If earlier performances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live served as the appetizer for Paul McCartney’s whirlwind trip through New York, tonight’s show at the Apollo Theater was the main course. Macca’s first-ever show at the legendary Harlem venue was broadcast live on numerous SiriusXM channels and didn’t disappoint.
[Confetti Canons at The End via @WilliamHermes]
The Hall of Fame rocker performed a truncated version of the typical set he’s been using on his Up and Coming Tour with a few notable exceptions. McCartney dusted off one of the first songs he wrote with John Lennon, One After 909, for only the second time since The Beatles’ rooftop concert at Apple Corps on January 30, 1969. One After 909 is a song The Beatles recorded in 1963 and 1969 and released on Let It Be. In a nod to the venue, which Paul described as “the holy grail”, Paul and his band tackled Marvin Gaye’s Hitch Hike. Other rarities included the recent soundcheck staple, Petrushka, and the holiday favorite Wonderful Christmastime.
Here’s tonight’s setlist…
Paul McCartney
December 13, 2010
Apollo Theater
New York, NYMagical Mystery Tour, Jet, Drive My Car, All My Loving, One After 909, Let Me Roll It, Long and Winding Road, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five, Maybe I’m Amazed, Blackbird, I’m Looking Through You, And I Love Her, Petrushka, Dance Tonight, Eleanor Rigby, Hitch Hike (multiple restarts), Band On The Run, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Back In The USSR, A Day In The Life > Give Peace A Chance, Let it Be, Hey Jude
Encore: Wonderful Christmastime, I Saw Her Standing There, Get Back,
Encore2: Yesterday, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) > Carry That Weight > The End
A few videos are starting to make the rounds…
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjGOfzFNGkk[/youtube]
Paul McCartney – Sgt. Peppers > Carry That Weight > The End
- McCartney @ the Apollo Videos: Maybe I’m Amazed, Hitch Hike, Eleanor Rigby, Dance Tonight
- McCartney @ The Apollo Audio: 128kbps MP3 @ Guitar 101
2 Responses
thankyou thankyou thankyou! I was having a helluva time trying to get the Sirius customer support to help me with the internet radio, after many times put on hold and an extreme language barrier I sat in my car, freezing but warm hearted, toes a tapping—Sir Paul sounded AMAZING until I lost my signal after Eleanor Rigby. I KNEW he was going to encore with Wonderful Christmas time—now if only I can get a recording of the show 🙂
It was an incredible show (for a full setlist, check me out on Twitter, I tweeted each song as he played it). Ostensibly, he is promoting the 30th anniversary of what is maybe his greatest post-Beatles work, Wings’ Band On The Run, and he played a bunch of songs from the album (“Band On The Run,” “Jet,” “Let Me Roll It” and “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five”), but the setlist had tons of his songs from when he was fab. The opened with a very muscular version of “Magical Mystery Tour,” followed closely by “Drive My Car,” “All My Loving” and even “One After 909.”
Paul is one of the greatest songwriters of all time, even his detractors have to admit that. But he is also a great showman, and knows how to write a setlist. He goes from totally rocking with songs like “Back In The U.S.S.R.” to really quiet songs like “Blackbird” (which he said was inspired by the racial injustices in America). He can go from a pretty angry song (“I’m Looking Through You” is one of his meanest, it always seemed a bit out of character to me) and then the very next song was the tender “And I Love Her.” And it’s all believable. I don’t think he gets enough credit for the diversity of styles he has mastered, both musically and lyrically.
My highlight of the night, though, was his cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Hitchhike.” He did it as a tribute to all the great performers who had played at the Apollo. It was a bit messed up, the sound on the vocals went out during the song (“now you know it’s a live radio broadcast,” he joked afterwards) and he had to start over. But it was a great performance and it featured go-go dancers, rocking it ’60s style (if I had to guess, I would say Maureen Van Zandt, wife of Steven, was the choreographer). There were other guests – a children’s choir – on “Wonderful Chrismastime,” one of my least favorite Paul songs, but it was sweet. I loved when Paul put on the mandolin for his semi-recent classic “Dance Tonight.” Another great moment was “A Day In The Life” which went into John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance.” And, finally, the ending medley of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” which went into “The End.”
see my entire review at No Expiration (you can google it).