The Paul McCartney experience

Yes, it's been a long time in the making. Paul's visit to Utah was over a month ago, but it's taken me a while to get to writing about it. Maybe, I just don't want to admit that it has come and gone... and will probably not happen again.

As anybody who knows me knows, I'm a massive Beatles fan. So, when I heard Paul was coming to Utah, I was obviously thrilled. I had seen Sir Paul once before back in 2002. My friends and I drove to Denver to see him. And it was an out of body experience. Monday night (the night before the concert) I went down to the Rio Tinto Stadium to see if I could get a chance at hearing a sound check or possibly getting an autograph at the back entrance. I had researched online and saw that some people had success doing that at other locations. Unfortunately, the only thing I saw was some groupies who follow Paul to different concerts. They had some crazy (if true) stories. The next day I took work off early and met up with my wife so we could meet up with our friends at Joe's Crab Shack at Jordan Commons. I was absolutely not impressed with the service... but I guess that's another story. We got into the stadium about 20 minutes before the scheduled start time. And this being a rock concert it started about 40 minutes late. But once the show started it was great song after great song. The first half of the concert was solo/Wings heavy... but it was great because in my opinion he chose some of the best of those. He sang 1985, Mrs. Vandebilt and Dance Tonight. My only criticism is I would have switched out 'My Love' for 'Maybe, I'm Amazed.' I also think he could've chosen a better solo song than 'Let em in.' Actually here is the set list for the night.

1. Venus and Mars / Rockshow

2. Jet

3. All My Loving

4. Letting Go

5. Drive My Car

6. Highway

7. Let Me Roll It

8. The Long And Winding Road

9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

10. Let ‘Em In

11. My Love

12. I’ve Just Seen A Face

13. And I Love Her

14. Blackbird

15. Here Today

Ram On (not listed in official playlist)

16. Dance Tonight

17. Mrs Vandebilt

18. Eleanor Rigby

19. Something

20. Sing The Changes

21. Band On The Run

22. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

23. Back In The USSR

24. I’ve Got A Feeling

25. Paperback Writer

26. A Day In The Life / Give Peace A Chance

27. Let It Be

28. Live And Let Die

29. Hey Jude

Encore

30. Day Tripper

31. Lady Madonna

32. Get BackSecond

Encore

33. Yesterday

34. Helter Skelter

35. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / The End

Yes, 35 songs. The show lasted almost three hours. And as you can see there were a plethora of Beatles songs for the second half of the show. My personal favorites were Back in the USSR, I've Got a Feeling, Live and Let Die, Get Back and Helter Skelter. Hearing those songs live gave me a new appreciation for them. As you can see the rest of the setlist was full of iconic songs. Unfortunately the Beatles have so many hits, he couldn't have sung them all. But he made a vailiant effort.

Paul had some great charisma and talked with the audience throughout the span of the show. He joked around and seemed like he was having a great time. He made particular mention of the fact that this was his and his band's 200th show together. He carried out the Utah flag for his first encore. Speaking of Paul's band, they were just great. They played every song perfectly. Such a great group. I especially enjoyed watching his drummer get into the songs. Paul is in his late sixties, but he sounded great and had the energy of someone in their twenties. Turns out one of my co-workers neighbors was the limo driver for Paul while he was in Salt Lake and he said Paul was a "class act." Which is cool to hear.

It was great to have my wife with me at the show. It was fun to share the excitement with her. We also went with some friends and they all agreed it was one of the best concerts they had been to. So all in all, it was a great night, with great music, great weather and great company.

This concert was Paul's first time performing in Utah. I was really impressed with the Rio Tinto people, in getting him to come here. I was also impressed with the welcome they gave him. They even put up an I-15 billboard the day of the concert welcoming him to the state. When Paul ended his show he said, "We'll see you next time, Salt Lake City." Here's hoping that isn't an empty promise.