Paul McCartney
16th December 2017
Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Bridget Herlihy. Photography by Doug Peters.
As thousands converged on Mt Smart Stadium for one of music’s biggest and highly anticipated nights of the year you could almost smell the scent of excitement in the air. And it was very fitting that with only a fortnight before 2017 comes to a close that one of the biggest names in the history of popular music should help us welcome in and celebrate the festive season. Having just played six dates in Australia to rave reviews, the legendary Sir Paul McCartney graced Auckland with the final date of his One On One tour before jetting back to the Northern Hemisphere for a white Christmas.
It was immediately apparent that his popularity has not waned over time, with long queues at the gates for ticket collection and entry. The crowd was as diverse as McCartney’s career, including those who were fans of The Beatles at the peak of their popularity to those whose parents hadn’t even been born when the Fab Four disbanded. Even the ominous clouds overhead couldn’t dampen the festive spirit in the air as the scene was set within the stadium – a medley of tracks from McCartney, Wings, The Beatles and the like played while a loop of psychedelic images appeared on screens several stories high that were positioned either side of the stage.
Right on time the lights in the stadium went down as the sun began to fade, and the screens truly came to life as McCartney and his band appeared on stage to a standing ovation. And with a wave to the crowd, McCartney wasted no time getting down to business, kicking off a solid three hour set with The Beatles classic ‘Hard Days Night’, the crowd screaming and singing as loud as their lungs would allow. Quickly followed by ‘Jet’ from McCartney’s Wings era it was a display of pure rock and roll at its finest, as the screens beside, behind and above the stage displayed stunning pink and blue clouds, beautifully encasing McCartney and his band in a magical scene. Yet this was only a mere taste of things to come, as McCartney promised the near capacity stadium an array of old songs, new songs and in between songs, and he did not fail to deliver.
Unsurprisingly, it was the tracks from the beloved Beatles that drew the greatest response, with almost every member of the audience grinning from ear to ear as he unwrapped classic after classic. And it appeared that the adoration was mutual, as he commented “we were here a long time ago, its beautiful. I love this country”. Punctuating the set McCartney also took on the role of storyteller, sharing some of the more interesting moments from his career, including the Beatles being the first rock band to ever play Red Square. He also took the opportunity to pay tribute to his late band mates, first with a tribute to the late Sir George Martin with Love Me Do, and later on he asked the audience to “give it up for John” as he spoke of his friendship with the Lennon before introducing ‘Here Today’, a song he wrote in the form of a conversation with the late musician. A beautiful tribute to the late George Harrison and his love of the ukelele also ensued, as McCartney delivered an exquisite rendition of Harrison’s ‘Something’, as archival images of the Beatles played on the screens – just one of the many, many magical moments of the evening. There was even a brief tribute to guitar great Jimi Hendrix, as he recalled Hendrix learning to play Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and opening his own show with it only 48 hours after it was released, an event it appears that McCartney remains thoroughly impressed by.
The hits just kept coming and coming and coming. Barely pausing for breath McCartney and his band barrelled through song after song as if there was no tomorrow. McCartney is a firm believer that as the fans spent their hard earned money to buy a ticket to his show, it is his duty to show them a good time. And by all accounts he showed them the time of their lives, even taking the time to read the signs fans had bought, including one from an eager fan who wanted him to sign her bottom. The instrumental break of ‘And I Love Her’ saw McCartney turn his back to the audience and shake his derrière, presumably in response to the aforementioned sign, bringing about roars of laughter as the drummer covered his eyes, reaffirming the fact that McCartney has a very healthy sense of humour indeed.
There are very few performances where every single moment is purely magical, but this was one. McCartney is fully aware of the audience’s musical preferences, as somewhat tongue-in-cheek he commented “we know which sings you like, because when we play a Beatles song the place lights up with phones. But if we do one of our new songs it’s like a black hole. But we don’t care, we are going to do them anyway, before launching into ‘Queenie Eye’. He also quipped that it would be a good time for any alcoholics in the audience to go and get a drink as he was going to play another new track, aptly titled ‘New’.
Revealing another dimension to an already impressive stage setup, the upright piano came to life projecting images during ‘Lady Madonna’, followed by a stunning rendition of ‘Eleanor Rigby’. The psychedelic images that that accompanied the Sgt Pepper track ‘Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite’ were noting short of breathtaking.
‘Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da’ saw McCartney treat the crowd to the loudest sing along of the night, however, the epic ‘Live And Let Die’ pushed things up several notches with pyrotechnics both on and off the stage as fireworks launched and flames (complete with the sound of explosions) in time with the music erupted onstage, a moment of pure, unadulterated rock n roll at its very best. An exquisite rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ saw the set come to an albeit brief close, as McCartney and band re-emerged on stage waving large New Zealand, Union Jack and gay pride flags, politely asking the crowd if they wanted more. The deafening roar of YES!! Gave way to an impressive encore of more hits, including a heartfelt performance of ‘Mull of Kintyre’, a song that McCartney said they only play when they are “down this way”, which featured an impressive appearance from the Auckland and Districts Pipe Band. A high-octane performance of ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ followed which sent the crowd into another frenzy, and quite rightly so, as this was the proverbial cherry on top of what had already been an evening of unparalleled musicianship and performance. McCartney and band delivered a flawless performance, a quintessential rock and roll show, proving the sometimes things do indeed get better with age. Paul McCartney is without a shadow of a doubt a musician for all time.
Were you there at Mount Smart for this simply magnificent three hour set? Or have you seen Paul McCartney perform live sometime else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- A Hard Days Night [The Beatles]
- Junior’s Farm [Wings]
- Can’t Buy Me Love [The Beatles]
- Jet [Wings]
- All My Loving [The Beatles]
- Let Me Roll It [Wings]
- I’ve Got A Feeling [The Beatles]
- My Valentine
- Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five [Wings]
- Maybe I’m Amazed
- I’ve Just Seen A Face [The Beatles]
- In Spite Of All The Danger [The Quarrymen]
- You Won’t See Me [The Beatles]
- Love Me Do [The Beatles]
- And I Love Her [The Beatles]
- Blackbird [The Beatles]
- Here Today
- Queenie Eye
- New
- Lady Madonna [The Beatles]
- FourFiveSeconds [Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney]
- Eleanore Rigby [The Beatles]
- I Wanna Be Your Man [The Beatles]
- Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! [The Beatles]
- Something [The Beatles]
- A Day In The Life / Give Peace A Chance [The Beatles]
- Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da [The Beatles]
- Band On The Run [Wings]
- Back In The U.S.S.R. [The Beatles]
- Let It Be [The Beatles]
- Live And Let Die [Wings]
- Hey Jude [The Beatles]
- Yesterday [The Beatles] (Encore)
- Birthday [The Beatles] (Encore)
- Mull Of Kintyre [Wings] (Encore)
- Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band – Reprise [The Beatles] (Encore)
- Helter Skelter [The Beatles]
- Golden Slumbers [The Beatles]
- Carry That Weight [The Beatles]
- The End [The Beatles]
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