On Thursday 28th May 2015, one of my biggest dreams came true. After years of waiting I finally got to see one my musical inspirations live in concert. Yes, I got to see the Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney at The Echo Arena in his hometown of Liverpool.
After spending the day exploring Liverpool with my family, Mum and I joined the quickly growing line outside the arena filled with the lucky fans who'd managed to bag tickets for the Liverpool show. Bagging tickets for Paul's Liverpool gig felt like I'd won one of Willie Wonka's golden tickets, tickets were so badly sought after and I still can't believe I actually managed to get hold of them! Once the venue doors were finally opened the arena quickly began to fill up and I could feel my excitement growing and growing.
The view from our seats were amazing! We were so close to the stage it was unbelievable-I couldn't have asked for better seats! Usually, accessible seating in venues are quite far back and often the bands are like little dots in the horizon. This however, would put a lot of other venues I've visited to shame.
Paul didn't arrive on stage until around half past eight but in the meantime they played a soundtrack of songs spanning through Paul's entire career including music from The Beatles, Wings and his solo work. Video footage and photographs of Paul as a child up until the present day alongside his friends and family were projected onto the screen at either side of the stage.
At around half past eight the lights dimmed into darkness and the music was brought to a halt. People began to stand up in what looked like a Mexican wave motion. Seconds later the man himself, Sir Paul McCartney appeared from the wings of the stage as the room erupted in roars of excitement. Everywhere I looked people held their "Welcome Home Paul" signs that we'd been given by the stewards when entering the venue, high above their heads. It must have been quite something witnessing such a sight from the stage.
Before long the first song "Eight Days a Week" began to fill the room, marking the first of many classics the audience would hear through he course of the evening. Now, I could easily have written a brief summary of each song played during the show but considering that it was a 40 song set list spanning over 3 hours I think I'll mainly discuss the highlights. Otherwise, we'd be here all day.
Paul and his band performed a bunch of songs from Paul's lengthy career including music from his time in The Beatles, Wings and of course songs from his solo work. Towards the end of the Wings song "Let Me Roll It" the tune changed as they burst into Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady (love that song!). This lead onto Paul telling us the about Jimi playing "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band" at one his gigs just days after the album's release. Jimi's guitar apparently went out of tune to which he peered into the audience and shouted "is Eric there?". Yes, he was looking for Eric Clapton. So it turns out Eric was there right enough and basically told Jimi to tune the guitar himself.
A song or two later Paul took to one of the two pianos they had that evening to perform a song called "My Valentine" which he wrote for his wife Nancy who happened to be somewhere amongst the audience. Unfortunately, I didn't see her. He also dedicated "Maybe I'm Amazed" to his first wife Linda who unfortunately passed away back in 1997. Throughout the song a combination of photographs and video footage of Paul and his children were used to create a moving picture effect. It's such a beautiful song and my goodness did Paul hit some impressive notes during it!
"Hope for the Future" one of Paul's latest releases, which was written for a video game named Destiny was also performed. I have to say I really like that song, it's quite eerie but at the same time very powerful. I'm so glad I actually got to hear it performed live!
Paul stepped out onto an extended part of the stage to perform one of Mum's favourites "Blackbird". Slowly the stage began to rise up into air and stopped when Paul was at the same height as those seated in the second tier of the arena. Usually, I spend a lot of time watching concert footage on YouTube before attending gigs yet somehow I'd missed the footage of "Blackbird" so it was a nice surprise.
Paul's colourful "Lady Madonna" piano (I'm pretty sure that's what it's nicknamed-but don't hold me on that!) was brought out onto centre stage as Paul performed yet another handful of songs including newer releases such as "New" (funnily enough) which could easily have made it's way onto one of The Beatle's albums back in the 60s. I was so excited to actually hear "New" live, I remember hearing it for the very first time just minutes after its release.
He also performed a song named "Queenie Eye" which was also featured on his "New" album released back in 2013. The song is absolute genius! Only Paul McCartney could write a song about a game he used to play as child with his friends in the streets of Liverpool. Again, I was absolutely delighted to hear this song live after hearing it so many times on the album. I have to say the colourful piano really brought Paul's childhood memories of a game he evidently loved alive, even to someone live me from a completely different generation.
"Altogether Now" from the Yellow Submarine film/album was dedicated to the "kids" in the audience although it looked like the adults seemed to be enjoying it just as much! It was a very fun and light hearted performance that put a smile on everyone's faces.
After a selection of yet more Beatles classics including "Lovely Rita", "Eleanor Rigby" and "The Benefit of Mr Kite", Paul pulled an ukulele out of what seemed like nowhere. He told the audience that he discovered his love for the instrument (the ukulele) thanks to George Harrison. Apparently, they'd spend hours visiting each others homes contently jamming on their ukuleles together. In tribute to George he began to play "Something" which was pretty special. The audience as you can imagine were ecstatic! There obliviously were a lot of big Beatles fans in the house and as soon as there was even mention of one of Paul's legendary bandmates, the room erupted in roars. I'm sure it brought back a few memories for Paul of the audiences back in the 60s, we certainly didn't hold back that evening!
There was back to back hits including one of my very favourite Beatles songs "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" which I hoped would be a part of the evening's setlist. I'd been pretty loud and excitable all evening anyway but as I heard those cheery chords on the piano, I was on a complete and utter high. I was belting out the words just as loud as the band and of course I was dancing around in my wheelchair like there was no tomorrow.
A couple of women sitting along from us caught my eye on a couple occasions, I'd obliviously been entertaining them with my enthusiasm and excitement-it can't be helped! You'll probably be bored sick of me saying this but "I'd waited such a long time for this" so I was going to make the most of every, single second! Funnily enough, when we arrived back at the hotel later that evening the same two women were right in front of us in the queue for the lift. So much for going somewhere, letting loose and thinking that I'd never see these people again-typical!
"Live and Let Die" which was written for one of the James Bond films, was absolutely amazing live! Despite the fact that I already knew what was coming, I jumped out my skin when massive flames came shouting up from the stage. I seriously, don't think I ever seen as much stage fireworks and flames. The heat up there on stage must have been extremely oppressive, particularly for Paul's guitarist and bassist who were constantly on the move. They actually looked more tired than Paul who just kept going and showed no signs of exhaustion whatsoever!
My favourite part of the entire show came next and that part just so happened to be arguably one of The Beatle's most famous songs "Hey Jude". Hearing that song live was such a magical moment. It was one of those moments that you had to pinch yourself to check you weren't dreaming. Thankfully, I wasn't; I was well and truly there!
The atmosphere in that room was out of this world, everyone was singing along proving just how powerful music can be. That song has played such a big role in music history and I'm so glad I can say I've hear it sung live. After probably the best eight minutes of live music I've ever heard the song came to an end (I wish it went on forever!) and Paul and his band came to the centre of the stage and bowed for the audience. The stage lights turned off leaving the room in darkness as the crowd went into a frenzy of cheers and roars, before long everyone was singing "Hey Jude" louder than they had minutes before. I can honestly say I have NEVER seen anything like this before and I've seen some of the biggest names in music over the past few years.
Where Mum and I were seated, we could see figures standing in the doorway leading to the dressings. I'm guessing it was Paul and the band-it must have been quite something standing there listening to a room filled with thousands of people singing the lyrics to a song you wrote. This continued for a further few minutes before Paul reappeared waving the British flag in the air much to the crowd's delight.
He treated the audience to two encores, the first consisted of "Hi Hi Hi", "Another Girl" a song by The Beatles that had it's live debut earlier last month which was followed by "Can't Buy Me Love". He dedicated this to a couple that he invited up on stage after reading a sign the gentlemen had brought asking Paul if he could propose to his girlfriend on stage. What a story to tell the grandkids!
Sitting down at his piano for the final time that evening, Paul told the audience that the next couple of the songs would be the final few songs of the evening
and that it was time to head home. Let's just say I didn't ever think I'd see 12,000 argue with Paul McCartney-it was like going to a pantomime!
A medley of "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight" and "The End" from the legendary Abbey Road enchanted the room at the end of an incredible night. Paul bid the audience farewell as canons of red, blue and white confetti exploded filling the air with colour. What a night that was!
At long last I can tick off seeing Paul McCartney in concert off the bucket list and maybe one day I'll be able to tick off actually meeting him too-until then I'll just keep dreaming! As I'm sure you already have gathered, it was an absolutely incredible night and I'm so glad I got to spend it in the city of Liverpool!
