Hi Steve, It was really a première for us, a heaven sent historical and magical moment. how could we picture this: seeing an ex Beatle on stage 30 years after the end of the big mass? But here he is: sixty years old Paul is getting better year after year and makes the unthinkable true. A violin shaped bass guitar on a big white screen and here we are deep in the heart of a daydream, like the culmination of our passion. and in such a great way! Paul is showing up with such a voice, talent and charisma it all seems unbelievable ! With his talented astounding musicians and singers, he gave us much more than a good show, he gave us the best concert in the world ! Lining up his masterpieces, at ease with rock songs with his mates as well as ballads, alone with the guitar or piano, he showed us his brighter day and no one could say « it was better in the old days ». Simply the best was in our ears and in our eyes. But beyond that great show qualities and incredible animations (all those psychedelic colours!) we will all remember this concert for that great deal of emotions it brought. Paul wanted to put us in his pocket so he even learned more French to please us, like his musicians did, but Bercy was already won even before he went on stage, and he applied himself to do so for three hours. Whatever we were stood in the front rows or seated in the stands, came from far away places or next street, young or more aged, we all shared our love of Beatle or Paul music and that sixties spirit was surely here. Peace and Love, yes we certainly appreciated that Paul made a statement but his music speaks for it, «Give Peace A Chance» came to us spontaneously and that's the main thing. See you next time, Paul
(3/28/03) From Yann D:
Hi Steve, As I was at the Paris concert, I thought I'd send a review, as a kind of thank-you for your everyday work on your site ! It was absolutely terrific. I had queued for hours with friends to be upfront and we had quite succeeded, as Paul would turn out be less than 10 metres away from us, which is really a good distance in an arena ! To pass the time we could read the SMS sent to Paul by the audience on a big screen on stage. Another good way to take money out of the fans' wallets. I couldn't believe the programme's price : 22 euros (= approx. 22 dollars). They were free in '93. I didn't buy one, kept my money for an even more expensive T-shirt ! The concert started 30 minutes late as an announcement was made that some people were on their way to the show and we had to wait for them. Actually the people we had to wait for were local celebrities (French actors, musicians). Then came the pre-show, which looked like what I had read about and what I saw in the Back in the US DVD. It was rather nice and very graceful but I must admit the only thing I was really interested in was to see Paul coming ! And finally he did, same way as in the US. The reaction in the crowd (especially in our upfront crowd) when he arrived to play Hello Goodbye was unbelievable. No words to describe it, even in French ! No words to describe how I felt too. I had already seen Paul in '93 but I think I was even more moved than the first time. Paul's voice was fine all along the show. Not any of the (very small) "flaws" that I heard on some of the recordings of the US tour. It sounded unbelievably fresh and young, even in the highest notes. Maybe it's because its the beginning of the tour ! I won't go on much about the set list, it was the same as on the Back in the world CD, with the addition of Birthday, which ROCKED ! Paul did a lot of the introductions of the songs and said a lot of things in French, out of a paper most of the time, but he really did a big effort and it was very welcomed. All the guys in the band said a few words in French too. Maybe it's just a feeling but after the first songs Paul seemed really pleased and surprised by the warmness of the audience. Talk about love vibes ! At a point he said although it was the beginning of the tour, we made him feel like he was home. Let Me Roll it ended with a short "Purple Haze"-like end, I don't know if they did that on the latest 2002 dates. There were some funny things around Here Today. He introduced it as usual, in English, ("Sometimes, you don't get the opportunity to say to people that you love them...") and a guy in the audience yelled what Paul was about to say : "and you regret it". Then Paul looked at him and said "You've been before". Then he joked "I wasn't going to say that at all. No, listen to me, smart ass, what I was about to say was..." and he ended the introduction of the song in French ! That was really fun. He played the song beautifully, and when it was over, the crowd (including me) started singing Give Peace A Chance. Paul sang a little bit of it, then let us finish and carried on with Something. On Here, There and Everywhere, Wix's accordion went out of tune and it was fun seeing the funny face he did when he hit certain notes, which were probably not what he was expecting... A bit later they played Calico Skies which was gorgeous, it was the first time I heard it as I don't have the Back in the World CD yet. With the guitar work and the accordion, it was even better than the original studio version. He should dig out more little-known songs like this one. Another song I had never heard live was She's Leaving Home, which was, oh, so fine... The guitar replacing the harp sounded so good, and the unusual sight of Paul using his arms and hands while he sings, as he almost doesn't play... I run out of adjectives, so I'll just say it was incredibly beautiful. I think I'll remember that forever. And his band is so good, the '93 band was correct but the 2003 band is light years ahead. To introduce Michelle he explained how he sang the tune as a teenager to seduce girls and sound French. Good fun too, especially when he imitated the "French way" of speaking and singing (or what English-speaking pepole think is the French way :) ) Oh, the fireworks on Live and Let Die were really frightening, even when you know when they're gonna happen, it's impossible not to jump when you're a few meters from them ! After Hey Jude, Paul and the band left, and we kept on singing the song's coda until they came back. After the first encore they went away and Paul came back waving the French flag. Then he sang Yesterday and the band came back for Sgt.Pepper/The End, with the fantastic trio of guitars which seemed longer to me (for my pleasure !) than they did on the CD or DVD. And it was almost over. We kept shouting "we love you, yeah, yeah, yeah !" and Paul answered with the same words, as he said his last goodbye, and as confettis started falling from the ceiling. It was soooooooo good. I thought I had seen it all in '93 but it was even better. Paul seems to be a real Energizer or Duracell (or whatever) rabbit. He never stops. How can we believe for a second that we saw a nearly 61-yrs old guy there ? So all I have to say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Paul (and his wonderful band), and don't ever stop rocking ! (If you happen to read French, I made a review on my Paul McCartney website : http://perso.maccafrance.mageos.com )
Dear Steve, Yes I was there! And how happy I Am to have been! The show started around 9pm instead of 8.30 pm because of heavy traffic in Paris. An announcement was made over the p.a that Paul wanted to wait a bit in order for people to arrive. In the end Bercy was full when Paul appeared. The pre-show was the same as America. When Paul came in holding his bass high above his head the audience screamed like mad! And for the rest of the show it was jus that: standing ovation after each number! Paul wore a black jacket and a red t shirt. He gave up wearing the jacket after two or three numbers because it was hot in there.When gave his jacket to an assistant all the women in the audience started screaming. As someone wrote to you Paul sang the same numbers as on the Back in the World cd except for Birthday which he added.He seemed to enjoy himself very much doing it. It was a real triumph all throughout. Paul kept thanking us saying we were a wonderfull crowd. He repeatedly put both his hands on his chest indicating his heart to tell us that he appreciated the response he got very much. Once he made a heart above his head with his arms. The audience also appreciated that Paul tried to speak French sometimes using notes something he did not do last time (1993). The members of the band also spoke French between numbers.The funniest was Rusty Anderson who, saying he couldn't speak French at all, held a small tape player in front of his mike and we heard the voice of a woman saying 'thank you' and other things in french! We all laughed a lot.
Obviously the band and Paul were very happy with the reception they got as Paul said "It is a special night 'cause it's the first one of the tour and you make us feel at home!" to which the audience replied by giving him another standing ovation! The audience response was equally warm to each number. Paul screamed his head off on "Lonely Road" and this performance was greeted with lots of cheers and applause.
As usual Beatles numbers drew the biggest response but as I've just said all the other numbers got ovations as well. After "Here Today," the audience started to sing Give Peace a Chance to which Paul joined in without singing it into his mike. It was quite emotional.
By the last numbers everyone in the audience was completly delighted, yelling as loud as they could for more. Paul was undoubtedly delighted that the first night of the tour had gone so well. He thanked his band and then gave us a heartfelt 'merci à vous' (thank you) before doing his last songs.
At times it seemed that Paul couldn't believe the reception he was getting. I think indeed it's the best I've seen him receive in Paris and I hope everywhere! (hope he heard me scream! yes it was me yelling his name!)
When he said he had to go a huge and extremely loud 'NO' came from us all. If only he could have stayed...
Three hours! What a show! His voice was marvellous, the musicians played fantastically and it ended with Paul coming on stage with the french flag. We got fireworks at the end and little white, red and blue rubans fell from the roof (colors of the french flag). Well, that's it, hope I haven't forgotten anything!
Thank you, Paul for this marvellous, marvellous and again marvellous show, hope you read this! Can't wait for another concert! Hope you'll come back soon!
Jean Garello, from Paris France (26 years old by the way!)
Hello, I was at the concert in Paris on Thursday and I have just one word : wonderful ! The pre show was similar to the previous gigs and the set list was similar to the one of the 2nd leg in the US, except the inclusion of "Birthday", announced by "bon anniversaire" (French !).Same stories and jokes as the previous shows. An effort to speak French, appreciated by the crowd.
The crowd was very participative. Highligths, as usual : the acoustic set, the songs for John and George and the final rockers (Lady Madonna, Saw her standing there, Sgt pepper). Personally, I think too that the redemption of "Calico Sky" with the band magnifies this splendid song. The three Driving Rain numbers have been moderously appreciated, I have to confess (personally, I like "Lonely Road" and "Flaming Pie", but "Driving Rain" has such trite words...
To be mentioned too, the spontaneous singing of "Give Peace a Chance" by the crowd (17,000 people) just after "Here Today".
An enormous success of the selling of tee shirts and material (compared to what I saw of others concerts). Finally, a wonderful night. My only concern : I would have appreciated the inclusion of more new songs. "Birthday" is an excellent idea, but why ignore "Helter Skelter" ? But as Paul said to a French radio I listened as I drove to Bercy : I should stay days to satisfy everyone ! Don't miss Paul if he comes to your town (and if there are still tickets !).
I attended the Bercy show. As compared to the 1989 and 1993 shows,Paul made great efforts to translate(with the help of pre-written papers) songs introductions in French.The concert was sold out but was slightly delayed because of some spectators not arriving in time because of traffic jam. Paul’s voice was in great shape and he was surprised by the enthusiasm of the crowd all concert long,specially at the end of Here Today when Give Peace a Chance was sung by the audience(he was just ready to introduce Something with the ukulele in his hand…) As you can imagine,the songs from his latest album with the exception of Your Loving Flame only lead to polite applause.Surprisingly not taking into consideration Yesterday and Hey Jude,Band On The Run was the song that the was the most appreciated.His friend Sting was in the audience as well as some renowned French actors and singers.The whole show lasted a little bit less than 3 hours.Audience was given the opportunity,prior to the show,to send SMS to Paul and the messages where then showed on the giant central screen.Morning after the show,each sender received a personnal message from Paul saying”Hope you had a wonderful time last night!It was great to play Paris! Checkout the DVD&CD of the show. Mercy Bercy..PaulMcCartney.
And from Philippe Colinge:
Paul's first European date in Paris followed exactly the same pattern as the "Back In The World" double CD, with the unexpected but nice addition of "Birthday". It is worth mentioning that before the pre-show began, pre-concert music was being heard over the PA system (like in 1989 and 1993), and that included both released (i.e. "Love In The Open Air", "Junk") and unreleased music, including a choral piece (could this be from "Ecce Cor Meum" ?). But there was also a POST-show tape, with a seemingly new, acapella rendition of "Band On The Run" sung over a sort of drone while people were leaving the venue.