Paul McCartney Review - iTunes Festival - ICA London - 5th July 2007.
I am not an addicted Sir Paul McCartney fan and don't have all of his albums, however I am a huge concert lover and have seen anyone and everyone in concert, but you cannot get much better than seeing Sir Paul on stage with his amazing band, whether its at Glastonbury festival, Earls Court or even at the iTunes festival.
My Dad introduced me to Sir Paul in a live capacity back in 2003 when we followed him around on his UK tour and after that, I was hooked. My dad is Beatles and Sir Paul crazy and Sir Paul is his idle when it comes to music. Every new band or song I try to introduce my dad to, he always has the following comments, ‘they've ripped off the Beatles' or ‘the Beatles have already done that'.
I remember my first Sir Paul McCartney gig; it was a Sunday evening on the 13th April 2003 at the Birmingham NIA. This day has to go down as one of the greatest days of my life so far (I'm only young J). My other passion, other than music, is football and my family and I are huge Saints fans. It just so happened that Saints managed to get into the FA Cup Semi final (and then onto the final) in 2003 and the semi final was to be played on the 13th April. When we got through to the semis and found out that it clashed with the Sir Paul concert we were all waiting in anticipation for where the semi final was going to be played. Thankfully and to a great sigh of relief the venue for the semi final was also in Birmingham. We couldn't believe our luck, a family from Hampshire going up to Birmingham on a Sunday for a semi final of the FA Cup and then a Sir Paul McCartney gig. The fact that Saints won the semi final and we could go to the concert proud with our Saints shirts on just made the evening even more special and I remember being asked by people if we had been to the game and then wishing us luck for the final.
I was very lucky to get a Glastonbury ticket in 2004 to see Sir Paul's headlining performance there and the furthest we have travelled to see Sir Paul was to Las Vegas in 2005. We even managed to see the new Cirque Du Soleil show ‘Love', (based on the Beatles if you didn't already know), in Las Vegas on the 1st January 2007 (stupid time to see a show after the New Years eve the night before).
When Sir Paul had played in Camden last month I didn't hear about the gig until the day of the concert. I couldn't believe I hadn't heard about it because I am normally in tune with all musical events. However, after investigating at to why I didn't hear about it I checked my junk mail. Sure enough there was an email from paulmccartney.com telling me about the gig.
After I found out about the Camden gig I phoned my dad to apologise for not letting him know about it sooner and he was shocked that I didn't know about it sooner.
When I first heard about Sir Paul McCartney playing at the iTunes festival I went immediately onto the iTunes festival website to enter everyone in my family to try to win tickets. It then hit me that having known about the iTunes festival before Sir Paul's gig was announced, I had already signed up to try to win tickets for most of the concerts and it states that you can only win for one of the gigs.
The email from PaulMcCartney.com came through that afternoon and I went on to the site and signed all of my family up to it. I remember getting home from work that night and telling my Dad about it and we had a joke about if we actually won tickets that we would be in trouble, because we were going out for a family meal for my sisters birthday that evening (her birthday is actually on the 5th July), and it was even more important because it was a double celebration as she has just told everyone she is pregnant.
After I had entered the competitions I completely forgot about it thinking that I had no chance of winning. But at about 1pm on Tuesday 3rd July, I received a phone call confirming that I had won tickets. I was at work and had my boss next to me so couldn't really yell out (sorry to Nick if I didn't seem happy to have won the tickets, but I really was excited inside).
I phoned dad and just explained to him that he was going to have to let my sister know that we weren't going to be able to make the family birthday / celebratory dinner on the Thursday night. He bought her flowers and we ended up moving a double bed for her as an apology.
The Wednesday was when it kicked in that I was actually going to see Sir Paul McCartney in a 350 capacity venue and that this was a once in a lifetime experience. I then started to panic and became paranoid that it wasn't true, so I phoned the box office of the ICA and asked if they had my name on the guest list. The lady at the end of the phone just said, ‘which guest list is that'. I said that I wasn't sure and had received a phone call the day before to inform me that I had won tickets. She said that ‘it sounds a bit dodgy to me' and to check with who had phoned me. My heart started pounding and for a second I thought it was all lost. Thankfully I had asked for a name and number of the person who called me on the Tuesday so I called them. It turned out that I had won the tickets through paulmccartney.com and I was on their guest list - woo hoo.
The next dilemma was that I had a presentation to do with work and there were no guarantees that it would be finished on time, so I was sweating all day as to when I would get out of work for the 2 hour journey to the venue. Thankfully my employers were excited for me and were very kind to let me finish the presentation early so that I could make my way up to the gig.
We ended up getting to Charing Cross tube station at about 8pm. After watching the Tour de France practice bit in Trafalgar Square we decided to try to find the venue. All I had was the little map from the ICA website so we were not entirely sure which way to go. Thankfully we found the Mall and we started to walk down it. We couldn't believe it when we saw some people stood outside; we were both thinking ‘this can't be the place'.
There were about 20-30 people standing outside, so I got what I thought was a queue and waited. I then asked if this was actually a queue (having seen someone walk up and enter the venue without queuing) and the person said no but then asked me if I had a spare ticket. I walked up to a guy with a clip board and handed him my ID and said my name. He looked at his list and couldn't find me. Then another guy came over and looked at his list. It seemed like forever as he went through his list one by one but finally he found me and let me and my dad go in.
As soon as we entered the venue we were ushered to the ticket desk to get a wrist band and a stamp. I asked if there were any t-shirts for sale or if we could get a ticket as a memento she actually laughed and said no. I thought it was strange that she laughed, but it all became clear as we walked towards the theatre as they were giving away free t-shirts and plastic lanyards to everyone.
As we entered the venue it hit us at how small this gig actually was. The sound deck alone took up a large space near the back of the room. That's all it was really, it was a room with a stage in it (the stage covered a third of the room).
Because we were running a little late we were about 6-7 rows back but just took our place directly in front of Sir Paul's microphone and started waiting. We had about 30 minute wait for Sir Paul to come on as he was due on stage at 8.45. As 8.45 came and went the minutes felt like hours and I think I was looking at my watch every 5 seconds.
At just after 9pm an announcer said that over 20,000 people had tried to get tickets for tonight's gig and that filming of any kind would resulting in you being thrown out of the venue. Then, to a huge roar from the crowd, Sir Paul and his band took to the stage.
Having seen the set list from the LA gig I thought he was going to start with ‘Drive My Car', but no Sir Paul started with a brilliant version of, 1980's hit, ‘Coming Up'. After that he then launched into ‘Drive My Car', with huge amounts of energy that got the crowd dancing and singing along from the off.
After the superb start to the concert Sir Paul played several new songs including the recent mandolin performed single ‘Dance Tonight'. Everyone seemed to know the words to the new songs, with Sir Paul interacting with the crowd and chatting in between songs.
Straight after the new songs Sir Paul jumped into a well received version of ‘The Long and Winding Road'. Back to the classics with the band in full swing.
Throughout the concert Sir Paul was chatting to the crowd and making reference to the size of the venue. Explaining that it was more like a party than a concert and inviting everyone back to his place to continue the party (said as he laughed).
After ‘Calico Skies' and ‘That Was Me' the band left the stage with Sir Paul taking up the acoustic guitar to perform solo songs ‘Blackbird' and a moving rendition of ‘Here Today' which Sir Paul dedicated to John, George and Linda. Sir Paul explained that during his recent performance in LA that he was keeping it together during the song and then he saw a lady in the crowd crying and it just set him off. Not tonight though, a very moving tribute, with the crowd silent until the end in appreciation.
The band then rejoined Sir Paul on stage and went straight into ‘Back in the USSR'. Next up was new song ‘Nod Your Head' with Sir Paul asking all members of the crowd to nod their heads to the music, the majority of the crowd obeying as if they were possessed by the music.
The next song came as a surprise addition to the set list (and one of my personal favourites), as it hasn't appeared at the LA set, with the Wings classic, ‘Jet', with every member of the crowd raising their hands and punching into the air for the title during the chorus.
As the concert progressed the more Sir Paul looked like he was enjoying himself, constantly making references to the size of the venue and the party nature of the gig. At one point he went off into a little chat with people from the crowd and then all of a sudden just said that this is a gig isn't it and suggested he get back on with the music.
The next songs, ‘House of Wax', ‘I've Got A feeling', ‘Matchbox' and ‘Let Me Roll It' were all well received with great anticipation of what was going to be played next.
The next song was ‘Get Back', another one of my favourites, then Sir Paul went back on the piano and played an impromptu version of ‘Baby Face' followed by the world favourite ‘Hey Jude'. Towards the end of ‘Hey Jude' Sir Paul left the piano and walked to the front of the stage to conduct the sing along (which had been going from the start), firstly getting the crowd to sway their arms, then getting the boys to sing followed by the girls to sing, with everyone singing and swaying for the finale and the climax of the epic song. Over an hour of pure hits, class and brilliance seemed to go by in a heart beat and Sir Paul and his band left the stage to a hero's send off.
A short break and Sir Paul was back on, with I think most of the crowd relieved he was coming back on as there were no guarantees with this being such a small concert. Sir Paul sat back at the piano and then dedicated the next song to John Roden, a crew member who had recently passed away, then they played a heart felt ‘Let it Be'.
After an extended round of applause for ‘Let it Be' and John Roden, Sir Paul and the band jumped into the set closers and Beatle classics ‘Lady Madonna' and ‘I Saw Her Standing There' before a final farewell with the whole band standing in appreciation of the crowd.
Just under 90 minutes of pure joy for the entire crowd. This concert for those that were there will be remembered and talked about for a long time. The fact all our trains were cancelled on the way home didn't dampen our excitement of actually being there, I kept pinching myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming and to make sure that it did happen and that we did see one of the worlds greatest song writers and performers in such an intimate environment. Roll on a UK Tour.
Thank you for the memories Sir Paul McCartney.
Mike