Paul Rutherford reviews

On April 17, 2002 I was lucky enough to attend the Paul McCartney concert in East Rutherford, NJ. Growing up I was always a huge Beatles fan *(I'm only 19)* and when he did his last tour of America way back in 1993, I thought there was no chance of me ever seeing him in concert. But when I heard he was planning an American tour, I scowered the internet for imformation, and when I saw that Paul was playing 5 minutes from my house, I jumped at the chance and bought two tickets. I bought my mother because she was also a huge Beatles fan and she always did nice things for me this was her Mother's Day gift.

Our seats were really good:On the floor, middle section, off to the left. That whole day at school I was walking around with the biggest smile on my face knowing that night I would finally see the man I've idolized for 19 years stand in front of me singing the songs I grew up listening to. Anyway, around 6:30 my mother and I headed off to the areana and it only took 5 minutes to get there. Security was very tight and after you were searched using a metal wand you were patted down, so nothing got in. Good thing I didn't try to bring my tape recorder to tape it.

Once we were inside I bought a tour shirt and my mother bought a program. After that we went down to our seats, mingling with other Beatle fans. The tickets say the show starts at 8:00, but 8:15 rolls around and nothing happens. Suddenly this ominous music starts and these characters are walking around the arena. Not knowing this was the pre show i wondered in my head "What the hell is going on?"

After about a half hour, everything goes black and there's a giant sillohuete of a left handed Hofner bass on the big screen, and then Paul himself appeared. At this moment I screamed my head off and had the biggest smile on my face, knowing that I was about to be taken on the best trip of my life. Paul is standing center stage, smiling, pumping his fist in the air, and he was just oozing energy. After a quick count, he launches into...

1-Hello Goodbye-I started crying when he sang this, because I was just so happy. Halfway through the song i composed myself and started singing along. The performance of this song was excellent, no complaints at all. Without pause, they launch into ...

2-Jet-This was special to hear, because I am a guitar player, and it was that day that I learned how to play Jet on guitar, including the little keyboard solo. After the song is over Paul says hello to the audience and says they have come to rock us tonight. So, another count follows and we're hearing ...

3-All My Loving-Great footage picked out for this one, I was still smiling very widely, paying attention to the band. They really had that rock edge to them and made everything sound beefy, if that makes sense. After that Paul is handed his Gibson Les Paul and talks about songs you write and don't play live, and mentioned that he had never played this one before live. The first song that came into my head *(I didn't read the set list before hand)* was the one that he played ...

4-Getting Better-This was a huge treat since it's my favorite song off of my favorite Beatle's album, but this wasn't the highlight of the night for me, I'll get to that in a bit. It was a perfect note for note rendition, that I thoroughly enjoyed. Paul switches back to bass and launches into ...

5-Coming Up-I was hoping that it wouldn't be done like on Tripping the Live Fantastic, and thankfully it wasn't. Don't remember too much about this one, well, all I remember is my voice was starting to give out :(. Paul gets his Les Paul back and launches into ...

6-Let Me Roll It-I was hoping that they would have that thing that rises above the stage like his 1993 tour for this song, but they didn't. Oh well, it was still a good performance. Once it's over Paul takes his jacket off and says that they're going to play some new songs and hits the intro to ...

7-Lonely Road-I was finally happy to sit down ;) The first time i heard it was during the Concert for NYC, and i thought it wasn't too bad, great job by Paul singing it. Afterwards he talked about driving up the california coast, and it started to rain, which inspired him to write ...

8-Driving Rain-I wasn't too fond of this one, so I used it for my bathroom break. I got back when he was finishing up, and he introduced Abe, who has been a fireball throughout the show, and he came off as a big, jolly guy. Paul walks up to the grand piano behind him, and starts playing ...

9-Your Loving Flame-This was my first time hearing it, and it's my favorite new song that Paul does. I noticed on this song Rusty played a 12 string electric, instead of his Gibson SG, where as every video that I've seen from this tour he's using his SG. Still sounded good though. Once it was done, Paul gets his acoustic guitar and says that it's time for the band to go away and leave him all alone with us, which I giggled at. He remarked about the civil rights movement in America which inspired him to write the song he was about to play, which was ...

10-Blackbird-Man oh man, did it sound amazing. Paul's voice sounded remarkable, like it was all night long. I'm still amazed that he's 61, *(then 59)* and he can still fingerpick that song perfectly. After it was over, he went into ...

11-Every Night-This was my first time hearing it and I thought it was a pretty good song. I thought it was new until I was told otherwise. There was the rythmic clapping throughout the song. Once it was over, Paul faked us out by going into this silly piece *(does anyone out there know what it's called? please e-mail me and let me know if you do)* but stops and says "I'm not doing that one, it's silly" And launches into ...

12-We Can Work It Out-EXCELLENT!!! Could not have asked for a better performance. At this point Paul was grinning at all of us, and he was clearly enjoying himself. Wix comes out with his accordian and they go into ...

13-Mother Natures Son-Not that bad, but not one of my favorite Beatle songs, but it still sounded good. Then he's bought a classical guitar, and Wix stays out and Rusty comes to help him on ...

14-Vanilla Sky-I would've done without this one, the visuals behind paul gave me a headache, so i was looking down the whole time. Once it was over, the Magical Mystery Tour piano is bought out by strong men, and he makes the steroids crack, and goes into ...

15-You Never Give Me Your Money-I personally liked this performance of the song, I thought it bought the song back to it's roots on how it was written. He threw in Carry That Weight near the end, and flubbed the line in the middle, which I laughed at of course. Afterwards he tells us his massage story which was cute, and goes right into ...

16-The Fool On The Hill-Wix came back out to play the flute parts for him, and Paul was clearly enjoying himself. The visuals made things very interesting. After it was over the strongmen come and take it away and Paul talks about when someone passes away you go to yourself "I wish I said something" And he said he wrote this song for John, and right away I cried because I knew exactly which song he was talking about, because when my great grandmother died I wrote the lyrics down and put it in her casket before it was closed, so with me sobbing Paul goes into ...

17-Here Today-I could not stop crying because of this one. I was very emotional and the performance was very moving for me, as well as every other person in the areana. Once the song was over I composed myself and Paul was bought a ukelele, and asked who knew that George was a very good player. I knew then that it was time for the George tribute, which I knew he was going to do. I thought he was going to play Here Comes The Sun instead, but he goes into ...

18-Something-Nice fast paced version, and Paul sang it beautifully. Once it was over, he joked saying that George told him that it's played faster. Rusty, Abe and Wix come back out as paul is handed his acoustic guitar again and they go into ...

19-Elanor Rigby-I always thought that Paul just stood there and sang it, rather than playing acoustic guitar on it, but I was proven wrong. Brian comes back out as well and they launch into ...

20-Here, There and Everywhere-This was my girlfriend's and my song, so when he played this I called her and she listened over the phone, and I told her I loved her as the song was over. It was moving for me because she heard it. Paul finally gets his bass back and the lengthy acoustic set comes to a close when a count ensues and they starts playing ...

21-Band On The Run-I was waiting for this one. It was done rather well, and i thought rusty did a great job with the intro and the lead fills. Then I hear the airline roar and knew I was about to hear my favorite Beatles song of all time, and soon enough I hear the opening chords of ...

22-Back In The USSR-The highlight of the night for me, since like I said it's my favorite Beatles song. It had a nice crunch to it, and kicked so much ass. After it was over Paul introduces Rusty and says "It sure smells to me like you're having a good time" *(there were people smoking weed everywhere in the arena, even people in front of and behind me)* And Paul goes back to the piano for ...

23-Maybe I'm Amazed-This was nice to hear, and Paul was screaming the words to us. The whole band was oozing out energy too, and without stopping, Paul goes right into ...

24-C Moon-This was also the first time I ever heard this one, and it was enjoyable, but i saw people get up during this one to use the bathroom. After it was over he said this next song is for Linda and said it was 4 years to the day that she passed away *(he didn't tell us the c moon story)* and a visibly emotional Paul sang ...

25-My Love-It was done rather nicely, and Paul was visibly choked up when he was singing it. Then came the introduction of Wix, who showed us his lava lamp that he had up there for Linda, and said that he was going to play the next song on this strange looking keyboard *(his acoustic guitar)* and they all launch right into ...

26-Can't Buy Me Love-Nice choice for this part of the show. Once he's done he says that song was from a few years ago, but this next one was very recent, and he launches into ...

27-Freedom-About a month before I saw Paul it was the international food day at my school, and i performed this song for my spanish class, so it had special meaning to me. Paul mentioned that there were some fire fighters in the audience and gave a nod to them. He then introduces Brian Ray while he walks back to the grand piano for ...

28-Live and Let Die-I was expecting more pyro, but all they had was the smoke onstage, and the sparkles that came out of the ceiling at the end of the song. This was done pretty standard, no suprises, then Paul goes into ...

29-Let It Be-Rusty's solo on this song was the best I've ever heard him do. Paul's voice was a tad shaky, but it cleared up midway through the song. Paul comes off the grand piano and sits back down at the rainbow piano which is already on stage and encourages us to sing along with the next one, which is ...

30-Hey Jude-My mother's favorite. We sang every lyric to it and didn't let up for a second, and Paul stopped the band and orchestrated us with his hands, it was cute to see that. He finishes up the set and I'm thinking "Where does he get the energy" After about 2 minutes Paul comes out waving the New Jersey flag, which got a HUGE, and I mean HUGE applause. He sits back down at the rainbow piano, and goes into ...

31-The Long and Winding Road-I knew he was going to do this one, but I didn't know when. It was also done pretty standard. When it's over Paul asks us if we still want to keep rocking, which we all yelled yes to, and they go into ...

32-Lady Madonna-This happens to be the only song I can play on piano, so it was cool to hear this one, I enjoyed it very much. Paul gets his bass back and says he senses that we still have energy left, so he launches the band into ...

33-I Saw Her Standing There-This one had a nice punch to it, it sounded like an up to date version of the song. More bows from Paul and the band, they all leave again, Paul comes back out with his Epiphone acoustic and goes into ...

34-Yesterday-I looked at my watch and realize that he's been onstage for more than 2 1/2 hours, and I'm still amazed that he has the energy to do that. After the song is over he says he's had fun but the time has come for them to go home, and more importantly, for them to go home. We say NOOOOOOOOOO, and, I think this was the only time Paul ever did this, Paul looks at us and says "OK, suit yourself" and pretends to walk off the stage, but runs back with a smile on his face. Then he launches the band into ...

35-Sgt Pepper *(reprise)*/The End-This was the bittersweet song of the night because I knew it was the last song. Abe did a great job with the drum solo, and Paul, Rusty and Brian dueled for a long time with guitar solos back and forth. When Paul hit that last line "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" I started crying for the last time, not because the show was over, but i picked that line for my quote for under my senior portrait in my yearbook. Finally at 11:24 the show came to an end, and Paul thanked us for coming and said he would see us next time. Paul and the band got out of the pretty quickly, but we stuck around waiting for the crowd to leave so we didn't get stuck in traffic.

It was, and still remains, the best concert expierence I've had so far. I would've liked to hear more early stuff and less later stuff, but it was still a great concert nonetheless. Paul really knows how to put on a show, and I am very glad i went. Will I be there at the next show when he comes back to the USA? You bet I will be!!!

Update (4/27/02) From Brian Cancemi:

I was at the Continental Arena show and forgot to mention that....... I think he has to lose the drummer.(just my opinion!) The guy is all over the place and not usually in the "pocket". Brian Cancemi

Update (4/22/02) From Jeremy Lorence:

I attended Paul's 4/17 concert in East Rutherford, NJ and I can honestly say that it was one of the best experiences of my entire life. The show was everything I expected it to be and a whole lot more. I had plenty of goosebumps when Paul made his entrance.

Paul and the band did a great job in making each song sound as close as possible to the actual recording. Although they turned "Coming Up" into more of a rocker which I liked. There was also a bit of a different ending to "Driving Rain" which also worked.

While I thought that all of the performances were real good my favorite part of the show was the acoustic set. "Here Today" and "Something" were real moving. During "Here Today" there was near total silence in the crowd. Both John and George received tremendous ovations when Paul mentioned their names.

I thought that the "Driving Rain" songs were pretty well received, although as expected there were some people walking out during that part of the show.

Those who haven't seen Paul yet are in for a real treat. I hope that he'll have one more tour left in him at some point, but even if he doesn't I'd like to thank Paul for giving the younger McCartney fans a chance to see him in concert. Last Wednesday night was an evening that I'll always remember.

(4/20/02) From Bruce Lawton

The Rutherford, NJ concert was my very first "Beatles" concert of any sort -
although I've been an enthusisist for many years. The show was indeed
remarkable - Paul was in fine voice and mood and looked great. The light show
via the bank of screens behind and above the band was astounding (the effect
of placing vibrant color patterns behind and around him on the large screen
was particularly striking.)

Liked the use of The Fireman's "Watercolor Guitars" during the striking but
enigmatic preshow. Loved the ukulele tribute to George (George Formby fans
unite!) and the solo accoustic middle set was fabulous. Was sorry to see fans
using the playing of songs from the new album like "Lonely Road" for bathroom
break - just reinforcing the "they only want the hits" phenomenon - and
aren't even willing to give new songs a try. Really wish he had played "She's
Given Up Talking" or "Your Way" - but they probably would have been received
the same way. Would not only have loved to have heard him peform some songs
from albums like RAM, but was surprised that there was nothing from FLAMING
PIE for cripes sake! But again it comes up against the aforementioned "hits"
problem.

Not only were ticket prices high - but they charged $10 for the privilege of
parking - and T-shirts were $35 and up!!!! (thank the Lord for the young
entrepreneurs outside who only charged $15 for rather nice shirts.) Despite
all these gripes, Paul gave a truly superb show - one I'll never forget.

(4/19/02) From Patti Murawski:

Here are my observations from Philly and NJ. Baking heat here on the East Coast before the Philly and NJ shows..., in the 90Fs (we have a drought too!) more like July than April (and here I was thinking I'd have a nice, comfortable sunny spring vacation...) Funnily enough, the last time we had an early heat wave was 1976 when Wings was starting their tour...

Paul acknowledged that it was "four years to this DAY" that Linda passed away before singing "My Love" at the New Jersey show. He was very appreciative of the standing ovation he got for that, put his hand over his heart when he stood up for his bow.

Some of the video backdrop had changed from Philly show to NJ. I don't know what they have been doing elsewhere, that is, if it changes show to show. One friend I spoke to who had gone to the opener said he thought it was a change. Perhaps they are trying to tweak it up, make it a tighter presentation...

Last night they took out the( distracting!) movie clip backdrop for Vanilla Sky and put generic vanilla-ish colored sky--flying through the clouds pics kind of thing behind him.

They have changed the "Something" photo montage of George somewhat; there seemed to be a lot of old Beatle photos with only a few photos from the last 20 years of his life included when I saw it in Philly; the next night In NJ there were less photos, not so rapidly changing, less old Beatle photos...left in the photos of G and EC, and G and Dave Edmunds from the Carl Perkins TV special. ... I thought it was better.

Don't know if Paul said this anywhere else, but in Philly he said that George had given him the uke he is playing onstage, and that it is a Gibson. If you look at the tour photos on Paul's site, there is a picture of Paul with the uke.

Live and Let Die video is a bit different from Philly to NJ. In Philly there was more James Bond footage than in NJ. Lonely Road video has changed somewhat; In Philly it looked more like the standard video playing on VH1. In NJ it was more sort of driving through the desert scenes, dusty roads, pavement, tumbleweeds... no models sprawled around.

One of the pyrotechnic sparkler sprays from the left gantry didn't work in Philly.

He's putting artists half his age to shame!

I wasn't pleased with the sound in either city. The finale jam, the guitars were difficult to hear, especially Paul's!

On to Boston and LI on the weekend...

From Brian Cancemi:

Steve......

I went to the show last night and was actually amazed! I mean...I'm always super critical...and I must say his voice sounds better than it did on the last tour. I could have done without the silly dancing act at the beginning....but it really was a phenomenal show.

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