Paul McCartney proves age is only a number
The 71-year-old legend stayed energetic all through his Miller Park set, performing songs from his time with The Beatles and Wings for a near-44,000 person crowd.
Paul McCartney performed to a packed Miller Park crowd Tuesday night, performing hits from his time with The Beatles and Wings. Photo by MJ Kim.
I was a bit skeptical of Tuesday’s Paul McCartney show at Miller Park. Backed-up traffic and tickets lines meant it took nearly an hour just to get through the doors, and it was 40 minutes after the posted start time before Sir Paul took the stage. But the late start and unbearable temperatures hardly mattered after the moment he did. The 71-year-old icon brought heaps of youthful, fiery energy to the ballpark, and gave us an evening as legendary as his reputation.
He also took time to pay his respects to many of his lost loved ones, telling stories about and dedicating songs to Jimi Hendrix, former band mates John Lennon and George Harrison, and his beloved wife Linda. In each story, his words felt touching and real, with the humble atmosphere reaching its peak with a suggestion to the audience. After playing “Here Today,” a song he wrote about an imaginary conversation he never got to have with Lennon, he gave the 43,000-person crowd a simple piece of advice: “Next time you want to say something nice about someone, just say it. You never know what could happen to that person.”
The night’s most unifying moment came, expectedly, during the crowd-pleaser “Hey Jude.” As Paul led the crowd to sing along in unison for four minutes straight, I could feel a moment pass over the crowd. For those four minutes, we were united, sharing a common experience and feeling the same passion for the music, together, all because of this man and his gift for uniting us.
I wasn’t around to see McCartney in his prime, but it was obvious that many faces in Tuesday’s crowd could say otherwise. Yet while they surely had the ability to compare McCartney’s level of performance between the two eras, it was clear they could see that same skill and spunk they recognized years before. It’s incredible to realize this man is still in his prime at the age of 71, exceeding expectations and creating a sensation of nostalgia for fans that have as much love for him now as they did forty years ago. And, perhaps more importantly, still creating life-long memories for all those who were there that night.
“Hey Jude” live at Miller Park. Video courtesy of Madeline Pieschel
Not to take anything away from the dynamic performance of Sir Paul (who did the whole set without the obvious use of bottled water), but those of us of a certain age (near his) noted that he did NOT (except during one song) do much bouncing. He left that to the younger members of his back-up team. That’s probably why he was able to do the entire set without an intermission.
That’s probably why he let the audience carry most of the chorus of “Hey, Jude,” in contrast to his doing it at the top of his lungs twenty years ago (in the pouring rain at County Stadium). Nevertheless, it was an impressive and wonderful performance.
The light show “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” was a way to trip out without drugs (although we noticed some younger people near us so intent on scanning their phones that they missed it). But that, together with being one with 45,000 people singing “Oobladi, oobladah” in chorus, might just have give younger people a feeling for what the Sixties were like. For the rest of us, it was a wonderful voyage home.
Everyone I know who attended the concert (I wasn’t able to do so) loved it! Who would guess that 43,000 people would have so much feeling for a representative of their past (and their future, as many brought their children)? Truly a phenomena!