Every Night
10. We Can Work It Out 
11. You Never Give Me 
  Your Money/Carry That Weight
12. Fool On The Hill
13. Here, Today
14. Something
15. Eleanor Rigby
16. Here There And Everywhere
17. Things We Said Today
18. I've Just Seen A Face
19. Calico Skies
20. Two of Us
21. Band On The Run
22. Back In The USSR
23. Let 'Em In
24. My Love
25. She's Leaving Home
26. Can't Buy Me Love
27. Birthday
28. Live And Let Die 
29. Let It Be
30. Hey Jude
------------
31. The Long And Winding Road
32. Lady Madonna
33. I Saw Her Standing There
------------
34. Yesterday
35. Sgt. Pepper/The End