McCartney at Petco, a full review: Wow!
The sustained roar of cheers and applause rising out of Petco Park Sunday night was loud enough to suggest the San Diego Padres had, improbably, just won their first World Series (despite having wrapped up another losing season earlier the same day).
Then again, Paul McCartney has had so many championship seasons — musically speaking — that sustained roars greet him in every stadium he performs. Given that this was his first public concert here since a 1976 show at the San Diego Sports Arena, Sunday’s roar was perhaps even louder for the former Beatle and veteran solo star, who made his area debut in 1965 with the Fab Four at Balboa Stadium, barely a mile away.
Many in the sold-out crowd of just over 42,000, which included basketball legend Bill Walton (and the unfortunate man in a wheelchair seated directly behind him), were on their feet when the spry and playful McCartney took the stage shortly after 8:30 p.m. When he launched into his first song, the 1964 Fab Four chart-topper “Eight Days a Week,” time almost stood still as Beatlemania was seemingly reborn at an ecstatic downtown celebration.
“It was almost like the Pope came to town!” said veteran San Diego musician Bart Mendoza. “The streets were filled with people. The San Diego tourism board has got to be very happy. Sunday was the 10th time I’ve seen Paul and it was spectacular.”
Eager to demonstrate he has more to offer than nostalgia fueled by timeless songs from all those years ago, McCartney, 72, followed “Eight Days” with “Save Us,” a bristling selection from his often terrific 2013 album, “New.” Then, in quick succession, came winning versions of The Beatles’ “All My Loving” and two favorites from his post-Beatles band, Wings, “Listen to What the Man Said” and a searing “Let Me Roll It.”
This blend of different musical eras set the tone for the marathon concert, which had some fans exulting and dancing one moment, then wiping tears from their eyes the next. The emotion of the night was a potent reminder that several generations have grown up with McCartney and his music, and that so many of his songs strike a deep and resounding chord with his listeners.
After “Save Us,” McCartney engaged in a playful bit of pandering to the hometown crowd. “Hey, San Diego,” he said. “Woo hoo! Go Chargers!” (Wisely, he did not mention the Padres.) Prior to “Let Me Roll It,” the first of a number of songs that he switched to guitar from bass, he removed his natty blue jacket and quipped: “That is the first and only wardrobe change of the evening.”
True to his word, McCartney let the music talk for him, even when he did a stirring solo acoustic version of “Blackbird,” while perched on a hydraulic lift about 20 feet above the stage. He dedicated the song, which was enhanced by simple yet stunning visuals, to the brave Civil Rights workers of the 1960s who had inspired his gently uplifting ballad.
“How many people here tried to learn (to play) ‘Blackbird’?” he asked afterwards. When the crowd responded with a loud affirmation, he said: “Hey, how cool does that make me feel?” He then playfully added: “And you all got it wrong!”
McCartney dedicated “Maybe I’m Amazed” to his deceased first wife, Linda McCartney, and his jazzy 2012 song, “My Valentine,” to his third wife, Nancy Shevell.
“She used to live in San Diego,” he told the crowd, but offered no more information. (A New Jersey native who attended Arizona State University, Shevell apparently lived here in the early 1980s, while her then-husband, future New York state politician Bruce Blakeman, attended California Western School of Law.)
The flow of Sunday’s concert was carefully calibrated to build to several musical peaks, as McCartney mixed and matched classics and more recent selections. He played at least four songs from “New,” plus a slew of Beatles favorites, which ranged from “We Can Work It Out” and “Lady Madonna”” to “Paperback Writer” and “Let It Be.” He also performed such deep album cuts as 1982’s “Here Today” (a poignant ode to deceased former Beatle John Lennon) and 1973’s “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five” from Wings’ “Band on the Run” album.
He remained true to the spirit of each song, while adding little tweaks here and there to keep the songs fresh. Even the few lesser pieces he included, such as “All Together Now” and “Lovely Rita,” were delivered with undeniable panache and infectious enthusiasm. It was a textbook example of how, through skill and sheer force of personality, a great artist can elevate music that falls below their usual lofty standards.
At one point early in the evening, McCartney told the crowd: “It’s great to be back in San Diego. ... I’m going to take just a moment to soak it all in for myself.”
He did not note that it has been 38 years since his last public concert here, and 49 years since his Balboa Stadium debut with The Beatles. Of course, it’s possible that, after more than five decades of touring and thousands of concerts, he just didn’t recall. But for an audience that has waited so long for McCartney’s overdue return to San Diego, not acknowledging just how long it’s been seemed like a missed opportunity.
So did the moment when he and his excellent, four-man band returned for their first encore, which offered a galvanizing, one-two-three punch of “Day Tripper,” “Hi Hi Hi” and “Get Back.”
As they came back on to the stage, McCartney held aloft an American flag, guitarist/bassist Brian Ray a California state flag, keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens a British Union Jack, and drummer Abraham Laboriel, Jr., a small pirate’s skull-and-crossbones. Guitarist Rusty Anderson was flag-less. Perhaps one band member could have held a Mexican flag at their concert in America’s largest border city?
Happily, McCartney’s musical memory seems as sharp as ever. He performed each song Sunday with a near-perfect mix of well-honed poise and undeniable commitment. He also managed the difficult feat of making a stadium concert somehow feel intimate, with help from enormous video screens that magnified his every move for fans in even the most distant seats on the upper levels. The audio quality was impressive in many parts of Petco Park, especially by stadium concert standards. The sound was superior to that heard at his Dodger Stadium show last month.
Some other rock legends of this former Beatle’s vintage are content to phone in much of their performances, and to extensively use Teleprompters to help them remember their lyrics. Not so, McCartney, who needed no help with his lyrics and sounded fully engaged throughout. Sunday’s show kicked off his fall U.S. tour, after six weeks of vacation, and he and his band sounded fresh and vibrant.
For added oomph, during their literally explosive version of Wings’ “Live and Let Die,” the second-to-last number before the encores, there were enough lasers, deafening pyrotechnics and bursts of flame to put Kiss to shame. Just as he did during his Aug. 10 concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, McCartney reacted to the deafening blasts of “Live and Let Die” with a mock stagger, then pretended he had suffered hearing loss.
He was in strong voice throughout, including during the almost heavy-metal-like “Helter Skelter.” This was doubly impressive, since “Helter Skelter” — one of five numbers in his second batch of encores — was his 36th song of the night and came two-and-a-half-hours into his performance.
Moreover, as McCartney moved from one number to the next, it was hard not to be dazzled by just how many great songs he has written and recorded in his remarkable career.
In one segment alone, he performed back-to-back versions of such Beatles and Wings’ gems as “Something” (which began with him strumming a ukulele in honor of George Harrison), “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Band on the Run,” “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” “Let It Be,” “Live and Let Die” and “Hey Jude.”
In another segment, he stacked “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “”We Can Work It Out,” “Another Day,” “And I Love Her,” “Blackbird” and “Here Today,” then ripped into “New” and the rollicking “Queenie Eye,” both from his latest album.
If his energy lagged, it was difficult to tell. At an age when many of his peers are retired, McCartney is 72-going-on-just-17. His band expertly followed his every move, combining enthusiasm and precision with impressive expertise. That’s not surprising, though, since McCartney’s current band has been together for 12 years, two years longer than The Beatles were together.
Goose-bump Sunday moments came with “Yesterday,” “Blackbird,” “Hey Jude,” “Eleanor Rigby” (which featured Wickens ably simulating a string quartet with his electric keyboard) and the concert-concluding medley of the concluding songs on side two of The Beatles’ classic “Abbey Road” album, “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End.”
McCartney still looks as trim and slender as in his Fab Four heyday and he carries the weight of his super-stardom with grace and an endearing “Aw shucks” demeanor. He also made the interminable 38-year wait since his last San Diego concert seem worthwhile. Let’s hope he’ll be back a lot sooner for his next show here.
Pre-concert concert
For the several dozen fans who could afford VIP ticket packages, Sunday’s show began with a reception, followed by a pre-concert sound-check by McCartney and his band (whose set included “Midnight Special,” “Lady Madonna,” “Bluebird,” “Flaming Pie,” Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox” and Buddy Holly’s “It’s So Easy”), drinks and a catered dinner.
“The sound-check began around 5 p.m. and lasted close to an hour,” said DAC Media Consultants’ Dan A. Clark, who lives in North County and took his wife, Becky.
“It was very informal but Paul and his band are the ultimate professionals. As you might expect, the dinner was vegetarian. For a meat-and-potatoes guy like me, it wasn’t up my alley, but my wife loved it. Then we went down for the concert and it was an amazing night.”
Clark paid $1,500 for each of his two VIP tickets (the top price was $2,000).
“It was expensive, but definitely worth it,” he said.
His wife agreed.
“I told my husband what he paid for our VIP tickets would probably have paid for half a facelift. But it was worth every penny,” said Becky Clark, who also attended The Beatles’ 1965 concert here at Balboa Stadium.
“I was re-living my teen years, watching Paul again,” she continued. “It was a magical experience. I’ve seen him three times, once as a Beatle and twice solo. I’m getting chills even now, thinking about Sunday’s concert. It was overwhelming. I would pay again for the experience.”
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