Paul McCartney @ 81
Honestly, I’ve been obsessing over the following hypothesis forever, but most stridently since Friday, July 17, 2009. It was opening night at Citi Field, a truly, for-the-ages show Emily and I were fortunate to attend with our two great friends Jodie and Jeff. Even with a dicey mix along the first base line, there was a surging spirit from the stage that rainy, celebratory night. It was the gut level feeling of a man looking to bask in his achievements, yet, at the same time, cast aside all stringent fan expectation. The roiling evidence were the twists and turns of a lacerating and scorching “Helter Skelter.” The shredding fierceness of “Paperback Writer.” The relentless “Let Me Roll It” and the exultant, childlike wonder of “Sing The Changes.”
I miss watching Paul McCartney bounding across the global stage. But in my warped consciousness, he’s not playing any Beatles as he bounds. He’s done it before on the Reeperbaum and the Cavern. The Jacaranda in Liverpool. St. John’s Hall in Lancashire. The Star Club. The Casbah Coffee Club. The Tower Ballroom in Brighton.
For over sixty years, McCartney, great humanitarian that he is, has always held his adventurous, creative fluency in check, held his deeper musicality at bay in favor of the people’s hits. Sullivan, Madison Square, The Concertgebow. Shea, Wembley, the Vatican. Always the hits. Always the charming grin and chatter to make the girls swoon. Who in their right mind, you might ask at this late juncture, would want to screw with that?
Me.
Associates still alive ‘n kicking might recall how I came home from that first Wings rock show, his first NY appearance since the big Beatle bye-bye. Scalping my way into the nosebleed seats, Madison Square Garden, 5/24/76 and buzzing about the music and a girl named Maria, decked head to toe in Beatle memorabilia whom I sang with all night. (For the record, Wings performed five Beatles songs that night and for the remainder of that tour, unlike the twenty-three out of thirty-six he performs regularly now.)
It’s nagged me through shows in ’89, ’90, & ’93. It hit me again at Carnegie Hall for “Standing Stone” in ’97. This idea of a no Beatles show came at me again at shows in ’02, 04, ’09, ’10. Yankee Stadium 2011 and subsequent shows since.
When last I saw him (9/11/17) McCartney performed a nearly 3-hour, 36 song set including encores. Sooo, I’ve taken the nervy and painstaking freedom to arrange a set-list sans Beatles. I’ve also attempted to lay out the tunes as Macca might perform them, full band, solo piano, solo acoustic, full band. I’ve also included the highest Billboard chart position, original album, and other ephemera I thought necessary to win you over to my most righteous side of the argument.
Now imagine, not one Beatles song:
1. My Brave Face (full band) (#25, Flowers in the Dirt, 1989)
2. Helen Wheels (#10, Band On The Run, 1973)
3. Jet (#7, Band On The Run)
4. Let Me Roll It (concert staple, Band On The Run)
5. Ever Present Past (sharp rocker, Memory Almost Full, 2007)
6. Drink To Me (Picasso’s Last Words) (Band On The Run)
7. Sing The Changes (anthemic tune, Electric Arguments, 2008)
8. Call Me Back Again (solo piano) (New Orleans sway, Venus and Mars, 1975)
9. Ballroom Dancing ” (Tug of War, 1982, Grammy Album of the Year)
10. Wanderlust ” (Tug of War)
11. We All Stand Together ” (Rupert & the Frog Song, 1983 UK #3)
12. My Love ” (#1, Red Rose Speedway, 1973)
13. Maybe I’m Amazed “ (#10, McCartney, 1970)
14. Queenie Eye “ (#27, New, 2013)
15. The World Tonight (full band) (#23, Flaming Pie, 1997)
16. Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight (blistering distorted blues, Electric Arguments)
17. New (New, 2013)
18. Put It There (solo acoustic) (Flowers in the Dirt)
19. Here Today ” (Lennon tribute, #46, Tug of War)
20. Early Days “ (New)
21. Calico Skies ” (Flaming Pie, 1997)
22. Jenny Wren “ (Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, 2005)
23. Ram On/Junk “ (Ram, 1971)
24. That Would Be Something ” (McCartney)
25. The Songs We Were Singing (Flaming Pie)
26. Every Night (full band) (McCartney)
27. Too Many People (Ram)
28. Tug Of War (Tug of War)
29. I Can See The World Tonight (#64, Flaming Pie)
30. Band On The Run (#1, Band On The Run)
31. Wine Dark Open Sea (Off The Ground, 1993)
32. No More Lonely Nights (#6, Give My Regards to Broad Street, 1984)
33. Live And Let Die (#2, 1973 Wingspan, 2001)
34. Mull Of Kintyre (Britain’s biggest single, Wingspan)
35. Despite Repeated Warnings (Egypt Station, 2018)
36. Hope of Deliverance (#9, Off The Ground)
This first set-list envisions music from seventeen albums, spanning 1970-2018. Even the most casual Macca-head knows at least two-thirds of these songs. And the bonus is that
artist, band, and audience break out of their comfort zones to new faves and revelations, just like we did years ago with “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Yesterday,” “Here, There, And Everywhere,” “Hey Jude,” and “Let It Be.”
And his current band – Rusty Anderson – guitars, bass, vocals, Paul Wickens – keyboards, percussion, vocals, Brian Ray – guitars, bass, vocals, and Art Laboriel, Jr. – drums and the sweetest falsetto to cover Mac’s slowly fading high end – can pull it off with riffs and rock to spare. By allowing McCartney the freedom to create again, and not recreate our collective, ever present past, we as an audience would finally pay Macca back for all the hope and resourcefulness he has given us, releasing him to reach his full manifestation, while we discover our own vivid humanity as ever evolving beings, released from the rock n roll museum we too often lock ourselves numbingly into.
Want another set-list? I’ll even remove “Live and Let Die” and “Band On The Run” which he has performed ad nauseam over the years, with songs from his last album release, 2020’s, McCartney III. I’m going to try and not repeat a single tune from set-list #1 and, I’ll double down on my bet from before, even the most casual fan will recognize two thirds of these songs.
1. Venus and Mars/Rock Show (full band) (#12, Venus and Mars, 1975)
2. Dance Til We’re High (Electric Arguments, 2008)
3. Hi Hi Hi (#10, 1973)
4. Find My Way (McCartney III, 2020)
5. I’ve Had Enough (#25, London Town, 1978)
6. Highway (Electric Arguments)
7. Letting Go (#39, Venus and Mars)
8. Riding To Vanity Fair (Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, 2005)
9. C Moon (solo piano) (B-side, 1973)
10. Once Upon A Long Ago ” (All The Best!, 1987)
11. My Valentine “ (#20, Kisses On the Bottom, 2012)
12. (I Want to) Come Home ” (Golden Globe Best Song, 2009)
13. Your Loving Flame “ (Driving Rain, 2001)
14. 1985 ” (Band On The Run, 1973)
15. Junior’s Farm (full band) (#3, 1974)
17. FortyFive Seconds (#4, w/Beyonce & Kayne, 2015)
18. Angry (post-punk/pre-grunge, Press To Play, 1986)
19. Big Boys Bickering (rarer protest song/ B-side Hope of Deliverance)
20. That Day Is Done (#21, Flowers in the Dirt)
21. We Got Married (solo acoustic) (Flowers in the Dirt)
22. On My Way to Work ” (New, 2013)
23. Bluebird ” (Band On The Run, 1973)
24. Heart Of The Country ” (Ram, 1971)
25. On the Wings of a Nightingale (1984)
26. Little Willow ” (Flaming Pie, 1997)
27. Flaming Pie (full band) (Flaming Pie)
28. This One (Flowers in the Dirt)
29. Smile Away (Ram)
30. I Don’t Know (Egypt Station, 2018)
31. Ebony And Ivory (#1, Tug of War, 1982)
32. Souvenir (Flaming Pie)
33. Figure of Eight (Flowers in the Dirt)
34. Listen To What The Man Said (#1, Venus and Mars)
35. Sun Is Shining (Electric Arguments)
36. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (#1, Ram)
Spanning his entire solo career from 1970-2020, this second set-list encompasses b-sides, a Golden Globe winner, three #1’s, and five more songs that sat in the US Top Twenty when things like that meant something.
Has McCartney written and released his share of duds? You bet, and I’m willing to wager he’d be the first to admit it. But you won’t find any filler here, no matter how badly you want to hear “I’ve Just Seen A Face.” You won’t find some of his biggest hits either, ie: “Comin’ Up,” “Another Day,” “Let ‘Em In,” “Silly Love Songs,” “With A Little Luck,” “Goodnight Tonight,” “Freedom”. . . And you can make an argument for many fan faves like “Back Seat of My Car,” “Dance Tonight,” “Same Time Next Year,” “Old Siam Sir,” “Girls School,” “Mrs. Vanderbilt,” Fine Line,” “Single Pigeon,” or “Monkberry Moon Delight.”
Paul McCartney has given and continues to give us everything he has. In that time that may or may not remain, it is time for us to return even the slightest fraction of what he’s given us. We can give him freedom from “Back In The USSR” and “Eleanor Rigby,” and with that freedom he can set the pace as he did so long ago.
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Mike Jurkovic is a frequent contributor of poetry and music reviews for Lightwood. He is a prolific writer and activist and heads CAPS, Calling All Poets, a reading series and small publishing house. Read more of his work here on Lightwood by entering his name and clicking on our Search button.
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