Review: Paul McCartney takes Texas fans on a magical musical tour
When it comes to Sir Paul McCartney, who packed in just shy of 45,000 fans of all ages to his Alamodome concert on Saturday, the numbers and Father Time don’t lie.
It’s been nearly 70 years since he befriended John Lennon.
Big screens give fans throughout the 'dome a close-up look at what was happening onstage.
Big screens give fans throughout the 'dome a close-up look at what was happening onstage.
Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News
It’s been 60 years since the Beatles released the albums “Help!” and “Rubber Soul.” The following year, the Fab Four stop touring.
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It’s been nearly 50 years since his “Wings Over America” tour launched in Texas and marked the first time McCartney had performed in the U.S. since 1966 with the Beatles.
It’s been more than 30 years since he became the first act to play the Alamodome in May 1993.
And it’s been almost 20 years since Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone that he was in awe of Paul McCartney.
No need to stop counting: The 83-year-old McCartney is still awesome.
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People record video on their phones anticipating the start of the Paul McCartney concert at the Alamodome.
People record video on their phones anticipating the start of the Paul McCartney concert at the Alamodome.
Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News
The audience was multigenerational, if largely gray and graying. There were grandkids wearing ear protection headphones and kooky Gen-Z cosplay fans holding signs with messages including “Marry us, Paul.”
In the crowd were musicians like Austin’s Britt Daniel of Spoon and Joe Reyes of Buttercup, as well as former KISS-FM radio personality Brian Kendall and Richard Turner, who hosts “The Best of the Beatles” on KSYM.
Asked before the show if he thought this might be McCartney’s last rodeo, Turner said, “Probably – but if not, we’ll be here again.”
That summed up the joyous loyalty McCartney inspires. The screams are still deafening. The music still absolutely rocks, and the nostalgic photos and colorful animated videos on giant, towering screens flanking the stage and behind it, enhanced the time-traveling set list of 35 songs.
For die-hard fans, there were likely few surprises in the nearly three-hour show, counting the encore. But there were plenty of moments.
McCartney's band included a horn section, which punched up songs such as "Coming Up."
McCartney's band included a horn section, which punched up songs such as "Coming Up."
Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News
McCartney, dressed in a dapper double-breasted black suit with peak lapels, opened with “Help!” He quickly moved on to funkier stuff, bringing out the Hot City Horns — a London-based horn trio who dance and look as good as they play – for “Coming Up” and “Got to Get You Into My Life.”
McCartney was in strong voice. True, his once velvety midrange is now a much gruffer warble, but his ability to scream in higher registers and to hit the high-note “oohs” is remarkably intact.
For good measure, there were some relatively newer songs including “Come On to Me,” a fun unplugged “Dance Tonight” and “My Valentine.” McCartney's wife and valentine, Nancy Shevell, was in the audience, as were two of his grandsons.
“Imagine that, watching your granddad rockin’,” McCartney quipped after belting out “Maybe I’m Amazed.” During the night, McCartney played his iconic Hofner violin bass, a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, a Martin acoustic guitar, a ukulele, mandolin and upright and grand piano.
It’s hard to tell when he’s having the most fun. He ripped up on electric guitar with the savage riff on “Let Me Roll It,” the echo-laden homage to Lennon’s later rock style.
He hammed it up on “In Spite of All the Danger,” the first demo recorded by the Quarrymen, that band that would become the Beatles. It's an Everly Brothers homage that turned into a sing-along. Then he kicked the air at the cymbal crash of “Love Me Do,” the first song the Beatles recorded at Abbey Road with producer George Martin.
The quieter “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Blackbird” were poignant and vulnerable, but none more so than his emotional, almost tearful Lennon love note, “Here Today,” and the somber “Now and Then.”
McCartney moved on from what he joked was “the depth of despair” to a rollicking “Lady Madonna,” “Jet” and “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.”
Source: Hector Saldana/expressnews.com
