I was fortunate enough to see Paul McCartney's show "BACK IN THE WORLD 2003" at Earls Court on Tuesday 22nd April 2003, and I have to say it was the best concert I have ever been to. I know I am biased being a huge fan of "THE BEATLES" but, having seen "THE BEATLES" live eleven times and almost every concert Paul McCartney has performed since then, this was perfection.

The man was on stage for over two and a half hours non stop performing 36 songs of which twenty two were Beatles classics, and his voice was awesome. The concert began with a hippy, trippy piece by around twenty performers which I can only describe as a bit odd, but suddenly the giant screen on stage had the silhouette of Paul McCartney with his trade mark Hofner Beatle Bass Guitar. The screen was raised and Paul with his four musicians went straight into "Hello Goodbye" one of the songs he has never performed before. From then on it was like a giant party with the whole audience joing in as soon as they recognised the introduction of a particular song. The earliest song was "I Saw Her Standing There" from the first "BEATLES" album "Please Please Me' to "Lonely Road" from his last album "Driving Rain". Apart from Paul "Wix" Wickens, who had played with Paul McCartney on his last two tours, it was a brand new band with Rusty Anderson (Guitar), Brian Ray (Guitar/Bass) and Abe Laboriel Jr. (Drums) and they were superb. Abe Laboriel Jr. was a show all on his own.

Some people ask, "why does he still tour?", because he is over sixty years of age and incredibly wealthy, but you can see why he does it, it's because he loves it, and when he talks to the audience between songs, it's like he's having a chat over a cup of tea. In the early years after "THE BEATLES" he had a problem with singing BEATLE'S songs but he gradually sang more and more with each tour and now he is totally comfortable with being an ex. Beatle. If I could pick out a highlight, which is difficult as there was so many, I think it would be "She's Leaving Home", another song he had never performed live.

After two and a half hours, two false tabs and around half a dozen encores we were  into "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" followed by "The End" and that was it. I had sung every word, and was exhausted so God knows how he felt having performed the show for four nights out of the last five. It was, to quote a cliche,"The Soundtrack to my Life".

FOOTNOTE

I heard from my old mate TONY RIVERS that he had been to see the "PAUL McCARTNEY" concert the day before on Monday 21st April and had realised that it was 40 years to the day that he and his band "TONY RIVERS AND THE CASTAWAYS" had played with "THE BEATLES" at THE PIGALLE CLUB in London's Piccadilly.

22nd April 2003

My Beatles Top Ten
1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
2. Free as a Bird.
3. Hey Bulldog.
4. You Won't See Me.
5. P.S. I Love You.
6. She's a Woman.
7. Nowhere Man.
8. I Will.
9. Girl.
10. A Day in the Life
If you are a serious Beatles fan it is difficult to find your top ten favourite tracks. I have had a go, they are not in order of favouritism except for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" which is my all time favourite.These may change.

End.

5

Click on Photo to hear Jake Shimabukuru
playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on
The Ukuklele. Simply stunning.

Fan-bloody-tastic. Even beats the 2002 show which I thought was the best ever. He was on stage 3 hours, the band,which has remained the same line up for around ten years, were amazing and the sound spot on. All the old Beatles and Wings favourites and more, plus three he's never sung before "The Night Before" "Come and Get it" and "The Word”. He always uses explosions during “Live and Let Die” but tonight there was a full blown firework display. Lump in the throat time came with his tributes to John (Here Today) and George (Something) played at first on the ukelele. He even had Ronnie Wood from “The Stones” join him on stage for “Get Back”. One of the visual highlights was drummer Abe Laboriel Jr's hand choreography during “Dance Tonight” which was hysterical.

I went with my son who is a big fan of “The Red Hot Chilli Peppers”, he saw them at the 02 only a few weeks ago and came home saying they were fantastic, but came out of Macca's show stunned at what he had just seen saying it was the best live show he'd ever seen.

Some of these young upstarts from reality shows who think they can entertain should go to a Paul McCartney show to see how it should be done with just five guys and a multitude of talent.

I saw the Beatles ten times in the sixties and this is the seventh time I've seen Paul either as wings or solo and it was the best. It was like watching The Beatles in 2011.

5th December 2011 Macca at The O2