He is listed in The Guinness Book of Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music with sales of 100 million singles and 60 gold discs. He played in front of 184,000 people at Maracanã Stadium in Brazil back in 1990, the largest stadium audience in history. He is a painter, a poet, a director, an entrepreneur and humanitarian and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and knighted for his services to music. As a member of the Beatles, he has influenced bands from Deep Purple and Pink Floyd to Nirvana and Green Day. Why, he even has a planet named for him (the minor planet 4148, discovered in1983, and named 'McCartney' in his honor).
So when Pittsburgh was looking for someone to inaugurate their new arena, there was no bigger name than Sir Paul McCartney to do the honors. Tickets to his back-to-back shows were snapped up in a matter of minutes by fans who’ve been waiting their whole life to see the legendary ex-Beatle perform — or at least the two whole decades since the last time he played here. And the fact that McCartney is pushing 70 had many feeling it could very well be the last chance they get to see a Beatle performing Beatles’ music.
The August 18th and 19th shows at the much ballyhooed Consol Energy Center marked the end of the North American leg of McCartney’s Up and Coming tour and the third time he has played Pittsburgh. (The Beatles touched down here back in 1964 and played a 30-minute set to 12,000 screaming fans, many of whom were in attendance at the Consol show. McCartney returned to Pittsburgh with his band Wings in February 1990.) With an appeal that crosses many generations and musical genres, he indulged fans with a Springsteen-esque three hours of music that included songs from the Beatles catalog, his decade with Wings, and some more recent work, and he did so with a stamina and enthusiasm that belied his years.
And oh, what a joyous night it was! The most affable of the Beatles, McCartney had an easy camaraderie with his audience. The puckish Paul was full of jokes and was very accommodating to fans, one of whom asked to have her thigh autographed and another whose proposal during Sir Paul’s performance of “My Love,” a song written for the singer's late wife Linda, was broadcast on double Jumbotrons.
McCartney also shared some trivia and backstory behind several of his most iconic songs including one about Jimi Hendrix learning to play "Sgt. Pepper" and then opening his set with it three days after the song was released, which McCartney called one of the greatest musical honors of his life. He spoke of his difficult relationship with the late John Lennon before launching into the gentle acoustic number “Here Today,” a love song written for Lennon about the conversation the two men never had. He also honored George Harrison with a ukulele-led sing-along on “Something” while visuals of Harrison played on the stage’s many screens. As for “Blackbird,” McCartney said he wanted to write a song about how he felt about Civil Rights and to bring hope to the people back in Little Rock, Arkansas. He then played a stripped-down acoustic version of the song while standing alone in the spotlight. McCartney’s show had the intimacy of an episode of VH1’s Storytellers despite the capacity crowd.
Paul and his band of nearly ten years — Abe Laboriel, Jr. (drums), Paul “Wix” Wickens (keyboards), Rusty Anderson (lead guitar), and Brian Ray (rhythm guitar and bass) — opened the night with the song "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" after which they launched into "Jet," all from the most beloved album of the Wings' era, Band on the Run. Looking much the same as he did in his heyday with the Beatles in his black Nehru-style jacket and black pants, McCartney ripped through a 39-song set the early part of which jumped through his career — from the Beatles classic “All My Loving,” to the Wings’ hit “Let ‘Em In,” to 2008s "Highway" by what he called his “alter ego” the Fireman — before zeroing in on the Beatles' catalog at a little past the halfway mark.
A string of Beatles oldies followed including "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," “Paperback Writer,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance,” and “Let It Be,” among many others, with McCartney switching between bass, guitar and piano. His 1973 James Bond theme “Live and Let Die” briefly interrupted the Beatles love fest with pyrotechnics that threatened to blow the roof off the joint before McCartney took to his piano and ended the set with a moving “Hey Jude.” The song — which had the arm-waving crowd on their feet and unabashedly singing along — brought some to tears. Paul McCartney may not be the spry youth he once was, but the man can rock out and still hit the high note at the end of “Hey Jude” — even at 68.
McCartney played a double encore, the first of which included “Day Tripper,” “Lady Madonna,” and “Get Back.” He ended the show with the bittersweet acoustic number "Yesterday," which was followed up by a chill-inducing "Helter Skelter,” "Sgt. Pepper," and most fittingly, “The End.”
There's a plaque hanging in the Consol Energy Center commemorating Paul McCartney as the first act to play our new arena. He is part of Pittsburgh's history now. And for those of us lucky enough to have been there, his visit has become part of our personal histories as well.
